{image via ehow.com}Since before we even got pregnant, I knew I really wanted to try cloth diapering. Why you ask? Well let me tell you...
* Cost - It's estimated that over the course of diapering your child you will spend around $1500 on disposable diapers, whereas with cloth diapering your initial cost is more expensive (around $200 - $500 depending on the type and brand you get), but you can use them for the duration of diapering your child, and future children to come...saving you even MORE money!
* The Environment - I wouldn't say that Russ and I are "environmentalists", but we personally believe that as believers in the God who created this earth, it's our job to do the best we can to take care of it. It is estimated that around 5 million tons of untreated waste is deposited into landfills via disposables every year. If we can do something as simple as cloth diaper our child, and contribute to the lowering of that number, then why not?
* Health - There are all kinds of nasty chemicals that they put into disposable diapers these days to make them extra absorbent. I don't want that stuff touching our sweet baby's skin!!
* Potty Training - Because cloth diapers aren't as absorbent as disposables, babies tend to potty train earlier because they can feel wetness. Now obviously we haven't gotten a chance to test this out yet, but I'm already over changing diapers, and I haven't even started...ha...so anything that will help get this little guy on the potty and out of diapers, I'm willing to try :)
There are TONS of resources out there on the world wide interweb on how to cloth diaper, the different kinds of cloth diapering, how to clean, etc. simplemoms.net is a great resource I found on all things cloth diapers.
Russ and I have decided to go the all-in-one route, which unfortunately is also the most expensive way to cloth diaper your child...ugh, what to do! I am SO thankful that my friend Julie from patisserie mommie posted about Sunbaby Cloth Diapers! You can only buy them on ebay (I know...sketch), but they're super cheap (under $5/diaper...most all-in-ones will cost you $15 - $20/diaper), and Julie's tried them and LOVES them, and from what I've read online, they've been gettting good reviews. So Sunbaby we shall go! I'll let you know how these diapers do when it comes to testing them out, but I'm optimistic about the possibilities!
Although I've done some research, I'd LOVE to get your thoughts on cloth vs disposable and what works for you and your muchkin!
Well it's 5am now...I think I'll try to get at least a couple more hours of sleep before I really have to get up. Wish me luck!
Can we really only be 16 days away from baby day?!?!
7 comments:
yay!!! we went the cloth route as well. I LOOOOVE it. The key for me was finding the right washing combo to keep stinkies at bay; it really depends on your washer and what kind of dipes you have (with fleece makes a difference) I've picked up a few diapers on diaperswappers and thebabywearer.com for pretty cheap too. I chose Fuzzibunz and bumgenius just because they were the "easiest". I think as you go along you'll learn what works for your kiddo and what doesn't. In the beginning I would just put a prefold into a cover bc they don't move much, poop and pee so frequently you don't need a big bulky dipe at that point! I picked up a starter pack of G diapers and just put the prefold in there. I did that for 6 months and only spent the cost of the starter pack (maybe $25?) and 2 packs of prefolds. Very cheap route, but when S starting crawling, moving and shaking I needed to put her in a more spill proof dipes which is why I switched. I bought mine on ebay too, I still paid $17/diaper but it's SO worth it in what you won't be spending on sposies and wipes and waste that won't be made!
Enjoy it it's so fun!
oh! get yourself some wetbags too. they are for dirty dipes and do wonders at keeping the stinkies away! almost everyone makes them but i have goodmama bags and they are AWESOME!
let me know if you have any questions!
We are switching to the all in ones/fitteds from pocet diapers. More because of the time spent stuffing takes a toll on me. We are using the bum genius 3.0 delux aio. They are awesome and have a pocket for stuffing extra if you do need it. About 15 a piece. Be careful when little Addison is first born. I'm assuming you will circumsize, and no creams on cloth, so you will be using disposables for the first couple of weeks.
