The curse of the stinky pocket diapers

Pouring rain + baby + appointment = suck! I had a doctor's appointment today and it seemed like anytime I parked and got ready to get out of the car the torrential downpour would start, then as soon as I got inside it would slow down, then repeat when it was time for me to go back outside again. Luckily car seats have those hood things, but it's still a huge pain in the ass. It's hard enough carrying a car seat when my left side is weak and sore from surgery still, it's even harder when it's raining out for some reason.

So, when I first started cloth diapering I was in love with bumGenius. I still like them, they are extremely convenient when you are out of the house and need to change a diaper, but if you asked me yesterday if I still liked them I would have said no and that I was going to sell them all to buy different diapers, probably prefolds. We just bought a new washing machine, one of those fancy front loaders. Front loaders + cloth diapers = some of the longest laundry washing sessions you have ever had in your life. Since I can no longer do a cold soak I have to run the diapers through a cold cycle with no detergent, that cycle is about an hour long. What the hell!? Then after that I put it on "the works" with detergent which is a hot wash with an extra rinse. EIGHTY FIVE minutes. Yes. What!? That's insane. So there you go, two and a half hours devoted to diaper laundry, but just the washing part, not the drying. Yesterday it was a bit longer. My bumGenius finally decided to start smelling terrible. I mean, at least we have gotten through 3+ months, but seriously, it was really bad and it was really irritating. I tried a cycle with some oxy clean, didn't work. I tried bleach. Nope. I then boiled the microfiber inserts and washed them and the covers with vinegar, even though you aren't supposed to. I used everything I wasn't supposed to, I think the vinegar is what finally worked. Elijah peed in a bunch today and they don't make me want to die when I take them off him, so that's a good thing, and something helped, I just don't know what. Maybe it was the combination of ridiculous things I had to do. Regardless, I spent about 4 hours washing a dozen damn diapers. I am now going to strictly use my prefolds at home, or any diapers that are made with natural fibers and not synthetic. My prefolds do not stink at all, and they clean so easily! I will still use my pocket diapers, but I am going to try to reserve them for when we leave the house.

Elijah is sleeping right now, he's so damn cute that I'm going to have to cut this entry short so I can go cuddle up next to him.

xo