Old Soggy Bottoms- Bidding farewell to "Old Leaky"

"In constant sorrow all through her days.  

I am a woman of constant sorrow.  

I've seen trouble all my days.  

I bid farewell to "Old Leaky.  

The one whom I, have trusted so."

 This is the sentiment of mom's of babies with soggy bottoms (a.k.a. leaking cloth diapers).

Soggy Bottom Boys - "Constant Sorrow"

Cloth Diapering- I knew well before I was ever pregnant that I wanted to use cloth diapers.  One of my co-workers used cloth diapers with her firstborn and then 2 years later with her twins (yep, 3 babies in cloth diapers), and I was sold.  If this woman could work full-time and cloth diaper 3 babies, then I could probably do it too.  I love cloth diapers because they save thousands of disposables from the landfills.  Cloth diapers save us hundreds of dollars. And they are better for my baby's little soggy bottom.  Plus they are so stinking cute.

We use Bum Genius Brand cloth diapers.  We have both the pocket diapers and All in Ones.  Snaps and Velcros.  I like the pockets for when the baby is small, and the All in Ones for when the baby output increases.  I prefer the Velcro kind, but the snaps don't wear out as quickly.  There are ways to purchase gently used cloth diapers.  One of our local stores, Luvaboos, has a consignment sale every year.  Before lady genevieve arrived, I went to one of the sales, and picked up 5 gently used diapers for $50!  Considering they are about $20/diaper, I was excited.  Little did I realize, I knew very little about what to look for in a used cloth diaper.  I just wanted stain-free.  When lady genevieve was a few months old, not even, she started leaking through whenever she'd wear certain diapers.  After investigating, I realized the legs holes weren't tight and I could see her bottom through the huge gap.  Uh Oh, worn elastic!  Cloth diapers that don't hold their contents are no good, and don't serve their purpose at all.  I can't remember how I found out about repairing the elastic in cloth diapers, but I searched the Internet and watched a great You Tube tutorial (there are lots out there).  The first few times, it took me longer than I would have liked and was quite exhausting.  But I was a new mom at that time and was severely lacking in sleep.  Recently, I noticed that the leg holes on our other diapers (that we got brand new), were loose and in need of a refresher.  

Found this tutorial on You Tube-

How to Repair elastic in Bum Genius Diapers

Diaper Repair Kit + other tools used

Cotton Babies (maker of Bum Genius) has a Diaper Refresher Kit.  It includes instructions, Velcro tabs, elastic, and diaper tabs.  I purchased a few and repaired the elastic, diaper tabs and Velcro tabs on my used diapers.  I saved one of the elastic pieces and use it for cutting new elastic to proper length.  I use 1/4" braided elastic for the legs and waist bands.

Elastic replaced (left) vs. Worn out elastic (right)

See the difference?  The white has a much longer (stretched) elastic leg opening

New elastic waist (top) vs. Worn Elastic waist (bottom/white)

Diaper with all elastic removed

Diaper turned inside out

Opening where elastic is removed and then replaced

A diaper with refreshed elastic!

My first round of refreshing diaper elastic went quite slowly.  This time around, I can sew in 3 new bands of elastic in 30 minutes.  The part that takes the most time is seam ripping the old elastic out.  I will bring a diaper and seam ripper wherever I go, and if I have a few free minutes I work on ripping elastic out, in preparation for new elastic.  I use my sewing machine to sew new elastic in, but on a recent 6 hour drive, I hand sewed a few elastic bands while in the care.  It takes a while longer, but if you do not have a sewing machine, doing it by hand works just as well.

Another reason Cloth Diapers rock-  Just like most material things in this life- they don't last forever.  Cloth diapers do wear out!  But thankfully they are very easy to refresh, which means more money savings, as you can use them for multiple children.  Think about the money savings!