Cloth Diapering in the Hospital

We have already established that I'm a cloth diapering Mama.. really .. it isn't that hard.
The LAST time he ever wore 'sposies.
But cloth in the hospital takes some maneuvering....  The last two times Lil'C has had a hosptal stay (one over night and one for about a week) we used cloth.   The time before (his open heart surgery) he used the hospital provided Dry Max Pampers......  OMG... his poor poor bum..  Chemical burn.  So I swore then to avoid 'sposies from then on.
So how do you use cloth in the hospital?
There are a few ways.



Hybrid diapers are  one way.  We use Flip diapers.  They have inserts that are organic, stay-dry or disposable (they don't have all the chemicals and junk like the pampers).  We used up the last of our disposable inserts for the week long stay and then swapped to stay-dry and our smartipants.
The biggest  issue is getting the nurses to go along with it.  Ours didn't really have a problem.
They needed to be able to keep up with his "output" and guesstimate his "input" (exclusively breastfeeding both times, and no bottles).   So to be able to get his output they took one clean diaper of each style and weighed them.  Did you know a clean smartipants weighs 3 oz?  I do!
You have to admit it's the cutest back of a hospital gown ever :)
Then when Lil'C filled a diaper I would wrap it up, either in itself (smarti) or in a medical glove (flip inserts).  The nurses would weigh them and have his output measurement.
The trick comes when you start to run out of clean diapers...  which I only had to do a few times on the week long stay, with the overnight stay I just took them home in their wet bag.  Our hospital (one of the Children's Miracle Network) has a laundry room for the families of the kids, they have quite a few long term residents.  I would go to the laundry room and do my normal wash routine.  Thankfully their washers had a pre-wash button so I only had to come back down once to move them to the dryer and then again to take them back to his room.  Really not to  big of a deal.
I fluctuate on if I prefer the smartis or the flips.   Smartis are easier for the novice cloth diaperer to use, but require stuffing when they come out of the dryer.  Flips require no real work post laundry (maybe folded in half for easy storage)  but require you to handle dirty inserts, and are sometimes harder to get on.
Have you ever used cloth diapers?  Do you have a favorite brand or style?  Ever used a Hybrid's disposable insert?  Ever composted it?

6 comments:

  1. Came over here from Company Girl. We do cloth! (except we still use sposies when out and about). I have used the bumgenius all in ones, econobums, flips, fuzzibunz, thirsties, and some super-cute patterned off brand dipes, but hands down my faves are the FLIPs. Econobums are fine for the price, but they don't have the pockets in the front and back, and then there is the bulk of the prefold (although the absorbancy is fine). I am phasing out my other dipes because FLIPs are just my faves. With All In Ones, I have gotten leaks more often. So I definitely prefer the cover option. My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE detergent is Rockin Green (don't like the orangevana scent, love Rage Against the Raspberry, havent' tried others yet). My routine is warm rinse (no detergent) hot wash (with detergent) cold rinse (no detergent). I also LOVE Hemp Babies doublers... they hold a lot of extra weight without the bulk! For wipes I use baby bum drops wipes solution in a squirt bottle, and wipe some fleece I bought at joanne's and cut into squares.

    I haven't caught up on why your little fella is in the hospital but prayers your way.

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  2. also, for dirty inserts, if your little one has a "pooping pattern" and you can pretty much guess when he is going to poop (we have been blessed with a baby who usually poops just once a day now), you can use diaper liners and just toss it without having to clean the insert. What works even better than manufactured inserts is to dry out baby wipes and lay them on top (you may need to for length depending on the brand). They make great poop catchers :-) When they get older and the poo gets more firm, you can just shake it off in the toilet. If it's newborn poo, you don't really have to pre-rinse it because it is so thin. If it's sticky, then you should wash it off first... we used to have a diaper sprayer (similar to a kitchen sink sprayer) hooked up to our toilet, but I'm sure you couldn't do that in the hospital.
    I never really "handle" the inserts... I dump them out of the liner into the diaper pail, and I dump them out of the pail into the wash.

    I have also used the FLIP disposable inserts, and they work well. I don't think their terribly economical, but I also don't think they are terribly popular because cottonbabies.com will let you select a pack for free with the purchase of a FLIP. I have never tried composting... I don't have the green thumbs that the rest of my family got :-p

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  3. Well, when I used cloth it was abt 38 years ago! A little different then they have them now...we used diaper pins and plastic pants over top...my grandson is visiting this weekend and we're doing the cloth diapers...don't know what bthey're called but they have a Y shaped snappy to hold them together and some 'covers' my son calls them...you just have to make sure that the cloth is all tucked in! They're not too difficult, thank goodness!

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  4. Lil'C is a former micro-preemie & also has a major heart condition. Heart kids frequent the hospital. He isn't currently in the hospital, but is likely to return at sometime.
    Antibiotics also give him diarrhea... so no easy scheduling of poo :P

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  5. well you are WAY more committed than I am to cloth dipe with diarrhea! That in and of itself deserves the mother-of-the-year award ;-)

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  6. 2 words... water soluble :D If your worried... do an extra rinse

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