But this time, it goes on a baby’s butt:
CLOTH DIAPERING.
That scream you hear is The Momma as I hurtle her back 30 years wondering, “WHY WHY WHY WHY, OH GOD, BLAIR, WHY?!?!?!” Because back in the day, it was a sign of I HAVE ARRIVED if you could afford Pampers. So if someone could please pass her a wet bag to breathe into, we’ll continue on.
Are you good, Momma?Before having a baby, I SWORE I would NEVER EVER EVER NEVER cloth diaper. HOW GROSS, right? Yeah, they used them in the 70′s, but both diapers & appliances have come a long way since those days. I’ve dickered around about cloth diapering. (ha! dickered) But never made the plunge – mostly because we never knew when Harrison would go to daycare. At first, it was January 2010 & our daycare said NO to cloth, so there was no point. Then March rolled around & Sister decided to stay & here we are in JUNE with it looking like she’ll nanny until at least DECEMBER. All that time that he could have had a fluffy, totally yuppy butt – wasted!
So here we are doing THE YUPPY THING TO DO THESE DAYS NEXT TO AN iPHONE, aka cloth diapering. I mean that sentence with no disrespect, as I would like an iPhone in the future & cloth diapering has incredible benefits – less waste to the earth, more economic for children in the future, trending towards potty-training sooner. There are a ton of different EXCELLENT reasons to cloth diaper, & for us, the environment & cash money are the top two. But even I’ll admit that it’s a trend – but a trend I’m proud to be on for a) environment & b) saving money.
Also, it’s stopping him from peeing out of his diaper at night. We have had an AWFUL time with him waking up in a pile of pee which means changing sleeper, onesie, crib sheet, & crib pad all at once. Ew.
Besides, it’s JUST SO FREAKIN’ CUTE!
The plan now is to use cloth at night. We may ease into it with ‘sposie inserts into the cloth diapers during the day, then switch full-time.
It’s funny, the idea of cloth diapering becomes incredibly less “gross” after you’ve cleaned sticky baby shit off the bill of a giant inflatable duck.
Yay! I am surprised but very, very, pleased. I hope you love it and spread the gospel of the fluffy butt far and wide!
Is this something you are doing to convince yourself you are a good mom? If so don't do it, if not rock on.
Anna, not to be rude, but I don't know how cloth diapering = good mom.
It's to keep me from changing a onesie, jammies, sheet, & crib pad every single morning before work. Which is why we're doing it only at night for now. & if we like it, we may switch to full-time.
He's still in a size 2 diaper. The smallest overnight diaper made is a 3 & you can only buy them online. This makes far more sense.
I would love to cloth diaper! Now you know you're going to have to do a review on the different brands you're trying. It's definitely the way to go these days!
Anna – what!?!? Didn't she just say she was doing it A) to help the environment and B) to save money? Both of which are perfectly good reasons! It's not like she went off on a tangent about it being better for her baby, making us disposable users feel guilty about our choices. Sheesh. Some people…
Woooo hooooooooooo!
seriously anna? really? geez. that comment is just really stupid. sorry.
Blair, more power to you! Cloth diapering is like prenatal testing, immunizations, & breast feeding: IT'S A PERSONAL CHOICE.
& I think Harrison will have the cutest, fluffiest butt around!
We have cloth diapered our DD since she was 2 months old (just turned a year). Best.decision.ever. Never need to worry about running out of diapers! And oh so much cheaper! Be sure to double or triple stuff the inserts at night….that is the most likely time that cloth will leak since they don't hold as much as sposies. Our favorite diapers are SmartiPants, one-size so they grow with the kid, from birth to potty trained! Good luck!
I love cloth diapering LOVE LOVE LOVE. I could never go back. I really hope that you find them easy to deal with and really get all the benefits from them. Cute fluffy butt is the best thing ever!
Yay!! I love Cloth Diapers and I am not even a mommy yet! A good friend of mine owns a buisness ( weewilliewinks.com ) which is all about cloth diapers and she is actually the one who broke it all down for me and I got to "see them in action" on her little one. I cannot believe how simple they really are, when I approached my husband on the matter…expecting a cry of "eeewww gross!" I was instead told "yeah, actually that makes sense, I would do that" (of course by that he means he will put them on and take them off the babe, not so much with the actual washing). Anyways, I think it's awesome you are venturing into the CD world, and look into a bum genius diaper sprayer they are fantastic!
