To Cloth Diaper, or Not to Cloth Diaper

As promised, here is the post on cloth diapers.

Here's the deal--several people now have inquired how we "do" cloth diapers. Their tone is either sincerely inquisitive because they're thinking about switching themselves, they want to save money or they care about the environment. The other tone is usually incredulous with the implicit "Are you CRAZY?!?" tacked on to the end.

This post is for both of those groups but mostly for the former. And for the latter--no, we're not crazy.

I started researching cloth diapers whilst pregnant with the Boy. I know several people who cloth diaper and I was curious. I started researching it and found this article, and this one and this one. If you're really interested you should read them. If you're not and you still think we're CA-RA-ZY you should still read them. On any given day the reason that the Husband and I chose cloth diapers over disposables varies--the Husband usually comes down on the environmental side, I usually come down on the economic side. Regardless, cloth diapering was the right choice for us and let us take a moment to remember the Burnstopia credo of Live and Let Live.

Anyway, I started researching whilst pregnant because I was pretty sure that I was going to hold him in my arms and not want to go back to work. And REALLY not want to go back to work essentially to be an indentured servant for health care, day care and disposable diapers. I knew that we had saved enough money (and with a little help) we could get by if we made some dramatic choices at the get-go like cloth diapers.

Now. Everyone does this differently. What I'm about to show you and tell you, is the system that works for us. Follow the links for more information.

We use bumGenius 3.0 diapers. They're all-in-ones, meaning that they have the waterproof covering sewn into a pocket which contains an absorbent liner--so everything you need is there. These particular diapers have snaps and velcro closures so that you can adjust the size for newborns up to toddlers. They are, to put it simply, AWESOME. They are NOT cheap. We bought 24 diapers at the outset and they should last us through the kid we have and those we plan to have. For those of you who are beginning to foam at the mouth at the cost of these diapers please read the consumer report designated above stating that in disposable diapers you will spend approximately $1500 (per kid!) in diapers alone from the time your child is born until the average child is potty trained. By the time that the Boy has been in his diapers for 9 months (or there about) the diapers will have paid for themselves.

We have a diaper sprayer. We LOVE it, but it often gets mixed reviews. We keep a container of clorox wipes next to the toilet along with the diaper pail and they take care of any...messes.

Diapering should be all about what is convenient for the family. What works for us is this: we use cloth diapers when it's a normal every day at our house. When we're going out--to run errands (if it's more stops than one), to visit family, to church etc, we put him in a disposable and we take disposables for him. We just don't trust cleaning out our cloth diapers in public toilets--and the Husband doesn't care to carry around wet and dirty diapers with him. We'll also use disposables when he's sick, when we travel or move (when it comes to that). Like I said, it should be all about what is convenient for the family. That said...let's see some pictures.

Behold my torture table, I mean, changing table. The Boy looks worried every time we lay him down, but then of course he gets to be naked and he LOVES to be naked. From top to bottom and left to right you have: Costco bags of wipes (we use disposable wipes though they make cloth ones and we've tried them and I think they're more hassle than they're worth), disposable diapers with newborn liners or "doublers" folded in back, a bin of white diapers, a bin of green diapers, a bin of yellow diapers and...the Boy's taggie blanket and the Hobbit for winding down at nap times. Here's a closer view:

We keep our diapers pre-stuffed so that they're ready to go right on his bum...I think it makes for smoother diaper changes and less forethought, but that could just be me...I know there are people who don't pre-stuff because their child's absorbency needs vary throughout the day. Again, to each his or her own.

Here is our lovely bathroom set up:

Behold, the toilet, the sprayer and the diaper pail. I know there are people who don't rinse out every diaper--they only rinse out the um...solid matter. We rinse everything. I think it keeps down on odors and let's us wash every two days instead of every other day or every day. (Most diaper companies recommend that you wash every other day--we usually wash all of one color, so when all the greens are dirty we wash greens--it usually works out to every other day except with the white diapers because we have more of those than the others.) We bought our diaper pail at Walmart for cheap.

And speaking of washing diapers. They are expensive and an investment for any children we plan on having in the future (and yes, Heaven help us, we plan on having more children) so we use Allen's detergent (you can't just toss in some Tide with your diapers, they're finicky) and we line dry the exterior pockets and dry the liners in the dryer--in the summer we line-dry everything to save on electricity. Our water bill has gone up a bit but our electricity is about the same (if anything, it's running a space heater in his room at night that's driven our electricity up).

During the day we use the diaper with the principle liner. At night we size the diaper out one and use a doubler and it enables him to go all night without a diaper change. On average he goes through 4-6 diapers a day depending on what we have to do and well, his productivity.

We have had only one major blow-out with cloth diapers (and it was one of those Our-Child-Seriously-Hasn't-Pooped-in-DAYS-and-This-Is-The-Build-Up). Generally the structure of the diapers prevents blow-outs, especially if they fit properly. Though I know other people who have had blow-out issues.

The other thing to be aware of is the size thing--cloth diapers are bigger than disposables because they don't have all those chemicals to hold liquid. So the Boy doesn't wear jeans, he's only worn khakis once (we have some bigger ones to try in a bit). He mostly wears pajamas right now because it's cold, but normally he wears a onesie (Carters are the perfect fit because they're longer in general) and knit pants. I think he's adorable with that big ol' diaper bum, but maybe that's just me.

That just about covers everything. We love cloth diapering, the Boy is happier and we are happier. That said my only complaint is this: it seems like disposable diapers are more forgiving of parental ineptness or time constraints--when you're in a hurry you can slap a disposable diaper on any kid in 30 seconds or less and know that it will mostly contain whatever. With the cloth diapers, especially having a boy, you have to be careful that...well, everything is tucked in appropriately or you end up with a soggy baby. So we take our time, we let the Boy be naked for a bit, we kiss and love on him while gently making sure that he's covered and secured. So in a way, I guess cloth diapering makes us better parents--or at least more methodical parents.



If there's anything I missed, just email me, I'm happy to talk about this.