Child diapers leaking

[Mambia]

Arghhhh! Hope someone can help with my situation. I have a child in my care who is 18 mths old and wears cloth diapers. Not a fan of this option but I figure if the parents are happy with cloths than so be it. He has been in my care for about 4 mths and on average, once or twice a week he has a leak. Few weeks back, he had a major poop leak that resulted in major cleanup of my own child's bed sheets, bed, carpet, walls and plenty of aftercare to sanitize and fumigate...not to mention that I had to give the child a full bath and new change of clothes. Wasn't overly pleased with this so obviously told the parents and moms reaction was " oh sweety, ur so silly" she later offered to cover Any costs of cleaning, etc. now, we have had situation number 2 where a major explosion of poop took place which continued to run down the child's legs and basically dripped out everywhere he walked/sat, etc....We were having free play time so i noticed shortly after that there was an obvious odor and sure enough, major poopy which leaked out his cloth diaper. I not only had to hose this child down in the shower but had to literally remove all other kids from the room because there was trace of it everywhere and I didn't want anyone to step into it, nor to smell it! Yuk. It took me nearly an hour to clean up the child and the mess. At this point I am extremely frustrated and ready to ask the mom for disposable diapers as a trial to avoid these kind of leaks from happening. I only have 3 kids in my care now but am getting couple more next month and will simply not have the capacity to handle these types of situations. Please give me advice on how to handle...thanks in advance. I'm so :mad:

[Artsand crafts]

That happened to me before. In one of the cases, the diapers protective layer was not working (I think it wore off). She used the ones that looked all like fabric, but will contain very well the pee. After the first accident I asked the mom to test all diapers (pouring water on them) and discard the ones that were leaking. In the meantime I asked them to bring disposables. After checking all of them and bring the good ones we were ok for a while until they started to leak again. So, I just told them that I could not use cloth diapers anymore. She understood that and dcg started to use disposables. If this is not your case, maybe the diapers are not fitting the child properly or after a couple of pees the diaper is so full that it can't contain well the poop. If the latest is the case, that will be very hard on you to keep up. You have to change diapers more often (that happened to me, too). Now kids that I take care of have to use disposables.

[Fun&care]

I would explain to dcm what happened and say that these diapers are just not working out. Its not fair to you to have to clean up a mess like that, i dont think parents realize how stressful these kinds of situations are for a caregiver. :no: Maybe give the option of trying another brand of cloth diapers, or just ask that she brings disposables...up to you.

[momofnerds]

I would ask mom to bring in disposables. Maybe the diapers are not fitting the child anymore thats why he's leaking also let her know, that you need to keep the area clean for the health and saftey of the other children.

[Mambia]

Thanks for your post. He is very skinny and in my opinion, the diapers do not fit him as well as disposables would (I have my own 2 kids) who were raised on disposables and never had this many leaks. Mom insists that disposables leak more because they don't fit him properly, hence the cloths. I disagree but then again, it's not my child. They just leak through the sides even though I put them on as tight as possible to avoid this....he is just so skinny that the diaper wiggles around on him. Biggest prob other than spending my time cleaning up poop and having to use sanitary chemicals around other kids, is that this only happens to him which leads me to believe that the diapers are the prob. No one wants to spend any amount of time cleaning up after such mess occurs and not fair to the other kids. I literally had to remove all my kids from the room and sanitize the floor and open up windows on this chilly winter day. There was poop everywhere...I even stepped on some

[mimi]

This is a huge health issue and I would state that to the "silly" mom. I would let her know that these incidents are unacceptable and the child, while at daycare, must be in disposable diapers.

[playfelt]

I would be asking for disposables at least until mom gets the diapers under control at home. It probably means she is laundering them wrong and a build up on them has made them less absorbant. They could be not fitting well anymore including not coming high enough at the waist, tight enough at the legs so may need to simply purchase some new ones. Elastic can only stand so many washings and wearings before it stretches out.

At minimum if she continues with the cloth she must send child with waterproof plastic pants over the diaper to contain the excess. I assume you are not rinsing and simply bagging all diapers, clothes, etc to be sent home. I also would not bathe the child. I would wipe his down as best I could - old rags from cleaning bin. Then call the parent to pick up and take him home. After a couple times in a week having to take child home she may agree to disposables on her own.

[Mambia]

Agree with everyone about requesting disposables. Afraid moms answer will be that they leak even more on him....then what? Arghhh....not a good day. Just so frustrating to have to clean up his leaks whether it's pee or poo. I just hate having to sanitize while the other kids are enjoying their play and are forced to be removed due to sanitary issues.

[Mambia]

Ya they are Eco friendly so cloth diapers are best in their perspective. They are adjustable Velcro on the waist so I always do them up tight, it's around the legs that they are loose cuz he is so skinny and that's were the leaks form. I'm just tired of always having to give this child extra attention with this kind of thing and taking bath...come on, they should be grateful that this is even done in my opinion. Just not a healthy and safe environment for other kids.