Good luck with your adventures in cloth diapering! I always swore up and down I would NEVER do it, but honestly I'm considering for #2, when the time comes. Diapers are sooooo friggin expensive.
We spend OVER $100 PER MONTH on diapers for DS. It is unbelievable. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I'd rather be doing with that extra $1500. DS is almost 2 now so it's kind of silly to start when he's nearing potty training age, but I'm really thinking about it for next time.
Plus they're just so cute.
That last line is the QOTD.
Hope you continue to love cloth! We love our fluff!
I always knew I would cloth diaper, even before having a kid (but I'm a total tree hugger, so it was a natural decision). I still think it was the best choice we ever made with our little guy. In addition to all the benefits that you mentioned Blair,(money, environment, heavy night wetter) for our little guy, who is tall and thin, it makes his butt and hips just a little bit bigger, which helps keep his pants on!
oh, and if you find he still leaks overnight, try using a hemp insert along with the one that came with whichever brand you use. Hemp is much more absorbent, we've never had a leak with ours!
yeah for fluffy butts!!!! we just started making the switch too!!!! aren't they the softest? i'm almost jealous my son gets something so nice on his bum… where's mine? (just kidding)
and great idea on drying location… i might try that! we've been hanging a line in our bathroom… but it's cramping my style in there…
do you have a diaper sprayer? we just installed ours and i love love love it! (watch out, it's sooo powerful, it'll spray the diap. right out of your hand – ew gross!).
anyhow – soooo excited to see you made the switch!
we use BumGenius 3.0 with double stuff during the night (disposable liner if we need ointment too). and the one size during the day (weekends only right now since we don't own enough for full time yet).
Have fun! But be careful b/c all the cute stuff out there like adorable covers, fun prints and snazzy wet bags can jack up the cost. I'm guilty of this, but have done better lately. I would definitely recommend getting the bum genius diaper sprayer though, that is something that I wish we had gotten but can't justify the cost this late in the game.
So funny that you wrote this post because we are thinking of doing the same thing! My son has very sensitive skin and rash issues so I am thinking of easing into the cloth-diapering even though he is older.
Any recommedations for a good kind to try first?
Muahahahahahahaha! Welcome to the dark side!
So many benefits, for sure, but I'm not going to lie, the BEST part- not spending $$. You might not see this right away since you're still building your stash, but it is SO nice to not have to drop $18 on a box of diapers when you run out. We buy sposies every now and then, mainly for his 2 day a week Mother's Day Out program (not because they won't work with the CDs but because they THREW AWAY a Bum Genius "on accident"). Anyway, I whine every time we have to drop the money on them. I can not imagine the expense of using them full time.
So there… maybe you can start saving for your Iphone now
That's fantastic! We switched to cloth at night a few months back and it's been great! I actually really enjoy the CD laundry. Haven't made the switch during the day yet but hope to soon. Our daycare is 100% cloth friendly, too!
For overnight we found that doubling up with hemp is a must. We've tried BG, Thirsties, Smartipants, and FuzziBunz and all the outers works great, but gotta have the hemp! JoeyBunz, Hemp Babies and LoopiDos/SuperDos work well.
Good luck – maybe we'll see some CD giveaways in the near future???
Yay for cloth!! And if you are still having leaking at night definitely get a hemp insert, place under regular insert (furthest from baby's butt). We've cloth diapered since the cord fell off and can't imagine doing anything but! There is very little 'ick' factor in my opinion, especially like you said, after you've cleaned poop, pee, and puke off of everything else in your house!
Be careful though, the economic factor can go right out the window if you get drawn into all the cute dipes, we bought a stash of BG's and that's it, I refuse to buy anything else that we don't need just 'cause it's cute.
Good luck!
We've been cloth doapering since Ryann was 2 weeks old and I love it. We got lots of side eyes and questioning our "hippiness". But I didn't let it bother me I'd rather save money and the environment AND have a cute baby fluffed butt. Let me know if you have questions!!
We love our BumGenius 3.0s and Fuzzibunz. Cloth diapering was a great choice for us. The way I see it, I've had to wear huge, plastic, sticky, crinkly maxi pads before and I hated it. That's what disposables remind me of, and why on earth would I wish a bigger, crinklier pad on my baby?
