Teatopia

Crazy for Cloth

You might think I'm nuts, but I have good reasons:

I seriously LOVE our cloth diapers. I used to be one of those moms who gave kudos to anyone who cloth diapered, but thought they were kind of nuts for making more work for themselves. I also didn't know too much then about all the advances in cloth diapering since our mothers used them. Today, cloth diapering can be fun. They're a fashion accessory! And I don't spend much time taking care of them, really. It also feels good to be helping the environment. If you live in the city like me, the water you use to clean them is going to be re-used and I love than I'm not contributing to landfill waste. Did you know that disposable diapers are the number 3 pollutant in landfills? Also, the chemicals that disposables give off when wet is most likely one of the factors contributing to the growing numbers of kids with asthma. These are all factors that contributed to my decision to switch to cloth. I never really blogged about it at the time because I didn't want to seem preachy. We all have to do what's best for our family. I have no judgment, honestly, but if you think you might be interested in cloth (I've gotten e-mails from a few of you), I'd be happy to help you out in any way I can. I couldn't be happier about the making the switch!

The various types:

So... there are several types of cloth diapers to choose from. I'm going to show you my favorite. There are other types I don't use: contours, prefolds, and flats, which are basically the types that require a pin (or snappi, which is a fastener) and then a cover. Some people love these, they just don't appeal to me.

One of the more popular choices, and my favorite, is pockets because you can stuff them according to amount of absorbency you need. Pockets have a soft inside, a waterproof outside, and room between the two layers for stuffing.

From left to right, there's a Bum Genius, a Wonderworks Wonderoo, and a Baby Kanga pocket. These are all one-size diapers, which means they adjust to fit babies between 8 and 35/40 pounds. I'll get to the adjustments later. I love pockets because I can stuff them however much I want. At night, I use a super soaker insert, which looks like this:

It tri-folds and it's made from hemp, which is super absorbent. Most pockets come with an insert that slides right in the pocket, but you can order extras (like my super soaker) or doublers, which allow for extra absorbency. I've barely had any leaks at all. If we're going out, I use a doubler or add a second insert, but at home, usually whatever the diaper came with is enough.

You can buy pockets in specific sizes (newborn, small, medium, large, XL) but I love the OS (one-size) so I don't have to replace my diapers every time Olivia grows. Here you can see the size variation in the Bum Genius:

Then, there are AIO's (all-in-one's) where the insert is attached. These are waterproof on the outside. These are great for convenience, like if someone who wasn't familiar with cloth needed to change your baby, but I can't adjust the amount of absorbancy when the liner is already sewn in. Again though, they're a bit easier since you don't have to take time to stuff them.

Here you can see the different between a diaper with a sewn in liner (on the left), and one with a pocket that must be stuffed (on the right):

Here are two pockets and one AIO:

From left to right: a large WAHM made pocket diaper (many work-at-home-moms make a living making these-- don't I wish?), an AIO (the liner snaps in) one-size Little Lambs diaper, and a petite Fuzzi Bunz pocket diaper. Fuzzi Bunz are a popular brand. I use these at night with a wool cover, but I only have a few of them because they only come in specific sizes.

The last type I use are fitteds with a cover. Fitteds are diapers that look similar to the others above, but they don't have a waterproof outer, so you'd need a cover. I guess the appeal of these is mixing and matching, and some people like to just put fitteds on their child without a cover when they're home to let the skin breathe a little. But obviously, you'd need a cover if you were going somewhere.

From left to right: a Wonderworks Wonderwrap (one-size fits all), a large Bummis whisper-wrap, and a large Bella Bottoms cover.

I have a few fitteds with covers. Even though I prefer pockets, one of my favorite diapers I own is this adorable pink sushi print. Doesn't this make you want to cloth diaper? :-)

I also love this one-size Organic velour Swaddlebees. It's soooo soft and one of the inserts can be used as a newborn diaper.

