Diapering in different climates
was not something I had ever thought about before. That was
until I found myself 2000 miles away from all things familiar,
in a climate significantly different then what I was used to. I
never imagined that the way I diapered my daughter and laundered
her diapers would do a complete 180…but it did.
When I began my diapering career
I was living in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. The weather was often
dry and hot and since we lived just outside the city we had well
water and no water softener. I was easily able to slip into a
comfortable routine of washing diapers every 4 days, doing two
washes and a rinse. Hanging them to dry in the house or drying
them in a dryer was a lightning fast operation, about an hour
would do it.
If I became very busy and
couldn’t get to the diaper laundry within 4 days…it was no
problem. The dry climate meant the diapers could sit for well
over a week without a stench building up and they came clean
just fine. Mildew and mold were non-existent.
Because I found washing diapers
to be so easy and the drying time so fast I quickly became
enamored with AIOs or All-in-Ones. They were the easiest and
most convenient diaper type for us. MY least favorite diaper was
the pocket style diaper because it had different components that
needed to be used in conjunction to make the diaper work
effectively. For me, this was just extra work and I avoided them
whenever possible.
All of that changed, however;
when I moved to Ohio. I now found myself in climate that was
very moist and humid and this changed the way I diapered.
Because of the humidity I found that my daughter’s diapers must
be laundered every other day. Why? Well, the moist, humid air
would cause a mildew smell to form and the stench would be
noxious after only 3 days. I also noticed that the diapers
attracted flies (which we have few of in Arizona) which if left
unchecked could lead to…gasp….maggots. Yuck!
Drying outdoors became my
favorite method for drying (in nice weather) because the diapers
took significantly longer to dry, maybe even 2-3 dryer cycles.
So I just decided to hang them on the line and conserve some
energy. To my surprise, line dried diapers in Ohio smelled fresh
whereas in Phoenix, line dried diapers got stiff and hard, and
the smell was not something to be admired.
Our new residence in Ohio has a
water softener which also added to my diaper laundering
dilemmas. Diapers were much harder to get clean because they
didn’t rinse out very well. Using a tiny amount of detergent and
doing more rinses seemed to be the only solution.
These experience made me re-think
my favorite style of diaper. If I were back in the West I have
no doubt that AIOs would still win out. But here in the East, I
came to like the fact that pocket diapers could be disassembled
and thereby more efficiently cleaned. To my surprise I found
myself gravitating toward and purchasing more pocket diapers and
selling off my AIOs, which had become troublesome to keep clean
and dry.
Overall, I am glad I have had a
chance to try diapering on both coasts because it has helped me
be a more rounded proponent of cloth diapering and I am now more
understanding of other mom's diapering dilemmas.
© The
Diaper Jungle