That was the argument I used to convince my husband that cloth diapers were great. I think he mostly agreed because he didn't want to hear any more about huge maxi pads.
lol @ dickering.
I keep my baby nephew 2 days a week, and his very yuppy parents are into the whole cloth diapering thing. It stinks up my little apartment because apparently it's expected to have pee soak through the insert and onto the cover, but I'm supposed to let that part dry and reuse it? Ewwww!
All in favor of ruining the earth in favor of non-stinky-pee-pee babies raise your hand.
*waves hand wildly*
On the other hand (the one not waving wildly,) I have heard that cloth-diapered babies potty train faster. So that's a pretty big advantage too…
cloth diapers are SO cute. in the meantime for nights, have you heard of ultimate crib sheets? we never had leakage problems, but i've heard lots of moms swear by them (they're on amazon & babies r us). they're supposedly way easier than changing the sheets, which i loathe doing. K has learned how to take off her jammie pants at night & i'm sure the diaper is soon to go too, so we may end up trying the crib sheets as well.
Ok for those of us that are clothe diaper (knowledge) challenged… what does it take to go from disposables to cloth diapers? What exactly does this change invovle?
Good Luck, very interested in how this works out for you.
Helloooo Blair!
I'm with Amanda on this one…I don't even know where to start with the whole cloth diapering thing. I'm interested in exactly how one gets the poop out of the diaper and where it goes from there…I'm picturing myself scrapping poop into the toilet with a spatula right now…
Anywho, I hope it works out for you! Can't wait to hear!
Mellisa- I'm not sure what kind of cloth they are using but it sound like its not being done right. We have no smell. If its liner problems, wipe them with a baby wipe and air dry and even then I'm confused to why it woudl smell so badly! Do you use a wet bag?
niiiiice. i've been on the Fluffy Butt Fence for a while… i look forward to hearing how you like them.
You may find that if he still leaks at night, a wool cover will help. Not itchy wool. Interlock is great for nights and is thick and soft!
Truth be told Poot takes a sippy of water to bed (It was the only way to night wean) and wets through night time disposables, sometimes even with a middle of the night change. We use wool over the disposable because it's so ridiculous how much he pees at night.
Sustainable Babyish and Once Upon a Baby are great covers. =) Good luck!
I'm so excited to begin my CD adventure! It's always funny to hear the responses…"you'll waste more money on doing laundry," "it's going to be so gross/expensive/hard/etc." But when you actually explain some of the (many) benefits, it's hard to deny. We're planning on starting as soon as our baby is done with the meconium stage. Our first purchase will be made this week and we're planning to use a variety…Fuzzibunz, Bum Genius, Swaddlebees and maybe Smartipants based on some of the responses in here.
Yay!! I do believe you should host a fluff giveaway
I love to CD! We have been doing it since DD was home from the hospital. My Husband was skeptical but he is on board now. Good Luck!
blair, you MUST try smartipants. i only say this because after 6 months of CDing, i wish i had only bought these. they. are. amazing. i've used all the others, and honestly these are the BEST and easiest to use (you don't have to pull the liners out!!!). good luck and i hope you love it! it's definitely not or everyone, but we LOVE it so much.
I am glad you are giving the cloth diapering thing a try. I was in your shoes a year ago with the endless laundry from overnight wetting and we also had some very sad-looking diaper rash issues too. The switch to cloth was supposed to be gradual, but we ended up loving it so much that it was a really quick and easy transition. I hate using disposables on the little man now. If you want the best overnight solution try Baby Beehinds one-size fitted diapers (in hemp-cotton NOT bamboo-cotton) with a WonderWraps one-size cover. We have been using that combo based on a recommendation from our local diaper store and we haven't had a night time leak since. Best decision we ever made!
How funny, I just blogged about this same thing last night! I ordered the Try Cloth for $10 pack from jilliansdrawers.com, right now I'm leaning toward prefolds and covers (love the cheap!), but I'm glad the program exists so I can try a bunch of different kinds. Yay for yuppiness! lol
I have been thinking a lot about making the switch too. After having a baby and seeing all of our money go to $hit- literally- from all the sposies we buy, I am thinking about taking the plunge. Plus, it is way better for the environment. Keep us posted.
