Combating Odor

Still using Tide and to fight the odor issue I was describing earlier, I've taken to using a little bit of baking soda along with these wonderful Lavender Laundry Bags I picked up at Trader Joe's. They are so cool! We gave up using dryer sheets when we started using cloth and these are a great alternative. Adds a lovely scent without using perfumes or chemicals. Just dried flowers. And when you are done, just rip open the bag and toss the flowers on the carpet to vacuum up!

Charlie's Soap Continued...

vs.

So we went to Belly Sprout today (love that place!) and I talked to the owner, Christy, about Charlie's Soap. Actually, first I noticed that she was no longer carrying any Charlie's Soap at all and her shelves were stocked with Allen's Naturally. I told her what I'd heard about it and about our diaper rash experience. She had heard the same thing and had done a little research. Turns out, first of all, that the Charlie's Soap people and the Happy Heiny's people don't like each other at all. Yeah, clearly. But the people who had trouble with these burns (not rashes, but burns) were also using Charlie's Soap Stain Remover. Christy said she uses it and it works really well! But the burns are only associated with that and not with the regular detergent. So Belly Sprout is still going to carry Charlie's Soap, alongside with Allen's Naturally because it is so popular.

We, however, have already switched to Tide. We're trying to use that up and I just got some Allen's in the mail recently, which we will try next. But it's nice to know that Charlie's is probably safe to use when the Tide's gone.

More Laundering Progress

So apparently the whole laundering process is the hardest part about cloth diapering. From what I've heard, it's easy at first and then after a couple months, you usually have to readjust. The thing is that every person is different based on their washing machine and their water. So we moved away from Charlie's Soap because a week after we heard about the whole no disinfectant thing, Peer developed his first diaper rash! I immediately freaked out and went and bought some Tide. I stripped the diapers for the first time and then switched.

There are many different methods of stripping and I chose the easiest. The purpose of "stripping" your diapers is to remove any residue left by the old detergent and start over. Anyway, the method I chose was to simply wash the diapers on hot 3 times without any detergent. I've also read that a tiny bit of Dawn dishwashing soap can be added to this process, but I didn't have any. Oh well.

His diaper rash cleared up in a day, but I don't think Tide will be the detergent for us. While it is a cloth-approved product, for some reason, I don't think it works for us. I've noticed a faint odor lingering in his diapers. It's not a poop smell-- it's a stale sort of soap smell. To combat it, I've been using baking soda and half a cup of vinegar in the wash. This helps a lot! I ordered some Allen's Naturally, which seems to be the brand most cloth diapering families use. Hopefully that will be better!

Someone ought to sell a sample-pack of all these different detergents!

Three Months Old!

taking pictures in the mirror

bear feet!

we rollin'... we rollin'... we rollin with the homies

the swing at Mimi & Papa's

loving his mobile!

an easy Halloween costume-- the pumpkin sleeper given to us by my mom's co-worker

Andy's award-winning pumpkin carving!

Peer loves Grandpa!