The Dreaded Tummy Bug and a Silver Lining

This is going to be a short post, I think, because I'm just getting back into the swing of things after an eleven day productivity hiatus. Seriously, eleven freakin' days! (Is "freakin'" too offensive for blogging? Hope not, but sorry, I'm new.) Anyway, everybody in the house was hit with a miserable tummy bug. It started with the Pumpkin two Wednesdays ago, and because three-year-olds have a sort of weak sense of hygiene, managed to take each of us down one by one. I swear even my dog threw up one day.

Amidst all the, uh, mess I learned two valuable things: 1) It is a complete waste of time to wipe down every hard surface in the house with disinfectant wipes twice a day. The bug will still get me. And 2) In times of digestive distress, cloth diapers will absolutely save you time, effort and money. Let me explain.

Without going into detail, I will just tell you that the Peanut's output has been something unholy for a few days. We are talking the kind of dirty diaper that would shoot up the back and out the legs in seconds - sort of like a newborn's poopsplosions. Each of those blowouts, if she were wearing a disposable diaper, would have resulted in completely soiled clothing, furniture or worse. Worse being mommy's lap. Maybe it would have been so bad that I would have stripped her naked and actually thrown away the outfit, rather than dealt with trying to clean it. (I confess to having done this once when the Pumpkin was a newborn and I was still afraid of poop.) Or maybe things would have been stained and ruined or whatever. All perfectly plausible scenarios, right?

But none of that happened because the Peanut wears cloth diapers, and most cloth diapers have this fabulously sturdy elastic at both the legs AND the waist.  These diapers contained some serious, superfluous messes. And while I won't tell you cleanup was super-easy, it was way easier than it would have been otherwise. No trash, no poopy clothes in my regular laundry, no lap carnage. Just some particularly messy diapers that I washed at the end of each day (adding a tiny bit of bleach to kill the misery-causing virus).

So to finish, here are a few tips for cloth diapering families when you find yourself (or your kiddos) on the wrong side of the Dreaded Tummy Bug:
1. Stick with cloth. You might end up doing your diaper laundry more often (every day instead of every 2 or 3 days), but you will save yourself time and effort by keeping clothes and linens clean.
2. Make sure your diapers and covers are fitting snugly at the legs. I recently resized my one-size diapers (see previous post), and boy was I glad. Gaps at the legs will undo all of the mess-containing magic that is the modern cloth diaper.
3. Skip the flushable/disposable liners. If your baby has it badly enough that you're not dealing with actual solid matter in her #2s, the liner is just going to be a gross little mess to deal with. (I do otherwise love them though.)
4. Look for covers with leg gussets. They'll give you an extra layer of protection from blowouts. I like Bummis SuperBrites for this reason. I also have a Thirsties wrap, which is great around the legs (though this very popular cover doesn't fit my Peanut well at the top).
5. Stick with the basics. I found myself reaching for my (Bummis brand) organic cotton prefolds over and over this week (I only have six of them!), doing a ""bikini twist" or "poop pouch" fold with them, and fastening with a Snappi. Why? They are crazy-super absorbent, they don't stain or hold stink, and they are soft against irritated skin.

Okay, so it turned out not to be such a short post, but I am feeling better for having found a silver lining in the misery that was last week. Stay healthy, y'all!