Frequently Asked Questions

I get emails occasionally asking me some questions {mostly about CDing and photography} , and I just realized that most of them are the same question.  I always respond to the email, but I thought maybe some of my other readers might be interested and a tad email shy to ask.  So here goes nothing.

How did you get in photography? – I’ve always taken a lot of pictures, but when E was born is when I decided I needed to start taking good pictures.  It’s a great hobby!

What do you suggest to take better pictures? – Recently I joined Clickin Moms and my pictures have only improved ten fold!  I highly suggest it.  It’s a monthly pay forum, but it really is worth every penny.  I’ve been a member since August and I don’t ever see myself leaving.  I recommend it to anyone who wants to take better pictures.

Are you still cloth diapering (CDing)? – Yes we are!

Do you ever regret the switch or think about going back to disposables? – I won’t lie the thought has crossed my mind on occasion.  Mostly only when it’s 8 PM and I realize that I need to still do diaper laundry.  Or when E does a particularly nasty semi-solid poop.  With a disposable diaper you can scoop the poop with the diaper and then get to wiping.  You can’t do the poop scoop with cloth.  But in true motherhood style I always just shrug my shoulders and remember that it’s just poop.  I also realize that in a disposable the poop would probably be up her back and out the legs as well.  CDs hold in an AMAZING amount of poop!

How do you take care of your CDs? – I wash them every other day.  I have enough diapers to go three days, but I prefer to not cut it to close in case E has a large poop day.  I remove all inserts from the liners and toss everything into the washer.  I do a pre-wash and rinse with no soap and cold water.  Then I put in two tablespoons of powder original Tide.  {The Tide is per a recommendation off of many message boards}

Hot wash, cold rinse, and an additional cold rinse later and they are clean!  I toss the inserts into the dryer on medium and line dry the covers.

If one has a poop stain I lay it in the sun.  And yes this does take the stain out completely!

What do you do with the poop? – I do the same thing that someone who uses disposable diapers would do; I throw it/flush it away.  I put a  flush-able liner in all of E’s diapers, so the poop gets flushed and the diapers go in the diaper pail until wash day.

What is the best way to get into CDing? – I’m sure there are tons of ways, but this is how I started:  I bought a couple of diapers {one all-in-one, one hybrid, and a pocket} online.  When they came to the house we just started using them.  We decided that we preferred the all-in-ones and pockets.  Before we knew that we were going to do this until E was potty trained I decided to buy one days worth of diapers from Diaper Swappers.  I bought a day and half worth of diapers from mom’s who were done with their CDs.  Yes I bought used diapers.  After going without disposables and seeing that it worked I took the plunge and finished off our “stash”.  We haven’t looked back since.

What did you daycare provider say when you switched? – I have the greatest woman watching E during the day while I worked.  I brought it up to her before I made any purchases to make sure she was OK with it.  She said it was my baby so my choice.  Instead of just sending her over one day with no disposables and only CDs I started slowly.  I would send over one or two for her to put on during the day when she wanted to get use to them.  Then slowly I sent E over with less and less disposables.  Currently E takes six CDs and four disposables with her everyday to daycare.  The disposables are for emergency use and the same four have been in her bag for three months.

My daycare lady actually prefers them!  There are never any poo-explosions with them.  She would put the poop diaper in a plastic bag and then into the wet bag for awhile, but she’s gotten over that!

If you have a question that I didn't answer feel free to email as growingupanjwife@gmail.com!  I would love to hear from you too.