Another benefit to cloth diapering is that you have almost no blow-outs. My son blows out of disposable diapers every time he wears them, but has only blown out of cloth diapers once – and that was when he had gone eight days without pooping. Even then there was a only a little bit out of the diaper.
Welcome to the dark side!! I am sure you won't regret it, I could talk all the live-long day about how AMAZING cloth is, but you obviously don't need convincing. I have not had a single blowout with cloth (we has one every other day in sposies), and to me, that is totally worth switching for. Can't wait to see pictures of sweet Harrison in his fluff!
When people have questions, I refer them to the tutorial at jilliansdrawers.com because it explains everything so simply and clearly.
I get the idea, but if you are so overwhelmed with life in general, why would you add another dimension to it at this point, 2 weeks out of the hospital?
You are a braver woman than I am! I love the look of them on a baby's tush, but I just don't have the gut to clean out that poop. Solids poops are the WORST!
Jessica, maybe because it's LESS overwhelming to wash a load of diapers every couple of days than change all the clothing and bedding every single day?
I like this. I like it a lot.
Good luck and keep us posted!
We started at 2 months and haven't looked back. It started with me think we'd only do it for swimming, since disposable swim diapers are super gross. And then I saw how cute CDs are and thought, "well we can try them out"
3 months later we are rocking the fluff and loving it.
If you need help or have questions or want to exchange tips email me lady!
xoxo
erika
Good Luck! I think there is a little bit of a learning curve with cloth, but stick with it and I think you will love it. We started wit CD because Little Man had diaper rash and it CD was going to be temporary until it healed but we found it really easy so we kept doing. We were lucky that our school was willing to work with us and a couple of moms have switched to CD after talking to me about it.
And once you have a bit of a stash and a routine the laundry is easy peasy. I would suggest a diaper sprayer, though, it has cut so much time off my laundry routine.
I am sure you have had lots of offers, but if you have any questions, I would be happy to help.
Jessica – it's because she is running out of things to blog about & over dramatize, DERR! (either that or she's looking for some free diapers from a sponsor)
stay tuned next for CD & every single possible issue & challenge that *may* arise from CD. Because let's be honest, if there is a drama or saga associated with Motherhood, Blair will suffer from it & blog about it. (in the hospital or not).
Yay for cloth! I love, love, love my cloth diapers.
@Laura Jane this is from Pamper's site "As the Pampers bag recommends, you'll want to dump bowel movements in the toilet. Then just roll the diaper into its backsheet, using the tape or fasteners to keep it closed, and dispose of it in the trash." so cloth or not you're supposed to dump poop in the toilet
Karly….really? Are you that bored that you need to make comments like this? Your life must suck.
Cloth diapers ARE mighty cute!!
We love bum genius and I'm considering trying some other brands with #2. Have fun, and show us some pics of Harry in his new dipes!
I can't wait to hear a review of what you like best! We love our bumgenius and I just got some goodmamas to try out. And I'm with whoever suggested triple stuffing at night…those diapers can hold a lot!!
ALSO, I am just getting ready to try some Rockin' Green soap…I'll let you know if I like it!
We use CDs. I have never heard CDs referred to as a trend. A trend is something that's hugely popular and that most people give up once it's not popular anymore. I think CDing is a lifestyle choice, and it certainly isn't THE thing to do. If it was, people wouldn't give me so much grief for doing it.
@Jessica – CDs are not hard to care for. They don't "add an extra dimension" to life. They add another load of laundry or two – that's it.
Welcome to the club!! Highly agree with Mama Lungo about the diaper sprayer – huge lifesaver when it comes to some of the "stickier" poos!
Forewarning though: any time Aidan has been on antibiotics, we use disposables during the first week of the meds. Frequently in our experience, antibiotics = diarrhea.
Awww…. Has someone not changed Karly's dirty CD????
Blair! I am excited to hear how this goes! I don't know any moms who CD, so your story will help me learn more and decide for my next bebe!!
I have a question:
Would anyone recommend cloth diapering when you don't have your own laundry? (i.e. we share 5 washers and 5 dryers with 60 other units in our apartment buliding, would it be stupid to cloth diaper?)
Jessica – CD are a solution to her overnight wetting problem. Good for her for problem solving. If you ever decide to try CD, you'll see how easy it really is.
