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| Jo Fold |
What have I learned? I've learned that I can most certainly handle washing diapers by hand if I need to. I learned that I can most certainly get by using nothing but flat diapers and covers if needed. I have learned that I will start using flats a lot more, but I will still be using my favorite pockets, fitteds and prefolds. I'm a cloth diaper addict. I like all kinds. I have learned that I still hate Boingo fasteners. I keep trying to make them work for me, but they just do not provide me with enough of a tight diaper install. It makes my already sloppy folds (baby girl does the alligator death roll for diaper changes) even sloppier and quite loose. They are large, so when they shift around they end up rubbing her thigh. Not cool. I'll stick with my snappis and maybe learn how to use pins.
I've done more handwashing loads. I try to wash a little more often so I don't end up with a giant load. We do not pay for the water usage for the apartment washing machines, so I can't compare washing in a machine versus washing by hand. I sometimes feel as if washing by hand uses more water. I'll have to check our water usage bill next month. We have had a lot of thunderstorms rolling through in the past few days which lends a certain dampness to the air at certain times. Since we live in an apartment, outdoor drying is out of the question and we're using a drying rack in the bedroom. Our first load took nearly twelve hours to dry. Subsequent loads have been put on the rack during the day. I've had drying times between 2 hours and 6 hours. I had originally thought of hanging my covers on dress hangers in the bathroom. I don't recommend it. Our bathroom does not have a window, so the air circulation sucks. It took nearly 24 hours for those covers (Thirsties and Bummis) to dry compared to about 6 to 8 hours of drying time for covers that were placed on the rack. Covers like Thirsties, which are all PUL, dried quicker than Mudshrimps, which have a suede cloth lining. However, the lined Mudshrimps on the rack dried way faster than anything hanging in the bathroom. A lot of parents recommend rolling your covers in a dry towel to help get excess fluid out and facilitate faster drying. That's not happening here. If I use a towel, it's to dry my fabulously naked body after shower. I would probably sing a different tune if I had less covers and truly needed them dry quicker. For now, meh. It's an excellent tip, though, and it will work well if you decide to try it.
I discovered a new fold yesterday. It's known as the Jo fold (who names these things?) and I really love it. If you click on that link, you'll see a video tutorial showing you how to do it. Kim of Dirty Diaper Laundry makes fantastic tutorials. The Jo fold will essentially leave you with some like a prefold. It almost looks like a pad fold in it's final stage, but it allows you room to fan out the back and do an angel wing fold to create poop catching leg gussets. I can do this one without a snappi and just throw a cover over it and it works well.
I do have to make a nit-picky comment. I wasn't pleased to see Kim commenting that, "When a job has to get done leave it to a woman." Sigh. She probably was not coming from a malicious place with that comment and I understand that we women are spectacular and that it's mostly, if not all, women in this little challenge. Still - really? My husband could handle this challenge just fine. In fact, I'll get some pictures of him folding diapers, handwashing and hanging diapers tomorrow. It's funny - I was in the bathroom sloshing away in a bucket full of diapers and while I did that, my husband washed dishes, vacuumed while holding the baby, got my son ready for bed, changed a diaper, rocked the baby to sleep and then came in to help wring out a few wet diapers and hang them. Let's hear it for the boy!
P.S. Pictured above is a Swaddlebees flat in a Jo fold, fastened with a Snappi and soon to be covered in a custom Mudshrimps David Bowie cover. Bowie is all like, "ooh, I fancy a flat diaper." Maybe.
Tune in tomorrow for more musings on flat diapers.
Please visit my other links on this challenge:
The introductory post - Flat Butt
Flat Butt - Day 1 - The Small Print
Flat Butt - Day 2 - The Stash
Flat Butt - Day 3 - Laundry Day
Flat Butt - Day 4 - Folding, Folding, Folding
And please check out these links from other parents in the challenge.
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