What's that you heard? That we were planning to cloth diaper? Yup you got it! No we are not insane, nor are we masochists in disguise. There is a whole world out there, one that you may not be aware of. The world of cloth diapering is a busy and thriving one I tell you. I often find myself forgetting that cloth diapers are not the norm, since I spend a lot of time on message boards where it most certainly IS the norm.
I got interested in cloth diapering before we even got pregnant with Jake. Because I try to consider my impacts upon the environment in everything I do, this seemed to be a natural choice. There is some controversy over whether or not cloth diapers are actually better for the environment, but with a little common sense and thought it becomes obvious that it IS the better choice. Especially if you are using energy star appliances to wash them, and line or air drying them.
Other benefits to cloth diaper are cost, and less exposure to carcinogens and yucky chemicals. The cost savings are pretty good depending on what you use to build your cloth diaper "stash." On average most people spend around 1600.00 on disposable diapers until their child is potty trained at around 30 months. This works out to be around 7,000 disposable diapers per child!!! That is 7,000 non-biodegradeable diapers full of human waste that will end up in a landfill and leech into our groundwater PER CHILD!! If you are looking to save a lot of money you can easily cloth diaper a child through potty training (which is usually earlier with cloth diapered children) for as little as 250.00. That is a cost savings of 1450.00 per child. Of course many people spend more than this (
certainly not ME of course ::evil wink::). But lets just consider that a person who shall remain unnamed spends around 800.00 for a stash that should last through potty learning (2+ years) that is still a significant cost savings considering we didnt add in the cost of disposable wipes (which could be another 200.00 total). So I, umm I mean the unnamed person, would end up saving 850.00 when you add in the cost of disposable wipes.
This doesnt take into account that most people use their diapers to diaper more than one child. Thus saving thousands of dollars in the long run.
And you are also keeping you child from sitting in diapers full of carcinogenic chemicals. Purely a personal belief, but I am definitely more comfortable keeping his sensitive parts away from those types of things.
So what are we planning on using you ask? I know you are on the edge of your seat here, right? Well how about I tell you? I have two "stashes" a newborn sized stash (for the teeny, tiny baby) and a "one-size" stash (that should fit through potty learning).
We have a little bit of everything in our stash, and I will try to explain what our plan for each is.
A staple of our stash is
Green Mountain Diaper prefolds. On the left you can see the various sizes w/ their colored edges. The orange-edges are for newborns (5-10 pounds) and the yellow edges are for infants (10-15 pounds). The other non-colored prefolds are random brands and sizes that I plan to try out. I also have a full stash of red-edge organic cotton prefolds which are good for 15-30 pounds. This should take me almost to potty training. And I probably spent around 200.00 total. If I needed to I could absolutely use only these exclusively (with covers which I will talk about next). As you can see these are the cloth diapers our mothers used (well, not mine per say). But they are versatile, easy to wash, and they work very well. All things you want in a cloth diaper!
If you choose to use prefolds or fitteds (more on these later) you will need a cover. You have two choices in covers, and neither of them are the plastic pants of old. You can choose to use PUL which is a water proof, breathable fabric which can be found in cute colors and patterns. Or you can also choose to use wool covers which are a natural fiber and are naturally antibacterial. I have chosen to use both. In the picture to the right I have a variety of covers. I have sized covers (small, and newborn sized specifically), one-size covers (that will fit a larger range of sizes), and sized wool covers (made from recycled wool sweaters). Either cover is a wonderful choice, and depends purely upon personal preference. I wanted to try both and will narrow down our stash based on what works best for us.
You can also see in the picture to the right that I have a smallish stash of fitteds. What is a fitted you ask?
Fitteds are cloth diapers that are very similar to disposables in fit. They snap or velcro at the waist, and all you have to do is slap em' on (well, don't literally slap). There is no inserting, folding, or pinning involved. BUT fitted's are not waterproof so they must have a cover put over them. Remember those covers, either PUL or wool? You have to put one of those over top of the cute fitted in order to make it water-proof. Which is really too bad since they are so darn cute, and come in such a variety of adorable prints and patterns. I have around 10 one-size fitted diapers. This means they should fit up to 30 pounds (or close to potty training age). They are a variety of brands but the ones I have are Little Fancy Pants, BuBuBeBe, Goodmama, and Bagshot Row Bamboo.
These are probably not a good fit for a small newborn, but they are usually a great solution for older and larger babies.