Alyssa – Keep in mind that most CD makers rec a cold wash, followed by a hot wash with detergent, followed by an extra cold rinse (or some iteration thereof.) Super easy if you have your own machine but if you have to feed quarters in it might be a bit trickier. Can be done for sure but something to consider. You could look into a service if you want to use prefolds, or consider some of the hybrid diapers like gDiapers, Flip, or GroBaby. It might simplfy the wash routine a bit.
Blair,
You will have to tell us again in a month how you like cloth diapering, but I am betting that you love it so much you will switch over to more than just night time! I have been cloth diapering since my baby boy was 5 weeks old (before that I couldn't get the diapers tight enough around his legs because he didn't have an once of fat on him I swear!) and I absolutely love it! If you have not bought the Bum Genius Diaper Sprayer – do so, it will make your life way easier with cloth! I have had cloth wipes since the beginning too, but just finally made the switch to using those full time about two weeks ago (my baby is 5 months old!), and they are wonderful! One cloth wipe for a poopy diaper instead of ten disposables to do the same job! Anyways best of luck to you and I can not wait to find out if you switch to cloth full time. Honestly besides one small load of laundry every other day, they are just as convient as disposables and you have so many fewer messes to deal with!
It looks like Nate's mom and her giant maxi pads of doom have been back for a visit!
I think unless you're planning on reusing them for a second child it really isn't any cheaper. Most people need somewhere in the range of $500 for all of their cloth diapers. I spend $35 a month on diapers. I was potty trained at 14 months and my husband at 15. I'll give DD the benefit of the doubt and assume it'll take her 16 months.
16*35=$560
I think I make up for the additional $60 in water/gas from the washing machine right off the bat. Factor in the time it takes to do all that laundry? No thanks.
This is given that I had started right when she was born. If you throw 7 months of disposible diapers into the mix it's just…a rip off really.
Anyway, they're probably adorable on Harrison and the cute factor is reason enough to buy them. Have you tried size 3's? He seems old for size 2 diapers. DD is 6 months old and in size 3's. I'd rather them be a bit too big then two small. That's when the leakage really starts getting bad. How much does he weigh?
Ahh! Yay!! I think you'll love it. We've been CDing Hunter since he was 2 months old. At first I started to do it because it's better for the earth and and plus they are super cute. Dh was totally not on board, but once he saw how much $ we've saved since getting our stash of diapers, he raves to everybody about it and even helps with the diaper laundry (gasp!). Oh and my fav by far are the rumparooz. The Velcro on them seems to hold up better for longer as opposed to the Velcro on the BumGenius. Not that those are bad diapers, we use those too but it starts getting that old Velcro fuzz pretty fast in my experience.
Anna- Being a good mom has nothing to do with using cloth diapers. If you don't like them don't use them but don't be tacky about somebody else's personal choice to cloth diaper!
Welcome to the CDing world! I just started about a month ago and love it, although my wallet doesn't right now! I've become a tad obsessed with buying diapers.
I definitely recommend a diaper sprayer! We just got the one from Bum Genius and it's great!
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. Seriously, I "knew" you on the Bump and would have never ever ever guessed you'd go cloth. I am a yuppie hippie, we CD full time and would never go to disposables after this. Have fun, it really is adorable, and MUCH easier than I thought it ever would be.
I really appreciate all of the points MM brought up. I get extremely tired of everyone talking up cloth diapering based solely on money and environmental benefits. When, in reality, the money saved isn't that substantial (unless you reuse them for a second child) and the environmental benefits are pretty much counteracted by the amount of additional water and energy used to do extra loads of laundry.
I just think it’s the new fad and I get exhausted from reading about it so much. With that said, switching to cloth diapering because your kid is peeing all over the place at night is a very justified reason – I hear they really do cut down on leaks. I hope it solves your problem!
yay!! i'm on my way to yuppiehood too- because i'm cd'ing and if i don't get an iphone soon, i will hurt someone!
im with Kendra, we also just started cd'ing a month ago, and while our wallet is hurting, we're going to be coming up roses in the long run! i love it! we do cd's day and night, and we rarely have problems.
word of advice with little boys- make sure you are pointing "it" down!
while i bought my diapers from a more local place, i studied this website to know everything about cd'ing- and that made it way less overwhelming- there is a lot of good info here
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/basics.htm
right now i'm using bum genius os aio's and i love them. i'm waiting on my grobaby's to arrive!
