My Reflections on the #flatschallenge

Were any of you surprised by the results of handwashing your dipes for a week?

I thought the handwashing part would be misery, and I’d be slogging along just waiting for the week to end. Now, I admit, the idea of going down to the basement to wash was never tops on my list of things to do. Still,  I didn’t find it to be total misery.

There were the difficulties:

• With only 12 flats and 1 receiving blanket, I worried about running out before the next batch was dry. This never actually happened.
• Dampness the first two nights caused slow drying. By moving the diapers upstairs and putting the fan on, the problem resolved.
• Drying them on this rack left wood stains on the fabric (which came out in the next wash), so I didn’t use this rack again.

There were the drawbacks:

• Time spent handwashing took away from the day a little. But not much. It’s a viable system if you have access to water, and about 30 minutes each night.
• After day two, I had a stiff neck from the plunging. But by day 5, (after some ibuprofen and a chiropractic adjustment) I felt much better!
• I didn’t care for having my nice bathroom full of drying diapers all day/night. If I did this full time, I’d invest in a metal drying rack to have less of an unsightly scene!
• The last day, I had three leaks in a row. Change-your-baby’s-entire-outfit leaks. I’m not sure why, since I didn’t do anything different. Having more flats would’ve let me double up and prevent that problem.
• The WORST part was hand-wringing the diapers. UGH! This made my hands ache. I have tiny hands, and I’m not super strong, so it was hard for me. If I had to do this long-term, I would definitely not be thrilled!

There were the surprising benefits:

• I didn’t have to wait two and a half hours for a diaper load to finish. My regular laundry seemed to go much faster, since the washer was always available!
• If I had a stain on the diaper, I could immediately see it hadn’t come out, and give that area extra scrubbing. To date, none of my flats look stained.
• Flats don’t require special detergent like other cloth diapers. Although I still used my RNG soap, this would be a benefit to other moms looking to diaper inexpensively, because they wouldn’t have to pay for shipping on heavy detergent orders.
• I was concerned about using diapers on our next camping trip, as it’s going to be longer than we’ve camped before, and little/no access to a washer. Now, I feel confident about handwashing our diapers on our trip! So easy! Plus, I’ll utilize my new-found handwashing skills to keep our own clothes from piling up and getting stinky too!

And what I learned:

• Smaller loads are easier to manage. Larger loads are hard to move around in the 5 gallon bucket.
• Have more than 13 flats in rotation. This would’ve allowed me to handwash every other night. I would’ve had to do two “loads” most likely, but it would save me the “daily” chore aspect.
• Five covers was touch and go, especially when my son had a major blowout one day. Six covers would make for more wiggle room.
• I did not prefer any of the fancy folds. I liked folding the diaper flat into a “pad” and using it just like I use my Flip inserts. So easy! This would not work for wool/fleece soakers though.
• Two diaper flats stuffed into a pocket work perfectly for night time diapering.
• I am incredibly thankful for the modern convenience of my washer / dryer, because I will not be continuing to handwash my flats/diapers unless a serious need arises!
• It IS possible to cloth diaper a baby, even on a low budget, even without washer/dryer access.

So… the flats challenge was a success for me! I’m taking away the knowledge of how to handwash, how to use flats, and that this is a viable option once you figure out your system (which I did in about 2 days!).

If you want to cloth diaper, but can’t spend money on a full stash of expensive diapers, definitely get a few covers and some flats. Hopefully you won’t have to handwash them. But if you do, it’s a great way to save money, if you can put in that extra time.

Lastly, I’d like to point out, using cloth diapers doesn’t have to be full time. Part of this whole “experience” was to determine whether this would/could be helpful for those in need. I believe it can be a viable option. With this inexpensive option (or the ability to make your own diapers out of old t-shirts and towels), no baby should have to sit around all day in the same diaper, as the original news story reported.

Perhaps part-time cloth diapering can be a backup plan that keeps a single mom from having to run out with her baby late at night because the last disposable has been used. Perhaps it’s a way to cut the diaper expenses in half, just by using cloth every other day, or 3 times a day, like the Change 3 Things campaign encourages. I hope more moms consider how cloth can be part of the answer for their needs!

Do you have any questions for me about this challenge that I haven’t answered yet? For those who participated, what was the best/worst part of your experience? What will you do with your flats now?