*I started this post on Feburary 1st (yes, it's taken me a long time) so you'll find a few parts that aren't true anymore. For example, we've used more disposables than the number I mention below. As mentioned in a previous post, Lillian has a insane diaper fungus/yeast infection/whatever and I've been putting her in disposables because I don't want the thick creams to get on the cloth. I know I could use liners, but I'm a chicken and don't want to risk it. Ok, end of ridiculously long, unimportant explanation....enjoy. :)
A lot has changed since I wrote my
last cloth diaper post. I've upgraded in the most fabulous way. I now use cloth diapers when we're out and about. Church, the store, visiting family, you name it. I got brave once I got my mini wet bag and some nicer diapers. About a month ago (give or take) cottonbabies had a sale on their BumGenius All In One diapers. They're basically just like pockets (the diaper that's waterproof and has a built in pocket that holds the insert) but these have the insert sewn into them. They still have the 'pocket' so you can add more 'fluff' (as the cloth diapering world calls it) for more absorbency. I bought 4 of them for $40 and immediately fell in love with 'expensive' diapers. Then, kellyscloset had a deal that if you spent $35 you got a free Fuzzibunz diaper (a $20 value). I had been saving up the gift cards I've gotten from swagbucks to buy one on amazon, but was really temped to blow $35 to get myself the diaper. After a few conversations with Josh and realizing that our nursery was pretty off smelling, we decided to get a wet bag and a Flip diaper to get the FuzziBunz for free. This triggered 2 other shopping sprees and after about another $100, I acquired an awesome diaper stash.
Now, it might seem weird that I'm telling you this. Maybe you have no interest, but I've currently got 3 people waiting to hear back about my cloth diapering experience, so I figured this would 'educate the masses'. Trying to figure out a system is really hard. What I suggest though is get a little of everything. For those of you who are interested, here's what I've got and what I like/dislike about them.
Prefolds
Last time, I told you all that the Gerber prefolds you can get at Target worked fine for us. Well, they do work fine, but not nearly as good as I optimistically hoped. They are pretty bulky and when the babies are in them, I have to change their diaper about every hour. Kinda lame. If you're going to go the prefold route, spend the extra few dollars to get some nice ones! I have yet to hear anything negative about Greenmountain's prefolds and I wish I would have gotten some (I guess it's not too late, but I'm not sure I want to go that route anymore.)
Covers
As far as covers go, I LOVE Flips. Love them. Really, I LOVE them. I only have one, but I use it every day (or as soon as it's washed) and haven't had a leak yet. Like I just mentioned, I don't use my prefolds usually, but I have hemp inserts that slide right in. I like Flips because they have a little layer of waterproof fabric that hold the insert (or prefold) in place. They are also a 'one size' diaper so you can use them from birth-35ish pounds! The Thirsties Wraps I have don't have the extra fabric to secure anything and they come in 2 sizes (I think 6-15lbs and then 15-30ish lbs. I've already put away my size 1's until baby #3 comes along). You can get Flips that have snaps or velcro. I like velcro because it's easier in the middle of the night, you don't have to count how many snaps you need to go in, and it's easier for Josh because what snap we're on is always changing. It's just as easy as a disposable. When the diaper is wet, I just shake the insert (or prefold) into my wet bag and use the cover until the baby poops in it. I can usually use my cover for 4-5 diaper changes before it get thrown in the wet bag. Like I said, I LOVE it!
The babies in Thirsties Duo Wraps with an insert inside. These are size one on the largest setting. They're too small for them now (this pic is about 3 weeks old) so we've moved to size 2.
Inserts
For inserts, you have a couple of options. Microfiber is probably the most common material for inserts. Personally, I don't like them that much. They do hold a lot, but every now and then they stink. Not dirty diaper stink, but old, musty stink. It has to do with our hard water and detergent build up, but I run them in a load with bleach about once a month to get rid of the stink. Microfiber is cheap, so it comes as the insert for basically every pocket diaper out there, BUT you CAN'T lay it flat in a cover directly on the baby's skin. I've read horror stories of awful, awful rashes that microfiber causes. So if you do use microfiber in a cover, you have to use a fleece liner. More work than I want to do, so I was very grateful when I discovered hemp!
A microfiber insert.
I've got Gdiapers hemp inserts and I love them just as I love my Flips cover. They hold more than my microfiber inserts, can go directly against skin and don't get the stinkies. I have 12 Medium/Large and 6 Small/Medium and still want more. I use them in my pockets, covers, and use a couple per baby for their night time diapers. They get pretty heavy when they're wet, but they hold a TON. They are the greatest thing that has happened to my cloth diapering world. I'm sure other hemp inserts would work just as well and maybe someday I'll give other brands a try, but really people, I love hemp (Saying that I love hemp so much is a bit funny to me. You know what else hemp is used for, right?)
Diapers
My other diapers (besides my Sunbabies that I already talked about in my last post) are BumGenius, FuzziBunz, Kawaii, and Gdiapers. The first 3 are pockets and I like them in the order they are listed. I'm glad I didn't use my swagbucks to get the Fuzzibunz off amazon, because I would have been annoyed that I saved my points/gift cards for a few months to get a mediocre diaper. They are pretty narrow and the outer fabric isn't very sturdy. So many people love them, but at $20 a diaper, I'd rather have a BumGenuis. Kawaii are very comparable to Sunbaby diapers. They do the job, but aren't my favorite. BumGenius have been called the Catillac of cloth diapers and run anywhere from $15-$25, but are very much worth it. Even if you bout $500 worth of BGs (which would be enough for 2 babies), you'd STILL be saving around a $1,000 on disposables. Not to mention how much less trash you'd be producing. BG's are work great and I don't have any complaints about mine.
