I get it every time. At this point, it's almost a challenge to see who makes the best inquizitive face at me. Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh yes, it's the responses I get when I tell people that we plan on cloth diapering our child.
Since I got pregnant, I've discovered these deep-rooted feelings to get "back to basics." I plan to breastfeed for at least a year, I want to make my own baby food, I want to eat organic produce with our family, and... I want to cloth diaper. Armed with the hope and information from blogs like
Josiah's Nest and
Young House Love, we've made the decision to use cloth diapers for our little guy.
Before you can even locate an old fashioned cloth diaper in Target, let me give you the rundown as to why we decided to cloth diaper.
Benefits:
1) Cost. This was the main reason we chose to cloth diaper. Look for a cost comparison below to give you an idea.
2) Health Benefits. From what I've read and from people I've talked to who cloth diaper, cloth babies have less instances of diaper rash. I attribute this to the chemicals used in most disposable diapers can be irritating to a baby's skin.
3) Comfort of the Baby. Cloth Diapered babies are said to have WAY less "blow outs." You know... the kind of "mess" that goes up the back and out the seat?? Apparently, cloth diapers are fit so well to babies that instances of the infamous blow out are significantly reduced. Yes please! In addition to reducing the amount of waste we're now not going to have to clean up, the custom fit of the one-size diapers are supposed to be much more comfortable for babies. The organic cotton is also very gentle on their skin since it doesn't contain any chemicals.
4) Theoretical Early Potty-Training. I haven't read too much about the reality of this claim yet, but cloth diapered babies are known to potty train earlier than babies in disposables. Since the baby can feel when he's wet (in disposables, they can't feel it as much since they have moisture-wicking chemicals), he is said to have an awareness of this topic at an earlier age. So far, Camden is much more aware that he's wet in a cloth as opposed to a disposable.
5) They're adorable. It's no secert that I love a chubby baby. Having a chubby baby BUM with an adorable, colorful and cheerful diaper on it?? Sounds awesome. BumGenius diapers, as well as lots of other brands come in a bunch of fun colors. Cloth diapers are a bit bulkier than disposables, but I haven't read of anyone complaining that clothes don't fit right.
6) Ease of Use. This is a shocker for everyone. Especially those who still think cloth diapering consists of pins, folding and diaper services. Pretty much ALL of the cloth diapers out there now do NOT require a service and are made to look and function JUST like a disposable diaper. A lot of cloth diapers use velcro. Ours have snaps. Apart from the added laundry, cloth diapering should be a breeze.
7) Better for the Environment. The hippie in me feels a need to include this one, but I must admit, it was not the main element in our decision to cloth diaper. Since we keep our trash can in the garage, I am looking forward to not having to smell old diapers in the garbage. Also, when we visit other houses? We're not leaving stinky diapers in your guest bathroom trash can (a pet peeve of mine. Please. Bag it, and take it home with you or at least take it out to the big trash instead of the one in the house!).
8) Resale Value. If after a few weeks we decide we HATE cloth diapers?? The resale value on these puppies - even USED - is awesome. Since the diapers themselves are a little pricey to start out, it's reassuring to know that this is not a "no going back" situation.
Now, I know you are asking this question in your head, so let me just answer it for you. Are we not going to use disposable diapers at all?! Of course we will! I forsee some traveling in our future when this little guy is still in diapers. Our plan is if we're staying somewhere longer than 24 hours, we will be using disposables. However, if I'm just running out to Target or we're going up to spend the day with family in Baltimore/Annapolis, we still plan on using cloth (thanks to the handy wetbags!). We were sent home from the hospital with a slew of disposables and wipes. We used those for the first week or so while Camden's cord was still on and his circumcision was still healing. We switched to cloth seamlessly around his 2 week birthday.
