Cloth diapering tricks and tips

It's been a while since I talked about cloth diapers, so I think a post like this is well overdue. I've been cloth diapering a lot more recently. I mean, I've always cloth diapered, but the girls are usually in 1-2 disposable diapers a day and sometimes, there will be a day every now and then, where they're only in disposables. I've been trying really, really hard to make sure it's no more than 1 a day and recently, I've been doing pretty well. With this increase in cloth usage, I've come up with a few tips that I don't think I've really mentioned on the blog before.

• Stay on top of laundry! This is probably the hardest thing about cloth diapers. I've found that diapering two babies full time requires me to do laundry pretty much every night. That might seem a little crazy, but really, it's not bad at all. I dump everything in the machine, let it run, throw the inserts into the dryer and then hang the diapers before heading to bed. In the morning, everything dry, so I stuff/fold the diapers. That takes about 5 minutes and I'm good to go! Making sure you stay on top of laundry ensures that the ammonia stinks stay away, it ensures that you have plenty of diapers so you'll have no need to reach for a disposable, and it makes them a lot easier to clean. If you've got one baby in diapers, you can get away with washing every other day or even every two days, but you should try to not have more that 18ish diapers in a load at once. At least, that's the number I personally max out at. Oh and on the same topic, make sure you take care of poopy diapers right away. I've made the mistake of taking a diaper off, putting it aside and thinking I'll come back to it as soon as I get the girls milk, or as soon as I get them playing with toys or as soon as whatever, and it will be a couple of hours until I get back to it. Umm... yeah, just know that those diapers aren't fun to take care of. When you've got a poopy diaper in your hands, make sure that's your number 1 priority. Of course unless someone is in danger or something, but even a whining, angry kid should get put on the back burner for the minute and a half it takes to spray off the diaper.

 

•  Make sure you're changing every two hours. If you change less than that, you're a lot more likely to have leaks and rash issues. You know how you can tell your kid has peed too much in a disposable because it gets that nasty sag? Well in cloth, nothing sags, but you'll start to notice leaking coming out of the legs. It doesn't happen very often, because I'm usually good about changing them, but even when it does, it isn't that big of a deal. I've never had a poop blow out in cloth. Never. I've had plenty of poopy blow outs in disposables though. And my girls are poopers so I would predict that if we were full time disposable diapering, we'd actually end up washing out just as much poop, but it would be from their clothes. Changing every two hours also helps keep rashes at bay. Lillian has super sensitive skin (some brands of disposable diapers are too harsh on her) and even in cloth, she's gotten some wicked rashes. Making sure she stays as dry as possible is really important to keep her bum happy. 

• Do your research. I guess this tip should have been my #1 tip because this comes before anything else, but really researching the different types of diapers is suuuper important. When I was pregnant, I spent hours trying to figure it all out. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, so I bought a whole stash of one kind. Now, those diapers are the last ones I reach for. Luckily, I didn't spend too much money on them, and they do get used, but I'm glad I've ventured out and that I have a variety of diapers.  A lot of people have asked me what diapers I would recommend, and I really don't know what to say. I have pockets (and a variety of brands) covers (again, a few different brands of them) some all-in-one diapers, prefolds, hemp inserts, microfiber inserts, and cotton insets. All of them have benefits and some of them have drawbacks. It all depends on what you're wanting in your diaper. That's one reason I love cloth diapering. I have so much more control on how absorbent and trim the diapers are. For example, on Thanksgiving I was tempted to use disposables, but I decided to be brave and travel with cloth and I knew exactly what to take. All this knowledge has come from hours and hours of reading reviews, watching youtube videos and internet boards. So do your research, it makes all the difference. 

And lastly, 

• Set goals for yourself.  At the beginning of November, I bought a box of Luvs that had 96 diapers in it. I decided that I that I wanted to make it last at least a month and a half. I told myself that I couldn't open the second sleeve of diapers until Thanksgiving at the earliest. The day before Thanksgiving, we had a babysitter for a few hours and since I don't make them change cloth, the second sleeve was opened a day early, but I think that's pretty good considering I've got two kids. It sounds stupid, but I'm proud of myself for hitting my goal of only using one disposable per baby, per day (on average). Hopefully, this sleeve will last me several more weeks and we'll be looking at a diaper bill of $15 for 45-60 days of having 2 in diapers. I'm thinking we might hit 60 days on this box because I've been putting the girls to bed in cloth. A few days ago, they went 72 hours without a disposable. It sounds like a really stupid thing to be proud of, but I was. If we're still using this box on Christmas, I might just have to throw myself a party.

I'm not going to lie. I feel pretty good about myself when I use cloth diapers. Maybe a part of it is everyone discouraging me and telling me I was crazy when I was pregnant. Maybe it's the fact that some of my coworkers were placing bets on how long I'd last. Maybe a part of it is my satisfaction in saving money and not producing so much trash. Whatever it is, I feel pretty good about myself, but I do realize that I need to give myself a break every now and then. I go through periods of using them pretty much non stop and then I'll go a day or so where they're only wearing disposables. I'm sure my 'problem' could be solved if I stopped buying disposables all together, but I never set out to do this full time. I thought even if I did it half of the time, we would only have to pay for enough diapers for one. I know I've definitely met and surpassed that goal.

These pictures were taken a while ago. You know, when Utah was still basking in 80 degree weather... I haven't taken many diaper shots lately because I've been actually getting the girls dressed since it's gotten colder. :)