Sophie in a BG all-in-one diaper. No stuffing, no inserts, just the diaper. They're the closest to a disposable that you can get.
Lillian is in the blue Flip cover (look at that face!) and Sophie is in the BumGenius
Gdipaers are a bit funky. The outer shell of them is just like cotton underwear. It's got velcro tabs, but the shell isn't waterproof at all. It has snaps on the inside that hold a waterproof lining that then holds the insert (following me?). I didn't think I'd like them, but was gifted a few last week and I was surprised at how cool they are. Like a cover, you don't have to change the entire diaper if it's only wet. Just throw in another insert (the hemp inserts I love are made for these diapers) and you're good to go. They're no more bulky than a disposable diaper and have a cute 'g' on the bum. Personally, I don't think I'd buy a whole stash of them, but I do like them.
Picture taken from diapers.com
Sophie sporting a Gdiaper
Other random things I have/do
Wet bag- Seriously, if you're considering cloth diapering, get one. I just used a trash can for the first 4 months, but I'm SO glad I got my wet bag. It's waterproof, holds in all the smell and is pretty cute. There are a bunch of different brands, but I like size large. It holds enough diapers to do a load every day and a half for us.
{Obviously this is full. As soon as I post this, it's laundry time!}
I don't have a diaper sprayer, but I did get some liners to make dealing with poop a little easier. I bought some liners on sale so that order I talked about would reach the money limit to get the free diaper, but you can use fleece and make your own. I take the liner, knock off the poop directly in the toilet and flush. I don't have to touch anything. You can also use Viva paper towels. I was skeptical, but ended up buying them when someone suggested them because they are so 'cloth like'. They work! Liners also work when using diaper rash cream.
Speaking of creams, you have to be VERY careful about using them with cloth diapers. Rash creams create a barrier between the diaper and the baby's skin, blocking out moisture. So, if it gets on the diapers, the moister will be blocked, thus you now have diapers that don't absorb anything. Not cool. Creams don't wash out unless you 'strip' the diapers and that's a lot of washing/work. So make sure you use liners or use diaper rash cream that's approved for cloth. We use California Baby rash cream (found at target) and I like it better than any other cream I've tried (Buttpaste, Desitin, A&D etc). The babies usually don't get rashes because the fleece in their diapers gives them a 'stay dry' feel (a lot of diapers/liners will advertise using that phrase) but when they do, we use a little California Baby and the next morning, its gone!
When I change the diapers, I dump the solids in the toilet, take out the insert, and put everything in the wet bag. My fingertips do have to pinch the insert, but it's nothing worse than what I've experience with disposables. I do a load of diapers every other day. I wash my wet bag usually every 3rd wash. Yes, it get's stinky, but as long as the bag's zipped, you can't smell anything. Some people wash theirs every time they wash their diapers, but I don't want it to wear out super fast, so every 3rd day is what I do. When I do wash the bag, I simply unzip and toss the entire thing in the machine. I don't even dump out the diapers. They come out on their own. When I'm not washing my wet bag, I dump the diapers, run a cold rinse with no detergent, a hot wash with a 1/4 amount of the recommended Tide dosage and then another cold rinse to finish it off. I put my inserts and diapers with snaps in the drier and lay my velcro diapers on our balcony to dry. I could put them in the drier, but I'd rather not wear them out as much. My velcro diapers are my most expensive diapers and I want to use them for multiple kids. Stuffing my diapers once they're clean takes about 7 minutes, so that's what I do every morning during the girls' morning nap while I was The View or an episode of 24.
It's pretty easy!
When I first started researching cloth diapers, I silently made fun of all the crazy moms who claim they love it so much. I mean, they're diapers for crying out loud. It's not like a great shoe or purse collection. However, I've turned into one of those crazies. At church the other day, there was a lady with her crazy 4 year old in the mother's room. I was changing the girls' diapers and she noticed that they weren't 'normal'. She asked what they were and when I told her, her response was, "why on earth would you choose that?" I'm not very good at coming up with responses on the spot, so I mumbled "well it saves a lot of money". But that's just one reason I love it. I love the fact that I'm diapering 2 babies and have only used 15 disposable diapers since January 14th (if you're my facebook friend, you'll note that as my current status). I love that I don't have to carry garbage bags of heavy dirty diapers out to the trash, I love that I'm not filling the earth with thousands of diapers that will never decompose (yes, there is a growing part of myself that's pretty hippie) and I do love that I'm saving thousands of dollars. That's what I wish I would have told the disgusted lady in my ward. I understand that cloth diapering isn't for everyone (trust me, I really don't judge those who use disposables) but before the 60's, every mother used cloth diapers and back then, they were AWFUL! Plastic pants, pins, swishing them in toilet water and bleach...not cool. When I told my mom I wanted to cloth diaper, she had horrible flashbacks of when her mom had her help diaper her 6 younger siblings. She was SHOCKED to see how modern my diapers are and she said she would have cloth diapered all of my siblings if she had what I have. So really, diapers have come a loooong way and yes, it's something that parents can now enjoy doing.
(she was the first cloth diapering mom I found on the internet and she has twin girls!)
Also, since I wrote this I've got 2 more Flips. The covers are on sale at cottonbabies.com right now, so I treated myself to a bright pink and bright green one. LOVE them.