Hey Jill! We also used cloth diapers with Judah until a couple weeks ago! (Being 6 months pregnant, it was getting hard to bend over the potty to swish out all the poops and it was getting hard to keep up with the laundry.) But I'm so glad we cloth diapered for as long as we did. You save SO much money (and we bought bum genius 3.0 diapers that were about $17 each. The nice thing about those was that they are adjustable, so we could use the same diapers from beginning to end. I already have them stuffed and folded for when baby girl arrives!) My favorite thing as a new mom was the cloth wipes that we bought (I think we got Kussaluvs brand.. they're just like small wash cloths) and we wet them with a mixture of water, baby oil, baby shampoo, and a few drops of tea tree oil. LOVE THEM! They are so much healthier for baby's skin and so much better at wiping poops than disposables!) Make sure you have enough diapers to last a couple of days (we only had 12 to start and had to wash every day... then we wound up with 19 of them, and that was a good amount). We would wash cold with a little detergent, wash hot with a little detergent, and then do a final rinse cycle... and bleach once a month to "strip" the diapers. We never had a problem with stinkiness that way. Good luck!
okay...i am obviously the odd ball here. my experience with cloth diapers is that they SUCK. now you can take into that the fact that my experience was as a nanny...and nannies don't get excited over what the babies poop looked like (as a mom would) i also don't want to spray your kids poop off into the toilet with your "cool new toilet spray wand" the poopy spray water goes all over your toilet bowl seat and i refuse to use ANY toilet while i babysit your kids. also my experience was with a girl. i have a theory that boys would leak less. girls leak EVERYTIME! and don't tell me i wasn't changing it enough bc i was and double stuffing it! i could be wrong on my whole boys will be easier with the cloth diaper. also...you do realize you have to do a hot and then cold cycle of wash and then (if you don't have that great of a dryer) usually two drying. another thing is they always stink! i tried everything with the lady i worked for and they still stunk! the smell even after just being washed was enough to make me gag and it made me sad bc the little girl was always kinda the "smelly kid"
all i can say is to each their own. and to add you definitely want to wait until they are like a month or so old to start using the cloth. newborns pee and poop A LOT! you would be changing the cloth like every half hour to hour and would probably just wear yourself out which isn't needed.
even though i hate cloth diapers...if i have a boy i MIGHT consider but doubt it. i will go green other ways and shoot pampers are so soft and feel like cloth. yea the cost sucks big A but ehh i am an american all the way and if something makes my life easier give it to me.
i mean just being honest.
but....
good luck! i hope you love them!!
i'm so glad my recommendation helped! to answer your questions from my post, she's been in them over a month now. we had to wait til she was about 10lbs. because they were still a bit too big on her (even though they say 8lbs. and up), but every baby is shaped differently, so you may be able to start him sooner. i honestly do love these diapers...hopefully they will at least last through her potty training days! i'll be ok if that's all we get out of them...i mean, we only paid $150 for like 25 of them, ha.
hi! i found your website through my sister in law, valerie smith. i cloth diaper my son with bum genius and i love it. it is such a part of my routine. a resource that i love is www.clothdiapers.blogspot.com and cottonbabies.com
2 really great websites for products and information. be prepared to spend a little more money down the road to buy things like nighttime super-absorbent inserts for when your son is sleeping through the night. i also just had to replace the elastic in my diapers that we have been using for a year. the elastic doesnt last forever and i found that the diaper was leeking out on his clothes because they had lost their elasticity. hope that helps! congratulations
I'm not sure how I found your blog, but, hi! We cloth diaper, and I have to say love the bum genius! We use both the organic all in ones and the 3.0's for night time... I have two boys born in March, it's the perfect time in my opinion...just enough time to get back in shape for summer and you miss most of the winter germs!
Congrats! I LOVE Made too.
Oh, have to say that I absolutely adore your ottoman... SO creative!
Congrats, and I'll be checking in to see when your little one arrives.
PS--I have info on our diaper experience on my blog if you're interested...I think it's under the go green label (or eat sprouts). :-)
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