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The Question:

Can you use microfiber against baby’s skin in a cloth diaper?

The Answer:

No. Microfiber is used for internal soakers and pocket stuffers because of its amazing capability to absorb a lot of wetness. It works so good in fact that if it is in contact with a baby’s skin it will absorb moisture from the skin and leave it dry an irritated. It also has a very irritating texture that is annoying to adults even so it would not be a good choice to put against a baby’s skin.

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The Problem:

A new mom who is just beginning to use cloth diapers in concerned with the excessive wetness of her baby’s skin. The prefolds and cotton fitteds she is using seem to be saturated quickly and when she changes his diaper, his tender skin is pruny and wet from extended contact with a very wet diaper. She doesn’t want to go back to disposable diapers but she really likes the fact that they seem to keep her son’s skin dry. So what can this mom do?

The Solution:

It excessive wetness is a problem, perhaps as a result of having a child that is a heavy wetter then it might be better to choose a cloth diaper with a synthetic inner layer such as suedecloth or microfleece. These two fabric choices form a “stay dry” layer and they wick moisture away from baby’s skin. Many AIOs, fitteds, and pocket diapers on the market utilize these options. Fuzzi Bunz is a popular choice. If it is not an option to get new diapers then investing in a several microfleece liners to lie over top of the cotton layer in your existing diapers will help.

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By CHRISTINE MCMANUS
ChristineMcManus@coloradoan.com

Reusable cloth diapers have come a long way, according to Irene Watterson.

The long-time Fort Collins resident and mother owns Rocky Mountain Diaper Service with her husband, Rich Watterson.

Their small business delivers fresh cloth diapers to households in Northern Colorado and Denver and picks up customers’ used diapers once a week.

The biggest hurdle the business faces is the perception that cloth diapers are not a viable option, said Irene Watterson.

She said cloth diapers today are softer and more absorbent than those from 30 years ago.

“When people think of cloth diapers, they think of old, leaky ones of the past that need pins,” said Irene Watterson. “But they’re not like that. They have outside waterproof covers with Velcro.”

Rocky Mountain Diaper Service gives customers bags for soiled diapers, which customers leave on the front porch for pickup on a specified day.

Once customers begin using Rocky Mountain Diaper Service, 80 percent stick with the service until their child outgrows diapers, said Irene Watterson.

Many customers receive several months of the service as a baby shower gift.

The service costs $15.80 per week for newborns and becomes cheaper as babies get older and use fewer diapers.

Fort Collins and other cities’ recent policy shifts toward recycling might provide a window of opportunity for Rocky Mountain Diaper Service. Estimates indicate the average baby uses one ton of diapers that go into the landfills.

“Our service fits with what the city is trying to do to reduce waste going into the landfill,” Irene Watterson said. “We’re battling the convenience of disposing.”

The Wattersons bought the business 12 years ago from the previous Fort Collins owner. The previous owner had the business for more than a decade.

Annual revenues of the business range from $80,000 to $100,000. They have no employees.

“Owning our own business has given us the flexibility to spend time with our own kids,” Irene Watterson said.

The business owners have a 15-year-old daughter Annie, and a 13-year-old son Tyler.

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As reported by KARE 11 TV in St. Paul, MN:

Sandy Lundgren opened Cheek to Cheek Diaper Service 16 years ago to serve little behinds.

Today her business is threatened by some big buts. But for rising energy prices Lundgren wouldn’t have been forced into a weekend waitress job to keep Cheek to Cheek afloat.

But for $100 dollar fill-ups for her delivery van, she might not have needed the loans against her home.
“It’s horrible, it’s hard to keep going,” says Lundgren. “$2.85 for regular and $2.84 for diesel, and tomorrow I’m sure it will be higher.”

Already Lundgren is spending $10,000 more a year to fuel her van than she was three years ago, and more on natural gas to dry her diapers too. She once battled eleven competitors delivering cloth diapers in the Twin Cities area; she’s now the only one left.

Rising energy prices are not solely to blame; cloth diapers have fallen out of favor with many parents. But Lundgren wonders if heads of oil companies making record profits ever think of people like her. “How do these people ever sleep at night,” she says. “They’re just picking away at us piece by piece.”

Lundgren says it would be sad if Minnesota loses its last cloth diaper service, but another quarter or fifty cents a gallon may be more than she can afford.

To Sandy something stinks, and it’s not coming from the back of her van.

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