If you can take out the trash, you can use a diaper service. They're very
similar — except instead of a stinky trash can, we leave behind clean
diapers.
On your pickup day, you leave your dirty diapers in a bag outside your door.
You'll mark on a tag how many clean diapers you have left. We'll pick them
up and leave you a bag of fresh diapers — you don't even have to be
home.
You do not rinse or soak your diapers. Just put them in the bag! Once your
baby has solid poops, flip them into the toilet and throw the diaper into
the pail. (You're supposed to do this with disposables to
help keep untreated waste out of the landfill, but no one really ever does
that.) We also offer flushable diaper liners to make this
easy task even easier.
We also offer a part cloth/part disposable package if your daycare
is resistant to cloth diapers or you are planning to travel. We carry Tushies
brand disposables, which don't contain the super absorbent chemical gel (click
here to see why that's good), aren't bleached, and use a cotton mix
containing wood pulp from sustainable, renewable, family-owned forests.
Getting started
Give us a call or e-mail and we'll set you up
with the right size and number of diapers. If you call before your baby's birth,
we will arrange our first
delivery for several weeks before the baby is due. When your baby is born,
just give us a call to start regular service. At our first delivery,
we will demonstrate how to use the diapers and answer any questions you may
have.
We
also provide
you with the tags you will use to mark how many clean diapers you have left.
(Clean diapers should only be turned in after you have spoken to us about a
size change or a number drop.)
To start service, we ask for first and last month's fees as a deposit. You
will always only pay for service you use — anything else will be promptly
refunded. Then we will bill you every four weeks for the following four weeks.
On your first and second deliveries you will receive the full number of diapers
ordered. Each delivery after that will be for the number of diapers we
picked up the week before. You'll still have any clean diapers you didn't
use, so
that will keep you at about the same number of diapers each week.
For example:
Week 1: We deliver 70 clean diapers.
Week 2: We deliver 70 clean diapers. We pick up 67
dirty diapers from Week 1.
Week 3: We deliver 67 clean diapers. We pick up 68
dirty diapers from Week 2.
Week 4: We deliver 68 clean diapers. We pick up 65
dirty diapers from Week 3.
Washing process
We use a washing formula developed by the National
Association of Diaper Services.
Basically, your diapers are washed using multiple changes of very hot water.
We add an alkali to help the detergent work better, a minimum amount of bleach,
several rinses and then we balance the ph level, leaving no residue behind.
Because
we wash many more diapers than you would at home, we are able to use less water
and detergent per diaper while getting them exceptionally clean. We are in
the process of becoming accredited by the National Association of Diaper Services,
which requires a diaper be sent to a lab each month to be tested for bacteria,
absorbency and ph level.
Odds and Ends
Vacation
If you go on vacation, just give us a call. We'll arrange to pick up dirty
diapers and leave you either extra diapers (if you want to cloth diaper
while on vacation) or provide you with Tushies disposables.
Trial period
If you're not sure you want to use cloth, we welcome you to try it. We recommend
you give it at least two weeks. If you decide it's not for your family, you'll
pay only for the two weeks of service.
What not to do
Please do not wash your diapers at home. Diapers often become stained
that way. Also, please avoid Regular or Original Formula Desitin diaper
cream because the high levels of cod liver oil will stain the diapers. Any other
formula of Desitin or other diaper cream is fine.
