Three days hadn't passed since the flats challenge before my daughter had a severe diaper rash. It was most pitiful because she's able to verbalize her pain now. I brought her home from church on Wednesday evening and as I pulled her out of the car and she started whining-- "It hurts. Mommy, diaper hurts!" I rushed into the house and took the diaper off as fast as I could, quickly holding a cool, baby wipe over the area for a couple of seconds and then applying Grovia's Magic Stick (which hurt her even more as it was being applied. Then, because she hadn't had a rash during the entire flats week (well, she had a little irritation at one point that disappeared in an hour), I pulled out the flats. I used my tried and true night-diapering flat solution--a kite fold with a trifold--and then added a wool cover. The rash had all but disappeared by morning, which was a blessing because it meant I could send Bunny to daycare with pockets and not flats.
Flats Challenge week has also helped me realize that I like line drying even without the clothesline I so crave. I haven't sunned my diapers once since cloth diapering--not until the flats challenge when I dragged my drying rack outside because I didn't want to wait the extra time it would take them to dry downstairs. Once I realized that dragging the rack from the basement to the patio wasn't that bad, I was encouraged to try it again. So, I dried my pockets--inserts and all--on the rack in the sun yesterday and let me tell you, those inserts never dried so fast! My basement is a pretty dry place because we have a dehumidifier, but it would still take them over 24 hours to be line dried down there. Outside, with strong sun and some wind, it took about 2. I was shocked and delightfully surprised. Now, we are planning on putting up a clothesline soon, but in the meantime, I'm not waiting to sun my diapers until that happens.
