Cloth Diapering; I'm in Love!

 

 

We are loving cloth diapering! I would definitely recommend it for anyone who's interested in trying it out. As long as you can establish a good system, I think they're just as convenient as disposables. Now, getting a good system down has taken a little trial and error, but all in all I've had a great experience with cloth from the start.

I use the one-size BestBottom brand. It's considered a "hybrid" diaper- a shell + an absorbent insert that snaps into the shell. The cute colors and prints make it so much fun, and there's something really satisfying knowing that we're saving money and being eco-friendly all at the same time.

We have five shells (update, now we have eight!) At least eight to ten are recommended, and those extra three sure do make a difference. I'd love to have more since they're so darned cute, but five- and now eight- are plenty.

Our current stash!

Generally they stay clean, but if they get a little messy on the inside I just rinse them with some soap and they're good to go again. Otherwise, they get washed every two or three days. We have sixteen (we're up to 20 now) medium sized inserts that snap into the shells (18 to 24 are recommended). I skipped the small size since we weren't planning on using them right away (we weren't sure if he would fit into the shells until he was older). But surprisingly, the shells fit him well pretty early on! I tried one on one day when he was about three weeks old not expecting it to work, but it did! They seemed a little bulky at first when compared to newborn size disposables, but we've gotten used to them and he's growing every day.

During a routine diaper change, I unsnap the dirty insert and throw it into a wetbag to wait for washing. The wetbag is great for storing them and for keeping the smells away. I just ordered another one so that I'll have one for dirty diapers only and a separate one for wet diapers only. That way, the dirty diaper bag can get thrown straight into the wash with the rest of the load, while the bag for the wet ones can just be wiped down from time to time. (I don't want my hand made Joel Dewberry bag to fade and/or leak color in the hot washes). The shells go into a mesh bag so that they're always airing out and able to dry if I've had to rinse a little leak out of them.

Surprisingly, I don't even mind this whole laundering process. Maybe it's the diaper sprayer that makes it so easy and convenient. It only takes about 10 or 15 minutes every two days, and will be less once he gets older and has solid #2s. Being at Knox and not having a personal washer and dryer might make it a little more challenging. But after all, it's only four months, and I just can't see myself switching to disposables after seeing how much I love cloth. (Especially for the fact that disposables seem to give Asher really bad diaper rash...maybe he has extra sensitive skin.)

I also use cloth wipes, GroVia's 100% cotton version, which work just as great as the diapers. I make my own wipe solution with a lavender essential oil concentrate and water, soak the wipes in it, then put them into the wipes warmer just like you would with regular wipes. See the whole cloth wipe process here. They stay nice and moist and are very gentle, since they're chemical-free. Also, lavender is naturally anti-bacterial and smells great.

The only downside I've found with our cloth diapers so far is the fact that Thane's brain automatically shuts down when he attempts to handle one. (Sorry Thane, but it's true.) So, because I don't want him slapping a disposable on him all the time (we always keep a few around), I end up doing the vast majority of the changing. But I don't mind it in the least, I actually enjoy it- never thought I'd say that! And besides, Thane is quite handy at other things, like putting food on our table (which is kind of important). So I'm more than happy to take care of all the baby duties. Just for the record, I should mention that during Asher's first two weeks Thane was a diaper changing machine. We were using disposables at that point and he was extremely helpful.

Asher says "go BestBottoms!" :)

P.S. See my full list of cloth diapering posts here.