Pour Some Lanolin On Me

We have officially entered the world of cloth diapering. I dragged Rick, kicking and screaming, but he's sort of on board now. I would never have attempted to cloth diaper with Charlotte because A) I thought it was totally gross, and B) she literally pooped every hour on the hour. Her pooping finally slowed down after the first year and she went down to a reasonable number of poos by the time she was two. I'm sure that she's going to love reading this when she's older. Penelope pees a lot, but only poops once a day usually, so that makes cloth diapering less daunting.

Since I knew nothing about using cloth diapers, I did a lot of research online and consulted my friends who have used cloth. After borrowing Jessica's stash for a couple of weeks, I decided that I wanted to go ahead and start my own stash. I liked the idea of covers and prefolds because they're easy to wash an economical. I also loved being able to use the same cover and just swap out a dry prefold for the wet one. I found a bunch of prefolds on craigslist and from another friend, and Rick dyed them for me, using Rit liquid dye (purple, sunshine orange, teal).

I got a few covers from Craigslist and a bunch from Diaperswappers. It was significantly cheaper to buy everything used. My original plan was to make my own covers, but I found used ones, in almost new condition, for what it would have cost me to make them. I'll save my cover sewing supplies for the next size up, when Penelope needs them.

While I was researching cloth diaper sewing patterns and tutorials, I learned that a lot of people love using wool or fleece soakers (pull on diaper covers), over a prefold or fitted. Since I had a bunch of thrift store sweaters that I felted a while back, I decided to sew some soakers. I used Katrina's Quick Sew Soaker pattern. It was really simple, and they turned out great. I knew that they had to be lanolized, because lanolin is what makes wool water repellent. I filled up my kitchen sink with very warm water. I put a 1/2 tsp. of lanolin (good old Lansinoh for sore nipples) and a 1/2 tsp. of baby wash into a squeeze bottle. I added very hot water and shook it until all of the lanolin was dissolved. I added the lanolin mixture to the water in the sink and then added the soakers. I let the soakers sit in the sink for half an hour, adding warm water and swishing them around to make sure that they were saturated. I then drained the sink and gently squeezed out the excess water from the soakers. I layed them flat on a towel and then rolled and squeezed them in it. They're air drying now, and I can't wait to try them out.

My hands are super soft from the lanolized water, and now I want to bathe in it.

Currently I'm sewing some fleece soakers (same site for the pattern) and I'll also be converting some of my prefolds into fitted diapers. I'll be sure to post pictures of those projects as soon as they're completed.