Cloth Diapering Hell

So I started cloth diapering part time in the beginning of the month. I really want to like it, I do. But I HATE it!! :( This morning is a great example of WHY. Last night, I thought I should put them both in cloth diapers. I want to use them as much as possible, and I find that I'm actually either away from the house a lot or the covers are not clean, so they end up in disposables. So I went with it. I had done it before, but this weekend we were WAY too exhausted. I woke up to screams at about 7:30, which to us is far too early than what we'd like. Zalah has been in our room so that Lyla can learn to sleep through the night. But Zalah has been waking up around 3am and not going back to bed with us, even when we try. Last night she did just that, after we went to bed at 2am! I wouldn't even mind getting up at 7, which I have to do for days I have class anyway, but I try to get to bed at 12 or so. Also, its harder when I'm awake at night, and I think so far they've both slept through the night together only once or twice. :P So at 7:30, it was Lyla's screams that woke me. She had a 'light' poop stuck onto the diaper so while half asleep I changed her. I went to try to clean it off with a plastic knife that I keep for the purpose and then rub it off under running water in either the sink or bucket. I also used to clean the toilet and sink with cleaner after each time because of the fact that it gets where people, especially the kids, can touch. I can't do that anymore. I then added it to my pail with ample baking soda (I think I went through a box in a week or so...it doesn't really help). Zalah was up soon after, full of pee. Chaim has been complaining it reeks like a urinal, and he's not really wrong. So now I rinse those, over and over, as the water turns a little less yellow. My hands reek from doing this. My hands are in water so much of the time anyway, which of course hurts in the New York winter air. I constantly get sprayed with water that is full of excrement. The poop smell never seems to leave me. This morning could have been even worse with double poop duty. Before I used to fold the diapers in a way that the poop got on all the edges and scraping it was a battle. Now its a little better, but I'm always dumping the water with poop bits in it, to get them clean enough to sit in a bucket for a few days before I can get to the laundry. And since I don't use that many, I don't want to do a load that's barely full. This morning was so bad for us, we forced them to go to bed early and we slept on and off until one. :\ After having little sleep all weekend, and basically we don't get much to begin with, we really couldn't take it.

Here comes the second problem: The covers. If they go to the bathroom in them, pee or poop, even without leaks, they REEK! I tried to hand wash them and air dry them, with detergent and baking soda, and they STILL smell. I don't even think they are so fresh after the washer has a go at them. Because I only have two covers, they don't last so long without smelling so once that happens and I wash them, I have to use the disposables again. And there are times I've tried to hand wash all of it, only to put it in the washer anyway because it just doesn't come clean. Today I finally did my load of maybe 12 of them, the covers, the one FuzziBunz I have and some socks for filler. I did it TWICE and still found poop bits afterwards. The second time I used bleach, because I really needed it. The stains have never come out before. After the bleach load, they looked cleaner, except for the one Lyla made this AM. Better than nothing. The covers still smell a little, but its not so bad. (I didn't bleach those.) The kids also HATE being put into the cloth diapers. I asked Zalah if it hurts her and she says no, so maybe it is just the folding and pulling or maybe its how they feel different to them. I don't know. Lyla is in the age where she can NOT sit still for any diaper, which is super annoying.

Despite all this, I keep trying, though every time I hit a "poop" bump in the road it becomes so overwhelming. (They both just pooped, and I'm so GLAD they're in disposables!!) I know it might help if I had more access to a washer, or a sprayer or liners or more covers or all of those things. But that all costs money and I'm not sure if its worth the investment so far into it. Also, I wanted to do this when Zalah was first born, and maybe it would have been easier to start when she had those little mustard squirts for poops. Now I have two "big girls" who have BIG poops, and lately none are the kind that come off easily. This is gross, but they are sticky, tarry and wet. It is a constant battle.

I have to say, the FuzziBunz is THE BEST. I wish I could have a whole supply of them, even from day one. They are SO easy, I haven't had a leak (with the prefolds either really, which is great!). Fuzzibunz are smaller and I think that keeps them easier to clean. It seems like the material is also easier to rub the poop out of. Also they seem to be easier to put on, the bulkiness factor is less and they feel nicer.

I still think cloth diapering is great for the money factor, but all the time I spend cleaning them and how gross I feel afterward really subtracts from that. The kids have less of a rash in them, which is important, but they hate how they feel. They are better for the environment and don't really leak, so in a way they are functional, but depending on the type they can be quite difficult. I wish it was easier!!!! Someone send me a doody nanny!!!