Another option in cloth diapering is the All-In-One. This is the most like a disposable. You simply put it on. Thats it. This diaper does not require a waterproof cover, because the outer lining of the diaper is waterproof. One of the most popular brands of diapers is BumGenius. They make a wonderful All-In-One that is made with a very absorbent organic cotton. This diaper is also a one-size diaper that will fit from around 10 pounds to around 35 pounds. So it grows with your baby. These are perfect for dads, or babysitters who may not be comfortable using something like a prefold. I have 20 BumGenius Organic AIO OS diapers to use when Jake gets older. I am very happy to have gotten these, they hold their value really well and can be resold for at least 1/2 of what I bought them for.
In order to extend the absorbency of the diapers you can use doublers. These are just pieces of fabric that add to the absorbency. You can get them in microfiber (which keeps baby feeling dry), hemp (which is super-absorbent), wool (which is very absorbent and antibacterial) and cotton (which is a natural fiber). In order to keep baby feeling dry (without all the chemicals) you can use fleece liners. They just lay on top of the diaper, and leave baby feeling nice and dry. On the left is my basket of doublers (white), fleece liners (blue), and wool doublers (blue stripes). These are more of an "extra" and are not 100% necessary if you are on a budget.
Some of the other extra's in the cloth diapering world are cloth wipes. These are just what they sound like, wipes made of cloth. They are much thicker and more absorbent than sposie (disposable) wipes. And you can just throw them in the wetbag and wash with the diapers when you are done with them. I have some wonderful wipes from Eli's Wipes on diaperswappers.com, and I have some wipes that I made myself from flannel. I also have in the basket pictured to the right a bottle of Northern Essence foaming wipes solution (to moisten wipes with), a bottle of Method Diaper Cream (this is cloth diaper safe while the more mainstream brands like Desitin are not), and
Snappies and pins. Snappies are used to hold cloth diapers together at the waist, they are an alternative to pins. They are much easier than pins, and are much like the small hooks on ace bandages. The wipes, and wipes solution are not a necessity some people choose to use sposie wipes. I feel like cloth will be easier since I am washing diapers anyway.
Here is a picture of Jake's semi-organized closet. I am storing some extra diapering supplies in here.
I still have a long way to go to get completely organized, but for now its good enough. Poor guy has to share his closet with my crafting supplies and other extra's. In the sweater hanger on the right I am storing some other cloth diapering supplies.
In the top I have a TON of extra inserts and doubler's. I have way too many of these, but that's okay. Right? In the next space are some pocket diapers. The pocket diapers I have are all one-size, but they probably wont fit a newborn well so I am keeping them in the closet until he gets big enough. Pocket diapers dont require a cover, and are very similar to All-In-One's but they have an insert that must be stuffed into each diaper. In the middle space I am keeping a blanket I made for Jake since I cannot keep it anywhere that is accessible to the cats. They apparently really like the blanket.
In this square are my wetbags. Storing dirty diapers is a definite consideration when cloth diapering. I have chosen to use hanging wetbags, which can be thrown into the wash with the diapers. I have Planetwise wetbags, that will hang from a hook next to the changing table. I also have 3 medium size wetbags to keep in the diaper bag for outings. These are waterproof and from what I have read are very good at containing any "stink."
In the very last space I have extra yellow-edge Green Mountain Diaper prefolds. I think I may have overbought these, but they had a very good sale and I couldnt help myself. Pregnancy has NOT been good for my shopping habits.
And finally here is my "next size up" bin. I keep it in the closet and it has all of the prefolds and other diapers that wont fit for awhile. It also has my
Diaper Sprayerwhich I wont need to hook up for awhile. Diaper sprayer's are the answer to the "dunk and swish." No more dunking cloth diapers in the toilet, just spray them off with the diaper sprayer.
So as you can see I am set for a very long time. Now the only problem is telling my shopping obsession that. I just cant help but think of all the other amazing cloth diapers out there that I dont have yet. What else can I try?
If you are interested in cloth diapers I highly recommend visiting
Pinstripes and Polkadots their Diapering Basics section has a TON of great information. They were the site that inspired me to believe that cloth diapering was feasible and even desirable to our lifestyle. Another great forum to visit is the
Eco-Friendly Family section of thebump.com. Those ladies are quick to answer any question, and there are a ton of ladies on there who have successfully cloth diapered multiple children.
And for those of you out there who may say "give it a week and you will be in disposables." I will say this, I cannot predict the future. But I cannot forsee any reason (other than a medical one) that would cause me to stop cloth diapering. I have invested my time, energy, and money into this already and I plan to see it through. For those of you who know me, you know that I dont give up easily. So I will make this work. Because I do believe its what is best for my child, our planet, and my wallet. But if Jake does end up in sposies down the road, feel free to say "I told you so." But you can be assured that they will be the most eco-friendly sposies available.
The hostesses with the mostesses. They did an amazing job!
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