Your fluff is ALOT better than baby foreste's fluff. At least you have a writing style and some wit to match! Cloth diaper butts are so.freaking.adorable!
Oh man will you please do a post about what you like, etc. I want to so bad, and my mom is fainting too, but i know no one who knows a thing about it and am totally overwhelmed on where to start.
Woo hoo! Love cloth diapering. They work so well for night time diapers too! Cloth diapering is so easy!!!
LA try this website it is some insight from a mom who has cd'ed for 1 year and it has lots of good info:
http://raisingmylilladybug.blogspot.com/2010/05/c…
@Lindsey -
The environmental benefits are NOT counteracted by extra water/energy for laundry. What people fail to realize in this argument is the massive amounts of water, energy, and CHEMICALS used to manufacture, package, and transport all of the disposables.
One more thing – are you using that Tide Free liquid to wash your CDs? Beware that some babies can be sensitive to the enzymes in it in the diaper area – if he gets redness or a rash that could be your culprit.
Yay for this!! Cloth is the best!
Cloth is the cutest. I bet you will move to cloth during the day, too, if you like it for nighttime. I think nights are the hardest in terms of staying dry/not leaking (or maybe I just have a crazy pee monster on my hands!)
Care to share what you are using at night? (I'm currently using Fuzzi Bunz double stuffed, sometimes even a layer of hemp, and I still get some leaks.)
Unsolicited advice ahead – I am having great luck using regular old powder Tide washing my diapers. It's not unfragranced, and it's definitely not the most environmentally friendly option, but it's cheap, and I haven't had any build-up issues. My kids have fairly sensitive skin and haven't reacted to it.
Blair,
Please, please, please love cloth diapering! My baby is due in 2 weeks and I plan to CD. I have heard so many negatives from friends/family—I need some positive reinforcement from the interwebs!
@Kate Clearly, The argument for cloth is a waste thing. Sure, water, energy, and chemicals are used in production and distribution of both cloth and disposables (and come on, clearly, cloth is less of an issue when it comes to chemicals– there are no gel crystals or perfumes in those diapers), but there's NO diapers coming out of our home into the landfills. That's huge over the course of three years.
Until you get a diaper sprayer, the garden hose works just fine! =) Im sure my neighbors hate me!
Love your blog but I need to say I am a cloth diapering/breastfeeding Mumma who has an iPhone … but I am not a yuppy … I might be a hippy but I am definately NOT a yuppy! I'm just sayin'
We started cloth diapering when McKenna started leaking out of her diapers EVERY NIGHT! We're only CD'ing part time but I love it so much that we're going full time. I just ordered a bunch more BG 3.0's today, cotton babies has a buy 5 get 1 free sale, which works out to like $14.33 a diaper. Best deal I've found in case you want more. =)
@Erin – I totally agree with you. I was responding to someone saying that they are tired of the environmental argument because the env. benefits are counteracted by the extra water/energy used to wash CDs. My point is exactly your point, that CDs ARE more environmentally friendly for all the reasons you stated.
@Kate Oh I misunderstood– sorry! And definitely yes, cloth are more eco-friendly with all things considered. I love the fluff.
While I would love to CD the fact that we have to pay $1.25 to wash and .75 to dry is keeping me away. I know you have to wash quite often and until we have our OWN washer a dryer I won't be doing it. ::Sigh::::
Good luck! I look forward to reading your thoughts on it!
Soooo jealous!! I would love to CD but the daddy refuses to do it lol Even though I said I'd do all the ashing he flat our refuses. It is just sooo cute. I purchased a trial set of Smartipants and they are awesome!
My experience is that CDs are infinitely better at holding everything in! You can either wash shitty clothes or shitty diapers, so why not use CDs?
I have been a long time reader, but never posted before. But I have been CD'ing my son since he was a month old and it really is great. The cost of the expensive CD's can really add up, but check out ebay seller mayflower_garden. I have tried BumGenius, Fuzzi Bunz, Gdiapers etc but at $16 + a piece I wasn't going to save much money. You can get them around $5 – $7 a piece in her lot sales and I love the one size snap ones since they last the whole time your little one is in diapers. Good Luck! Don't get discouraged as it takes a little while to get into a "routine" with them and figure out what works for you.
