What to do with solids is a very common question that comes when people start considering cloth and/or first switch to cloth.
The good news is that it’s really not complicated and doesn’t have to be as gross as you might have imagined.
First things first – buy a good pair of rubber gloves. Even if you never touch poop these babies will set your mind at ease.
There are three main types of solids.
- Breastfed Solids (completely breastfed)
- Formula
- Food Solids
Breastfed solids don’t need anything to be done to them. You can take the diaper off of your baby, toss it into your pail and then straight into the wash on laundry day. The solids will wash away on their own in your wash cycles. No work needed. You will be amazed.
All other solids should be dumped into the toilet and flushed away. This generally includes formula & food solids, or anything that is more truly ‘solid’.
What you will want to do is take the diaper off of your baby and simply dump the solids into the toilet. Unfortunately, not all solids are truly ‘solid’. Some might need some help to actually get off of the diaper and into the toilet.
The options.
1) Diaper liners. I have heard good things about these liners. The idea behind these is to put them into your diapers and then if baby poops, you simply dump the liner, poop and all. No fuss.
2) Scrape. Some people use some sort of utensil to scrape the poop from the diaper. Perhaps a cheap spatula, knife, etc. bought specifically for this purpose. I do this for diapers that aren’t easily dumped, and then put them into my pail.
3) A diaper sprayer. These attach easily to your toilet and you can wash away the solids right there and be done with it.
4) A utility sink with sprayer faucet. Similar idea as the sprayer. I have this set up from Lowe’s. The great thing about this is that I can use it for stained laundry (soaking) and for washing and lanolizing my wool 🙂 Once washed out of course 🙂
I find that the wash tub is nice for me because we had room for it by our washer. I dump solids in to the toilet, put them into my pail. On wash day, I put on my gloves, put the wet diapers into the wash, the ones with solids/remnants into my wash tub and then spray them off. It takes me a few minutes and then I put them into the wash too.
My diapers don’t have any stains, and I really think the sprayer plays a large roll in that 🙂 Plus, I feel like my diapers get really clean. The less that goes into the wash, the less that the detergent needs to fight 🙂 Or at least that’s how I see it 🙂
I love flushable diaper liners! I prefer Bummis brand because they feel a little softer – I imagine them being more comfy against my little guy's bum.
I disagree with your assessment – purely formula fed babies' poop is no different than breast fed baby poop. First, its the same consistency so difficult to scrape. Second, it comes out in the wash anyway. We always just threw them in as is when we hadn't started solids yet.
Great post! Thanks! Happy to have found your blog 🙂
Great post! Thanks! Happy to have found your blog 🙂
Great post. My4 month old is formula fed and we just dump straight into the wash. I did buy some flushable liners and will start to use them when there is more waste and it is a little more solid.
Thanks for the information! There’s so many options to go through. We are definitely thinking of the diaper sprayer but I’m glad to know that we won’t have to worry about it at first when baby comes along and we can put the cloth diapers directly into the washing machine.
Good to have this handy for when baby #2 gets to that stage
I made a stack of liners out of micro-fleece that I laid inside all our nappies. They’re meant to keep baby feeling dryer, (and yes, I know that may not always be preferable, and some say can slow down potty training, but overnight or on long car-rides, it’s an advantage i think). But best of all, poop doesn’t stick to the micro fleece. I would tip any lumps in the toilet, and the rest just washed off easily. No stains, easier to deal with at changing time, I loved my fleece liners.