What does it take to cloth diaper these days? You'll be happy to know that there are no diaper pins or inserts in our list. While every brand of cloth diaper are different (even styles within the same brand are different), these are the items we purchased for the BumGenius Elemental All-In-One diapers. Here's what we're armed with:
1) A stock of 18
cloth diapers. We chose Bum Genius Organic Elemental All-in-One diapers. From what I've read, this is a good amount if I intend to do laundry at least every other day. Aren't they cute?! I love all the fun colors. $400.00
2) A
diaper sprayer. This is an attachment that connects to the water supply in any toilet and hangs off the side. It took Bobby 10 minutes to install. $44.00
3)
Cloth Wipes. These are basically just baby wash cloths. If I'm washing diapers anyway, why not wash the wipes as well? Some people use a cleaning agent to put on the wipes, but we're just intending on using water from a little squirt bottle. Clean and free! These could easily be hand made. They're just terry cloth squares with finished edges. Free! All were gifts ($9.00 for pack of 15)
4) A
Diaper Pail and
Pail Liner. Wet diapers and wipes go directly in here. Messy diapers go in here after they are sprayed off. When it comes time to do laundry, everything (pail liner included!) goes right into the washing machine! We have one pail and 2 liners. $24.99 and $14.95
5)
Wet Bags. These probably aren't necessary, but I think they're adorable and functional apart from cloth diapering. I bought two of them to rotate out. I plan on keeping one in the diaper bag for on-the-go diaper changes. Adorable, no?? I love the little whales! When changing diapers on the go, these can easily be tossed into the wash with everything else. Also good for keeping wet bathing suits in the summer :) $17.95 each
6)
Clothes Rack Dryer. This probaby isn't necessary either, but I thought it would be a good item to have for a few reasons. One, I mentioned above that laying the diapers out in the sun will "bleach" the diapers naturally. I thought this would be easy to do outside and during the summer on a clothes rack. Two, I absolutely love the idea of hanging clothes out to dry! Plus, air-drying anything prolongs the life of...anything. I hope that this spring, summer and fall, I can use nature's goodness and mostly air dry the diapers, instead of running the dryer, saving us some cash on our gas and electric bill, too! $13.00 at Target
Total Cost for Cloth Diapering for One Child. Period: $523.89
Now, there is the question about washing the diapers. Since we bought organic cotton diapers AND baby's skin is usually pretty sensitive, we wanted to choose a detergent that would help prolong the life of the diapers, be safe for our Little One's skin, AND jive with our High Efficiency (HE) Washing Machine. I used
THIS CHART for some guidance. Thankfully, I'm a member of AmazonMom, so most of these detergents I can buy online for a really awesome price. I can even have them automatically shipped to my house if I wanted! Instead of trying just one brand, I bought three initially, just to try out. If one doesn't work so well for us, we'll just try another brand. A lot of people have asked me about staining. Obviously, the "messy" diapers can cause stains. Part of the care of cloth diapers require that you only use a tiny bit of bleach every 6 months or so. So, to take care of the staining (if there is any), it is suggested that you lay the diapers in the sun for a little while and voila! Stains be gone.
There is one last thing to think about now: Routine. How and the heck are we going to keep on top of changing diapers (and having enough to get us through until we wash them), using wipes, spraying off the dirty diapers, etc?? I have no idea. But I think it's one of those things that we'll try several different routines, and adapt what works best for us and come up with our own plan. Right now, here's what we do:
1) Remove dirty diaper.
2) If it's just wet, it goes straight into the diaper pail. If it's messy, it gets a spray down with the sprayer and then goes into the diaper pail. Dirty wipes go into the diaper pail too, and everything gets washed together.
Once we get down to a few clean diapers, we'll do a load of dirty diapers, pail liner included. They only require one wash on a regular cycle and about an hour in the dryer on a low heat setting. Once that's finished, we'll hang the clean, mostly dry diapers on the standing clothes rack to dry out completely. After a few hours, they are completely dry and get folded in half, and put into the diaper drawer in our changing table! Easy, right? This routine is bound to change, so be on the lookout for a cloth diapering update in the coming months! I know, I know. You're SO excited for that ;)
So there you have it. Our plan for cloth diapering. If you're reading this and considering the switch to cloth diapering, please PLEASE read the websites above for more information. I'm not an expert (really, I have no idea what I'm doing!), and there is so much helpful information out there that you can use. For all those mom's out there who cloth diaper - do you have any suggestions or good resources to share? I'm all ears!
Thanks for humoring me and if you've already checked out of this post, then check back soon for non-diapering talk!
