photo by Surely Sweet Photography

Changing Diapers: the Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering

Friday, September 2, 2011

I Flip'd out!

Riley woke me (and Eli) up at 7:15 this morning by yelling, not really sure what was so important.  So by 9:00 am we were dressed and ready to run some errands.  I realized when we got to the second stop that I left the diaper bag at home.

Uh oh.

The fully stocked diaper bag... sitting at home alone.

But I saw I had the trusty back up Flip cover and 2 stay dry inserts in the car, so I knew we were fine.  The disposable wipes I keep in the car as backup were dried up, but I knew I could just use wet paper towels if/when I needed to change his diaper. 

After a couple errands, we had lunch at In N Out Burger.  Yum!  The boys ate well, and drank lots of lemonade.  Then off to the mall to play for the boys to run off some of their boundless energy.

I changed Eli into the Flip cover and 1 stay dry insert, and put the extra insert in my purse.  Just in case.  I didn't think we'd need it.  After all, they were just going to play for a bit before going home.

Fast forward 20 minutes when I smell something stinky when E came to get a drink.  But I knew we had the extra Flip insert, so we were okay.  A quick change in the family restroom and a "borrowed" bag from Gymboree, and the boys were playing again in no time!  Crisis averted.

It was almost time to leave when I smelled it again.  I checked, hoping it was another kid, but I knew it was Eli.

Okay, now what?  I don't have any blankets or shirts in the car, but we are at a mall....

We went over to Sear's, bought some receving blankets, and I changed Eli again.  I just pad folded a blanket like a flat cloth diaper and reused the same Flip cover (which was still clean enough to use -- no poop got on it!).  And now we have some uber cute "flats"!


Three of the four adorable new "flats" we have.
Bonus:  they were on sale!

I called Ryan on the way home and told him how glad I am we cloth diaper!  Our day would not have been so productve otherwise.

If we still used disposables, I'm not sure we would have finished running our errands today.  Once I realized I left the diaper bag at home, I probably would have just gone home.  If we had made it as far as the mall, I know I could have asked someone at the play area for a diaper.  But we would have gone straight home after the first offense.  Instead, they got to stay to play! 

Making the switch to cloth diapers has made me realize that there are so many things that can work in a pinch!  Blankets, towels, t-shirts, pretty much any cloth item!  So if you're ever in a bind, be resourceful!

From now on, I know that the one cover and 2 inserts are not enough.  In addition to those, I will also keep several flats (either blankets or actual flats), cloth wipes, and a gallon ziploc bag in the car.  Enough for a full day out in case I forget the diaper bag again.


What have you used as a diaper in an emergency situation (of the real kind, or like my situation today)?



4 comments:

  1. My sister uses disposable diapers and she always makes fun of me for using cloth. But then it came back to bite her in the butt. It was my twins 1st birthday. She only had 1 diaper left. She was in the process of putting it on her 1 month old and the little babe peed on it as she was being changed. So now mommy has no diapers and no extras! So of course she turns to me "siiiiiiiister" she yells. "I need some help." So I go see what she wants and she is holding this gerber prefold (she uses as a burp rag) and says "make me a diaper". I start laughing and say "Uhm, well, I can put it on her but i need something to close it like pins or a snappi." (which we had neither of. the only snappi's I had were being used by my boys!) So I start looking around at what can be used as a cover because this prefold would not last through one pee! After little thought, I grab a walmart bag! LOL. I poked little holes out of the bottom for her feet to go through and slide it up her legs. I take the handles and cinch them with my hands then tie a knot in the front. It was so hilarious. The whole family was laughing. Looking back though, I wonder why I didn't get one of my flats and use it on her since I could have tied the flat because she is so small....I just can't remember why now. lol.

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  2. We just recently started cloth diapering. When my daughter was 4 months we spent the night at my mothers house while she took our car to work (she didn't own a car at that time). I didn't realize when she left that we only had 1 diaper in the diaper bag and had left our brand-new pack in the car. lol. Every place near the house where we could have walked to to buy diapers was closed when we realized this. No one was awake to bring us any, either. Once our last diaper was done for, we took a hand towel, some rolled toilet paper, a bigger hand towel, and safety pins and made us a cloth diaper . . . sorta! lol. It was really big and really bulky and had about a dozen safety pins holding it on but we all went to sleep and it kept her from soaking us and the bed until morning and the arrival of the disposable diapers. lol.
    That incident was one reason I pushed so hard to cloth diaper.

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  3. Once my potty-training toddler had an accident at Home Depot. I was in there with 3 kiddos and had forgotten the diaper bag at home. It was winter time and I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt under another t-shirt, so I took off the longsleeve, had a safety pin and pinned the neck closed. Then I stuck her legs through the sleeves (shirt upside down) and cinched the waist with my rubber hairband. That held up for 2 more hours until we got home and I could get some undies & real pants on her. She thought it was funny to "wear mommy's shirt funny" - it's amazing what we can come up with when our backs are against the wall!

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  4. I've dealt with dried up wipes before, mostly because I never use them unless it is an emergency, as in your case. (We CD too). What I learned is that you can just add water to the wipes and they are good to go! Much better than wet paper towels! Glad you are resourceful and didn't really flip out:)

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