I didn't read all of the comments and I am sure that half of them are suggestions for brands, but we LOVE our gdiapers. And they have the added bonus of the flushables (or compostables!) if you need something different for a trip, etc. Fantastic. Fabulous. Amazing. Outstanding. LOVE. LOVE.
Love them. I(n case that didn't come through already…)
That is cool- I just never made the jump- maybe when I have more kids IDK- my mom says things like that too "Oh we were lucky we had disposable diapers and ready made formula" like it was an awesome sign that you had some disposable cash or something- crazy. Good luck I am interested to see how this goes.
I'm the opposite but maybe thats because my son is older than yours. I cloth during the day, use disposables when we're out and about, and use an overnight at night. Just an FYI — when they older and pee a bit more during the night even doubling the inserts didn't work with the cloth. But maybe (hopefully) cute little Harrison will be an exception. I actually have gotten some cloth on Etsy that I'm in love with.
I was wondering if/when you would jump on the cloth bandwagon! We started 2 months ago and haven't looked back since. I used to prefer disposable over cloth but now I love the cloth diapers. We use g-diapers with the disposable inserts at night and cloth inserts during the day and they work amazing. Since Harrison is a heavy wetter you might want to try the g-cloth inserts, they're made from hemp and absorb like nothing I've ever seen before.
i'm THRILLED to hear that you're gonna try cloth! everyone i know thought i was crazy.
we're not 100% CD. we still use disposables when we go out, at night (i'm too afraid to try!), or when i'm washing the diapers. but that still saves us money. and now that the lil' man is mobile, when he falls down on a cloth diaper, he's got more cushion to land on!
AND, i've never had a blow out with a cloth diaper.
fwiw, we use fuzzibunz & blueberry pockets. & i just bought some extra blueberry inserts to put in the fuzzibunz. the hubby thinks their inserts are more absorbant w/the hemp and less bulky than double stuffing w/microfiber. might be cheaper that way too.
final advice, buy flushable liners! i think they're a godsend. no, seriously. try them.
Not sure if this was mentioned (because I'm really lazy & don't want to read through 86 other comments)-but don't forget to buy a diaper sprayer…best investment when you CD!!
I put in my vote for the Rumaparooz…holds the poo in!
Good for you Blair! I hope you love cloth diapering as much as I do! Looks like you are starting slow and trying out a few different kinds to see what works; good strategy. If I could throw in my own recommendations: If you like all in ones my personal fav is the bumgenius organic with snaps (no inserts to stuff, natural fibers against the skin, and snaps so baby doesn't take off his diaper). And for something versatile, easy, and economical: flips by by bumgenius are awesome. You can use with their disposable insert for travel/daycare/going out/just feeling lazy (use 2 at night). Or use their cloth inserts. I haven't tried those b/c I use a tri-folded prefold and those work great as well and…are even cheaper! Wishing luck! And success!
Oh, and I disagree that it's a trend. Hopefully it will slowly become more the norm. And strange that it's being called the yuppy thing to do. I've never heard that before.
In terms of the environment, there is little to no benefit to cloth diapering. A study by the UK Environmental Agency outlined that the carbon footprint of disposable diapering to be 1,212 lbs versus 1,256 pounds from cloth diapering.
http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=…
I personally find it ironic that people even say they care about the environment while living in their 3,000 sq ft homes, driving their SUV's, buying BRAND NEW everything. It would be a lot more beneficial to the environment to buy second hand stuff and take other little steps that are proven to help. I can't say I really care that much about "being green."
If I were to cloth diaper, it would be purely for aesthetics.
MM – I had read that exact same study awhile ago! I just think it's a little much for people to term themselves as "green", based mostly on the fact that they cloth diaper.
They are cute to look at though! And, I'm sure they are better at stopping leaks… although I've never run into that issue with my son being in disposables.
Besides fighting about whether they are cheaper or better for the earth, how about the fact that cloth doesn't keep plastic and chemicals on your baby 24/7 for possibly years.
I agree with those who have pointed to the studies (there are several) that show that cloth diapering isn't that great for the environment. One of the best things we could all do for the environment is to quite having lush, beautiful, green lawns!
Cloth vs. Disposable each have their own benefits and flaws!