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

[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. 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

[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.

[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.

[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.