Here's is the Swaddlebees with a Bummis Whisper-wrap cover:

Washing them (and no, it's not as gross as you'd think):

Most of the questions I got were about caring for the diapers. Really, it's not that bad! I know there are those who swish them around in the toilet (yuck!) and take time to meticulously peel poop off of the diapers (double yuck), but you can cloth diaper and avoid all that yuckiness. First of all, you can avoid the poop mess altogether by using a cheap, disposable, biodegradable liner. You simply lay it inside the diaper before you put it on, and the whole thing can be flushed, poop and all! No mess! There are times I don't use a liner because I don't think she'll poop, and most of the time, since she eats solids, the poop can just be dumped in the toilet. With exclusively breastfed babies, you don't have to worry about anything. The poop washes right out! If for some reason your toddler's poop gets smeared and there's no liner (it has happened) then I use an old spatula to scrape the mess into the toilet, I wipe the spatula off with a wipe and the rest comes out in the wash. No biggie!

The diapers then go into a diaper pail. I have a big tupperware trashcan that I got for $5 at Wal-mart with a trash bag for a liner. They can stay in here for a few days and there are all kinds of deodorizing methods. I throw a load of diapers in before I go to bed. I don't like mine to sit.

Washing them is easy. If I didn't use liners to catch poop, I run a rinse cycle. Then I do a hot wash with a little bit of Dawn soap (yes, Dawn! As in the detergent for dishes-- works great! But there are others you can use). When that wash is done, I run a rinse cycle. Then, I hang them to dry and throw the inserts in the dryer. You can dry everything in the dryer, but they say the diapers last longer if you don't. I have a drying rack I use for jeans and stuff, and I hang the diapers on there too.

I use cloth wipes when changing my diapers. I SWORE I never would, but in the end, I've found them much easier to use. I kept leaving disposable wipes in my cloth diapers and washing them by accident and they'd dissolve on everything. It got annoying. So, I got some cloth wipes (you can order them on most diaper sites or you can have a WAHM make them like I did). I keep warm water in my wipes warmer and I dip the cloth wipes in to get them wet, use them, and throw them in the pail with the dipes to be washed. Easy! They actually clean better than the thin disposables and Olivia like the warm wipe. She tells me "hot" and smiles. :-)

Here's the little caddy I keep for changing diapers:

You can see my package of liners and my cloth wipes. Also, some castile soap which I will sometimes add to my warm water to really clean her butt. She's so prone to rashes that it's a more gently alternative to the harsher disposable wipes. Also, my handy dandy poop scraping spatulas for emergency situations when I forgot to use a liner (it's been washed with antibacterial soap!). Also, I've got some diaper rash cream from Northern Essence. I had to buy "special" cream safe for cloth (the other stuff stains) and I have found that this more natural cream works a million times better than any other cream I've used.

On the go:

Yes, I use cloth when we're out. I have what's called a wet bag for throwing dirty diapers in. It has a little piece of cloth for you to put a few drops of peppermint or tea tree oil to hide smells. Cool, huh?

I do not use cloth wipes when we're out. I have friends who do (they wet the cloths in advance and keep them in a bag) but I just worry I won't remember to wet some and I just use disposable wipes which I throw away after changing Olivia.

The cost:

All this may sound like I spent a ton of money, but I really didn't. $300 tops. That's a heck of a lot less that you'd spend on disposables in the first year, and I can use all these again. Then, I can sell them on Diaper Swappers and get back probably half what I paid in the first place.

At first, I thought it would all be so much work, but it isn't. I've fallen into a routine and I love the cuteness factor of cloth diapers, so it all works out. I wish I'd started sooner. Newborn fluff is so cute!

Well, I think that's everything. Feel free to ask any questions if I didn't address something you're curious about. :-)

Here's a bonus pic to show you more varieties:

top row: yellow large Dream-Eze AIO (left) and large Happy Heiny's cow print pocket diaper

bottom row from left to right: glass colored Haute Pocket one-size, red/green Little Lambs one-size AIO, grass Haute Pocket one-size, periwinkle Wonderworks pocket one-size

Posted by Hannah at September 26, 2007 11:00 AM