...cloth diaper tribute...

Cloth diapers: for some, not for others. It is true that there is some extra work that goes into cloth diapering, it is also true that there is huge savings from using them. We decided to cloth diaper with our wee one right off the bat. Now, we had a large hand me down stash from my sister in law and I know that helped with the choice. Cloth can be daunting at first because it is a large initial investment and the expectation of more work on top of the hard work babies already are. I can say though that, even with going through stages and long holiday travels when we used paper diapers, we have spent less than a quarter of what averages say you will spend on diapers in a year (the average is $800/ year click here for more fun facts and here for a really good price break down of both options).

Anyway, then a friend of mine had her new baby get a chemical burn from a well known, trusted, and probably totally safe brand of diapers and I just felt like it was a good choice environmentally, physically, and monetarily for us. Let me be clear, we use paper at night and whenever else we feel it will be easier and I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with paper diapers, we just felt better about cloth and it fit into our lifestyle.

So here are my tips on cloth:

1. Prefolds: We use prefolds, partly because that is what my sister in law used. They aren't quite as easy as the All in ones (AIO) but for us they have proven to be softer and more absorbent and we can travel with just the insides and use the same outer shell all day (unless there is a large poo explosion). We have Imse Vimse prefolds (about 20), the ones on the linked website are a newer style than we have but very similar (ours don't snap). We were given a bunch of Bummis Whisper covers (about 8) which work great, I supplemented with Thirsties Duo covers (about 6 in the smaller size and 6 in the larger size). We used this system for about a year and still use it and like it a lot. When the wee one was smaller we had to do some creative folding of the prefolds but around a year they fit just right.

2. AIO: When wee one was about a year we bought a lot of 5 used fuzzi buns one size AIO diapers. I have three main notes on this: my husband loves them because they are easier, they are lower profile which is nice under baby leggings ;), AND they leak more. People that use them a lot love them, I really like them, but I have to change her more frequently than my prefolds.

3. Storage: We have a diaper pail with a carbon filter, I don't know if it really does anything but we don't have any bad smells and we do laundry about every five days. We rotate between two planet wise pail liners and even have the handy dandy BunGenius diaper sprayer. All you have to do is toss the used diaper into the pail (spraying off messy ones), sprinkle some borax on top (this may help control the smell too), and move on.

4. Washing: There are lots of different opinions and ideas out there about washing that are great. I think some things have to do with what kind of water you have (soft vs. hard). We use Charlies Soap which is one of the recommended brands, it is a little pricey but you only use half a scoop for diapers so it lasts a long time. Our process is to dump the diapers and liner into the machine and do a warm water rinse (they used to recommend cold water but now some say warm water works stains out better), then you switch to hot water and wash with half a scoop of soap. Then we do another hot water rinse. Then, we dry the inserts and prefolds on hot and hang the pail liner, covers and AIO outsides to dry. We haven't had a problem with staining but I hear drying them in the sunlight bleaches out even stubborn stains.I also let them soak overnight on the wash cycle with a little baby oxy if I let it go more than five days between washes.

5. Stripping and Ammonia Problems: Sometimes the ammonia builds up, I didn't know about stripping diapers and after a year I noticed a strong ammonia smell as soon as a clean diaper got wet, and then the wee one got some diaper rashes which was very out of character. I tried vinegar and baking soda which I think worked but then tried a couple squirts of Dawn original dish soap and washed them about three times (until there were no suds left in the rinse cycle) and the diapers came out super soft and clean feeling.

Amazon is my go to for everything, haha. I have the Amazon mom account and the shipping is fast, free and they have any weird thing you may be looking for!

Here are a couple other blogs that I think have helpful information:

Viva Cindy
Lazy Mom