[sunnydays]

With cloth diapers, they need to be stripped every now and then to remove build-up or they leak like that. I can't remember how it is done, but by googling the mom could find out how (I think you have to boil them or something). Also, some brands of cloth diapers are terrible and leak. I used cloth for my daughter and was given some Kushie brand ones and they were awful. I have had many dck's in cloth diapers and mostly had no problem. The other ones that leaked were the Sweet Peach ones from a diaper service. Ask the mom to either fix the ones she has or try a different brand.

[FSD]

This is scaring me!! I have a new dcb starting at the end of March and he will be in cloth diapers. A question though....don't babies outgrow cloth diapers? I just figured that once they really get mobile (walking, running, jumping), that it would be pretty much impossible to continue to use cloth diapers....

[Artsand crafts]

I do not think so FSD. Usually parents expect kids to use cloth diapers until they are potty trained.

[MonkeyMamma]

There could be so many reasons why you are experiencing leaking (I cloth diaper and currently also work in a cloth diaper shop). Do the parents experience blowouts like this at home?

If not, can you have them show you EXACTLY how they put them on. Sometimes different diapers have little tricks to them to make them fit better. Cloth diapers also need to be changed about every 2 hours (not that kids should be sitting in soiled / wet disposables either, but they 'can' go a bit longer). Are the parents using the same type of diaper at home? Are they using diaper creams on them (zinc oxide and petroleum are big no-no's for cloth diapers and cause repelling and leaking).

I hope you and the parents are able to come to a solution that works for everyone!

[Momof4]

I'm confused. I have two dcbabies in cloth diapers. They are huge and fit tightly and leak less than disposables because you don't have the slippery squirt factor in play. Cloth diapers aren't slippery. Do these have the snaps or the velcro?

I love the cloth diapers because everything that goes into them goes home in the bag and not into my garbage. Both my families use the kind with the snaps and they are all snapped up to the right size by the Moms and really thick so leaks are very rare. Maybe you need to ask the parents to find a different kind or size of diapers if you are going to continue to use them at daycare.

Also, I would never bathe a child. I call the parents and ask them to come get their child because they need a bath. Make sure you don't start precedents that will make families expect you to keep doing things for years. Just a tip.

[treeholm]

I also have a child in cloth diapers, and I love them. I don't find they leak more than disposables. I had my own children in cloth diapers as well. I think the trick is to use really good plastic pants and onesies. The onesies hold the diaper in the right spot, and the plastic pants contain any mess that does escape.

[cfred]

I hate cloth diapers. I wish I loved them for the environmental factor but I found that they leaked too, and I tried a few brands. However, my kids are now 15, 16, 22 so I'm sure things have changed some. And taking the soiled liners out, rinsing them in the toilet then storing in a stinky bucket....yick. Nope, not a fan.

I'd just ask for disposables. I won't even allow parents the option of using cloth diapers. You ladies who allow them are a bigger and more patient person than I.

[Mambia]

Based on my experience with dck and cloth diapers, there is absolutely nothing that I am a fan of when it comes to cloth vs disposables. I have 2 of my own kids who were brought up on disposables and I can count the diapers leaks on one hand. This dck has been with me for 4 mths and every other day he has a leak with cloth diapers. It is just gross, unsanitary and stressful to constantly have to change/ launder everything and sanitize everything the child has come into contact with when had a leak. When you have other children n your care, it's not fair to others. The whole idea of putting poopy diapers into a bag, discarding the poop into the toilet and reusing is just disgusting in my mind. I'm sure there is a proper way of caring for these diapers but unfortunately some parents are not the sharpest and then you have situations like mine. Good bra d or bad, they have leaked.

[Bookworm]

I would tell the parents that due to the frequency in which he has leaks with the cloth diapers, you can no longer allow him to wear them as it is very disruptive to your day and takes a lot of time away from the other children.

[Momof4]

Again, let me say that I haven't had any problems with cloth diapers leaking. The ones on the two children in my daycare fit the children properly. However, I had a little 2 year old boy in disposables who had to be picked up by his parents often because he had such loose poops that went up his back and down his legs and were NOT contained by the disposables. I will NOT bathe a child at daycare and agree with you Luppernoodle that it is disgusting and the molecules fill the entire room.

[Artsand crafts]

I had kids in disposables and diapers in the past. I haven't had as many leaks and great messes with disposables that the ones I had witnessed (and cleaned!) with cloth diapers. Maybe the parents do not know how to take care of them properly or I just have had bad luck with the wrong brands.

[3xbluemom]

Huh, I cloth diaper my youngest and I actually find them far less likely to leak than disposables. But, not all cloth diapers are created equal, and sometimes you have to experiment with several different types to find the right fit for your child. Are the diapers she uses able to be adjusted in the legs or rise? Some diapers have snaps to adjust the rise, which will tighten the legs, others (Fuzzibuns and Charlie Bananas) have elastic in the leg that you can pull to tighten the legs, like adjustible-waist pants have. I think these ones are best for a skinny child. I would maybe recommend that she try another brand of diapers or put a diaper cover on over the diaper. Really though, I think it is a bit silly to say that cloth diapers are any less sanitary than a disposible. Mom should be sending a zippered wet bag, just dump the whole mess in there and let her deal with it at home and voila, no more trouble than a disposible and no chemicals on baby's bum!