Today is the final day of the flats and handwashing challenge and as this was my first year I really think it was a success. I have been using flats for the past month so that I could report the results of my flats diaper trial but of course the hand washing was completely new to me. Today blogger are covering their Overall Experience so I figured I would cover some pros and cons from the experience as well as any tips and tricks I have learned this week.
Using Flats-
Pros:
- Easy to use and easy to wash
- Relatively trim, especially in one layer
- Very inexpensive
- Easy to customize absorbency
Cons:
- Not as daddy or babysitter friendly (although mine did figure it out)
- Require more laundry folding time to prepare for baby's use
Hand washing compared to machine washing:
Pros:
- Inexpensive
- Faster than using my washing machine
- More control over each cycle, you can actually see what is going on as you wash
- Good work out :)
Cons:
- Loads need to be smaller so potentially washing more frequently
- Longer drying time
- More time consuming
- Labor intensive, hard on back and tiring
- Flats not as soft as when put in a dryer
Tips and Tricks:
Here are some of the things that I have learned this past week. I started thinking about what changes I would make if I was going to be using flats and hand washing for the long term and wanted to share them here.
1. Keep it simple, I like to just pad fold so that I don't have to struggle with a squirmy baby or worry about getting it right. You also don't need a fastener if you pad fold.
2. To make it easier for other people that may be changing your baby, have a few covers with flats in them and ready to go and your other flats pad folded and read to be placed in a cover.
3. Buy real flats. Based on my diaper trial I would say that its worth while to spring for some real flats (but it can't hurt to have some FST or blankets for back up).
4. Buy a Mobil Washer, this contraption was amazing and I never had any problems getting my diapers clean. My flats come out of my washing machine still folded in half but there was so much agitation with the Mobil washer that they were completely unfolded when I was done.
5. Change the handle on your Mobil Washer so that you can stand up straight and agitate.
6. Buy or make a diaper sprayer, getting everything rinsed off right away will make your washing easier. I also would rinse REALLY, REALLY well with my sprayer.
7. For the long term I would want to wash every other day so I would buy a second bucket and keep the first days diapers in the first bucket and the second days in the second bucket. Then when I am ready to wash just put both buckets in your tub and perform the same steps on each. It will take a little longer to do each "cycle" but at least you have every other night free.
8. I used a drying rack which didn't have a lot of room for more than 7-8 flats, so I would get a line or something else that holds more to dry.
Overall I really think that hand washing is very doable. Maybe I just has crazy expectations, thinking that it would be miserable, but I didn't find it to be exceptionally hard, time consuming or gross.
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