How The Spray Pal Changed Everything

I received these items at no cost to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.

I don’t like being wrong. I’d like to think it doesn’t happen very often, but I’m sure King Dad would disagree. It would be impossible to be right all the time, but when it comes to cloth diapering, I thought I had it down. Then I got a Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer and Spray Pal Splatter Shield, and it changed EVERYTHING. Okay, maybe it didn’t change everything about the way I cloth diaper, but it changed a pretty big part of it: poop. What do you do with the poop, anyway? There are a variety of options to choose from, and until recently, I thought I had a method that was quick, easy, and convenient. I WAS WRONG. For the entire time I cloth diapered The Heir, I did the “dunk and swish” to remove poop from the diapers. It seemed easy enough with minimal poop touching involved. For whatever reason, I had no patience for the dunk and swish poop removal method with Petit Prince. Maybe it’s because I had two kids to look after now, or maybe my memory of what it was really like had waned. Either way, I was so over dunking and swishing. Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot to the rescue. Want to know what’s actually easy and actually free of poop touching? The Spray Pal.

Let me start by explaining when and how to remove poop from cloth diapers. If your baby is exclusively breast fed (EBF), you do NOT need to rinse or remove their poop from the diapers. EBF poop is water soluble, so just toss those soiled diapers in the wet bag or diaper pail, and wash them on diaper laundry day. If baby is formula fed or once baby starts solid food, you’ll need to remove the poop from the diapers before you wash them. Many EBF moms have asked how they’ll know that it’s time to remove the poop, and I always tell them that they’ll know. So trust me on this one, you’ll know when it’s time to remove the poop. Now that you know when to start removing the poop, let me tell you how to do it. There are a few options available. First, you can use disposable or reusable liners. Disposable liners look much like a dryer sheet, and reusable liners are often made out of microfleece. The liner is placed on top of the cloth diaper before it is put on baby’s bum. When baby poops, you remove the cloth diaper, pull the liner off, and flush it (if it’s flushable) or throw it in the garbage. Another option is the dunk and swish. This is where you take the soiled diaper and hold it in the toilet and swish it around. Holding on to the diaper tight, you’ll flush the toilet a couple of times to pull all the poop off the diaper. The third option is to use a diaper sprayer to spray the poop off the diaper.

With The Heir, I tried disposable and reusable liners, but found the dunk and swish method to be really convenient. I didn’t know what I was talking about. Seriously. The Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer and the Spray Pal Splatter Shield are not only one option for removing poop from cloth diapers, they are THE SOLUTION.

The Details:

The Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer comes with everything you need to install it and get it working right away. There’s no need to call a plumber to set it up, it’s really easy to do. Included in the package you’ll find a spray wand with adjustable lever, a brass ceramic shut-off valve, a solid brass T-connector, 47″ stainless steel spray hose with an EPDM braided inner hose, and a spray wand holder with a clip. The Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer will connect easily to any standard American style toilet, as long as the toilet has a flexible supply line. All the instructions you need to set it up and get spraying and included with the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer.

The Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer allows you to customize the amount of pressure behind the spray as needed. You simply open the valve that’s attached to the toilet, then press the spray wand lever a little for light pressure, a lot for full pressure, or somewhere in between until you get the desired amount of pressure to thoroughly rinse away that poop. When you’re finished, you just hang up the spray wand on the clip, and close the valve that’s attached to the toilet.

The Spray Pal Splatter Shield is a critical component of diaper spraying. What it does is provide a place to clip the soiled diaper securely, while forming a shield around the diaper to prevent the poop from getting sprayed all around the bathroom. The high pressure spray of the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer means high pressure spray back, and you do not want poopy spray back to get all over your floor, your walls, or worse, you during this process. The Spray Pal Splatter Shield is made of a polyethylene that is free of BPA, PVC, and phthalates. It has a sturdy clip at the top to hold the soiled diaper, and it folds out and snaps into a three sided shield. When snapped open, the shield fits inside the bowl of the toilet, so you don’t have to hold it up while you spray if you don’t want to. It snaps into a three sided shield with three sets of snaps along the middle, and then snaps down flat with one snap in the upper corner for storing. The clip on the Spray Pal Splatter Shield is strong enough to hold a soaking wet cloth diaper (even a heavy fitted or AIO), but has a rubber edging inside the clip. This prevents the clip of the Spray Pal Splatter Shield from damaging the PUL or other materials of the diaper that you’re spraying.

How It Works:

Let me just take a moment to tell you how installing the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer went for me. Is it easy to install? Yes. Yes, it is. Was I able to do it? No. No, I wasn’t. As much as I hate admitting defeat, I was defeated by the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer. I blame this 100% on my toilet and NOT on the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer. You see, when we bought our house, it came with these super cool elongated bowl low tank toilets. They look really nice, but they are incredibly annoying. Where a normal toilet has the water intake connection right under the tank where it’s super easy to access, my toilets have this connection underneath, behind, and tucked up in a little nook in an impossible to reach spot. So, despite my best efforts, installing the Spray Pal Diaper Spraying became a wee bit of an exercise in seeing just how much water I could spray all over the bathroom. But don’t worry! King Dad was able to get the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer installed perfectly in about five minutes… So, this was just me, my inflexible hands, and my ridiculous toilet and absolutely NOT the fault of the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer.

