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Sunday, October 26, 2003
under control - 07:15 PM
i'm really pleased with how i'm going with things at home with riley. i even have some sort of routine which i've been able to implement to keep on top of the everyday jobs. riley himself keeps changing his routine every three or four days, but i've been able to work mine around his.
in the afternoon or early evening, i collect all the washing for the day, which is usually comprised of spew rags (hand towels dedicated to the job), riley's clothes, soaked breast pads & nappies. everything but the nappies i throw into a washing basket in his room which i then take to the laundry.
his nappies, i've been dry-pailing. we don't actually use the word 'pail' here, we simply call it a bucket, but dry-bucketing doesn't really sound quite right. anyway, we put his dirty nappies into the nappy bucket just near his change table. it doesn't have any water in it at all, i simply close the lid to keep flies out & the (relatively innocuous) smell in. the cloth wipes, which i made out of terry towelling nappies (i cut each one into nine squares then hemmed them with zig zag stitching) also go in there.
using the dry-pailing method not only saves water, but it means that i don't have to carry a heavy bucket to the laundry when i want to get his nappies out. when it's time to put them into the washing machine, i use the little squirt to clean off the mess then i throw them into the machine.
i put laundry detergent in (environmentally friendly, thank you very much 
) & turn the washing machine to the soak cycle, which fills it up, gives it a bit of agitation & then stays full of water. i leave the lid open, then anything which gets dirty from then on until the morning, i simply throw into the machine.
first thing in the morning, after riley's morning feed, i turn the machine to a normal cycle, making sure to put the cycle control to drip dry. when it stops there (or if i catch it beforehand) i put a couple of big splashes of vinegar into the final rinse to take out the urine smell, the finish the cycle.
when it's done i put most things in the dryer, & hang the nappies out on the line in the sun to remove any stains which didn't come out in the wash. it usually takes me the rest of the day, between feeding & changing riley, to get the washing back inside & fold it, but having it ready to go first thing means that it actually gets done.
i've been very successfully using the bottom wipe liquid together with his cloth bottom wipes. i've been making up chamomile tea & adding a drop of lavendar oil. i have a plastic container which was emptied of the commerical wipes which i stack the cloth wipes into then pour the mixture over to soak them, ready to use on a pooey bottom. initally i was using a drop of tea tree oil, but his skin seemed to be a little bit sensitive to it, so i changed to the lavendar.
speaking of bottoms, he had a tiny bit of bottom rash a while ago which, although it wasn't bad, was quite persistent. i haven't had to use any disposable nappies at all for a number of weeks. i was using them at night, but now that i have enough cloth nappies to take him through a whole day & night, he's exclusively in cloth. since i stopped using even one disposable nappy a day, the bottom rash went away totally. it seems cloth is much better for him. i also found that even after a short wear of a wet disposable nappy, he'd end up with tiny little balls of gel stuff on his skin which had seemed to escape the nappy. i didn't like that at all. who knows what that stuff was doing to his sensitive little nether regions!?
i've found the best solution to a well priced, yet excellent nappy bag. the one i was using was at the cheaper end of nappy bags, & i wasn't very happy with it. it was a proper nappy bag in a back pack style from a baby shop, but it had only one small pocket & a very stiff draw string opening to the main section. everything had to be in the one large space so it was difficult to keep things in order.
the other day when i was at australia post, i took a closer look at the back pack picnic bags which they've been selling along with all their calculators, calendars, stationery supplies & other gizmos. it has two double-zipped sections (you know, where there are two zippers so you can unzip it from either end) with the front section having bits of elastic sewed in to hold the plates, cutlery & plastic wine glasses for a picnic. it comes with those items as well as a plastic backed picnic blanket.
i bought it & emptied out the picnic items. it's the perfect nappy bag! i use the elastic things to hold my water bottle & the nappy wipe wash, as well as zip-lock bags to hold dirty nappies. that front section also holds clean nappies & some disposables for 'just in case'. the 'lid' section of it has some elastic which held the plates, which are perfect to hold the travel pack of cloth wipes & the plastic padded nappy change mat. in the back section i keep dry stuff like spare spew rags, a change of clothing for riley, a bunny rug & mummy things such as breast pads. the front of the bag also has a zipped pocket in which i put a notepad & a pen.
it cost $39.95, as much as the original one i bought which was really useless. the shoulder straps on the old bag are just wide webbing with no padding, but the new bag has thicker, padded shoulder straps & it's much more comfortable. even though it looks smaller, there's much more room in it & things stay organised.
i've been keeping on top of many things around the house, along with help from shroom. riley is happy & healthy & filling out nicely. things are going well. i'm really pleased. 
I have no idea who designs the nappy bags! I never got a proper one as they were like the first one you described and I prefer lots of pockets. I've made do with a backpack and a toilet bag/organiser thing from Kathmandu, the clothing store, not the place! It's great and lots of other Mum's have seen it and done the same thing.
those `little squirt` things are great, that`s what I used at work to get the job done in Australia. In Japan we don`t have one of those, but I haven`t been working with the babies, so It`s not been an issue.
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