Once the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer was properly connected to the toilet, it was time to set up the clip for the spray wand holder. This is what allows you to hang the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer on the side of the toilet tank. Guess what? My ridiculous toilet also has a very wide lip on the inside of the toilet tank so this clip doesn’t fit on my toilet. (Did I mention how incredibly annoying my toilets are?) My inability to use the clip for the spray wand holder didn’t stop me from MacGyver-ing something so that I could still hang up the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer wand! The spray wand holder is attached right to the tile surround of the bath tub that is conveniently located right beside the toilet. I stuck it on there using picture hanging strips that hold up to 9lbs, and it works perfectly.

When using the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer, I just turn on the valve, grab the sprayer wand, and spray away! It’s really easy to turn it on/off, and I love being able to control the pressure of the water. I usually start out with just light pressure the spray off the larger chunks, and then I use the full pressure to really clear off all the poop. It’s fantastic. The on/off valve is really great too! Although The Heir hasn’t paid much attention to the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer, if he did grab it and try to play with it, he wouldn’t be spraying water all over the place. That’s because the valve is in the off position unless it’s actually being used. I just can’t see him figuring out how to turn the diaper sprayer on without someone actually showing him, and I can guarantee that it won’t be me!

As for the Spray Pal Splatter Shield, I cannot imagine spraying diapers without one. That poop flies EVERYWHERE when the water from the sprayer hits it. The Spray Pal Splatter Shield keeps that poop from being flung all over the room and all over the person doing the spraying. It’s seriously a piece of genius. Setting it up is quick and easy too! You use the three snaps to secure the Splatter Shield open. This holds it up into a three sided shield that leaves you with lots of room to get your hand and the diaper sprayer in there without getting your arm covered in poop. Once snapped open, you just place the cloth diaper inside the shield, secure it with the clip, and spray off the poop. If you’re spraying a pocket diaper, it helps to make sure the pocket opening is down at the bottom of the Spray Pal Splatter Shield. If it’s not, the pocket may fill up with water and become too heavy for the clip to hold. Once the poop is gone, the next step depends on what type of diaper I’m spraying. If it’s just a pocket shell, I just let it drip a little bit before unsnapping the Splatter Shield and dropping the diaper into the wet bag. If it’s a fitted or an AIO, I unsnap the Splatter Shield, and press the front and back of the Splatter Shield together with my hands to squeeze the water out of the diaper. Then I grab the shield from the sides, and bend the sides back to squeeze even more water out of the diaper. Then I let the diaper drop into the wet bag.

When I go to spray a soiled diaper, I move the big wet bag so that it is right beside the toilet. This is going to reduce the distance I have to go to get the wet diaper into the wet bag. When the Spray Pal Splatter Shield is unsnapped so it’s flat with the rinsed diaper in side, I just tuck the bottom half of the Splatter Shield right into the top of the wet bag, and then squeeze the clip that’s holding the diaper, and the diaper slides down into the wet bag. It’s super easy, super quick, and results in exactly zero drips on the bathroom floor.

What about cleaning the Spray Pal Splatter Shield? Yup, it was just used to protect your bathroom (and you) from poop spray, and that means the insides of the shield probably have some poop on them. I just snap the shield open, grab the sprayer, and give the shield a good spray down. Now, sometimes you find yourself with a diaper that is coated in poop. When that happens, it can be impossible to find a poop free zone of the diaper to clip into the Spray Pal Splatter Shield. In those instances, you are going to get poop in the Splatter Shield clip. You can just spray down the clip when you rinse off the shield to wash any poop smears off the clip.

Now what do you do with the Spray Pal Splatter Shield in between uses? I store mine in a travel wet bag. The wet bag clips right onto the toilet paper holder, and just happens to be the perfect width to fit the Spray Pal Splatter Shield. This way it’s always right where I need it to be when I need it, and I’m not leaving a wet Splatter Shield on my bathroom floor. As an added bonus, this keeps little hands from grabbing onto it when I’m not looking!

Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer
Pros:

• Easy to install without a plumber
• On/Off valve
• Adjustable pressure
• Includes a wand holder and clip for securing it to the toilet

Cons:

• Cold water only

Spray Pal Splatter Shield
Pros:

• Made in the USA
• Stores flat
• Three sided shield for ultimate poop protection
• Very spacious inside for the sprayer and your hand to fit in the shield as needed
• Sturdy clip to hold the diaper
• Rubber strips on the clip edges won’t damage PUL or other diaper materials
• Flexible for squeezing water out of diapers

Cons

• Clip may get poop in it

Final Thoughts:

Despite my weird toilets and my own inability to get the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer installed by myself, I still think it’s a cloth diapering must have item. It really has changed the way I deal with poopy diapers, and I can only ask myself why on earth I didn’t have the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer and Splatter Shield with The Heir. I know the days of peanut butter consistency poop won’t be here forever (though it sure seems like it right now), but I’m certain that the Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer and Splatter Shield will get lots of use once Petit Prince’s poop becomes plop-able. There’s still teething poops, stomach bug poops, and the joys of potty training to come for him! I can assure you that if you’re going to be spraying diapers, you absolutely do not want to go without a Spray Pal Splatter Shield!

How would you like the chance to WIN a Spray Pal Splatter Shield from Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot? One lucky reader will win one Spray Pal Splatter Shield from Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot. Just scroll down to the giveaway and get your entries in for a chance to win. This giveaway is open to Canadian & US residents, 18+, and closes on May 17th, 2016. Sponsor is responsible for prize fulfillment.

Can’t wait for the giveaway to end? You can buy a Spray Pal Diaper Sprayer and Spray Pal Splatter Shield from Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot RIGHT HERE.