She Did the Unthinkable: She Tried Cloth Diapers and Loved It!

Many of you may not know that I recently switched to cloth diapering. I have to say, when I first started I kinda kept it to myself that I started, because I wasn't sure how I would like it. In fact, before Alexander was born, I had friends who cloth diapered and I thought, "They are crazy! I would NEVER do that!" Well, here I am cloth diapering and loving it! How did I get from detesting the idea to trying it, you ask? Well, one of my mission companions, Rachel Johns (Formerly Rachel Ransom), did a blog about it and I was intrigued by her ideas about why she was doing it.

Let me start by explaining some of the reasons she cloth diapered. First there is the obvious answer, it is cheaper. Now that I have started, I completely agree! I finally built up our stash of cloth diapers to about 22 diapers. This allows me to wash them every other day, and still have enough for him to wear while they are washing and drying. That being said, I have spent a total of $341.15 to cloth diaper the way I choose to. Now that being said, I bought fun things like a diaper holder for my diaper bag, a special laundry bag, 22 diapers and  some extra night time inserts. You could easily cloth diaper for cheaper, if you are willing to wash them more frequently. I just figured that we plan to have four kids or so, and it was worth the investment. I have seen people quote that you could easily spend $1000-$2000 per year using disposable diapers, so $350 to be able to reuse even for a year sure does pay off! And I plan to use them for longer than that, and if they hold up long enough, on multiple children. That being said, this was never enough to convince me. I mean, sure, I wanted to save money, but not bad enough to deal with poopie diapers.

Of course, Rachel covered the environmental impact that disposables can make on the earth. I really, truly should care. But the reality is, I am selfish at heart. I care enough to recycle, but if it came to inconveniencing me, like when I lived in an apartment complex that only had one recycling bin all the way on the other side of the complex, well, my lazy nature set in, and I just threw it away. So this was by far no way the reason I decided to start cloth diapering! I just didn't care enough about the impact one child's poopie diapers could make on the environment. Hopefully you are a better person than I am, and if you are considering cloth diapering, this will be a point you consider longer than I did.

Rachel covered a few reasons why people are afraid to try, like they think it will be super gross (that was me) or like their husbands wouldn't be willing to try. She targeted these by explaining the process for cleaning them, and that if your husband is afraid to do cloth he probably wont help much with disposables either. I think she is right on both accounts. So first, how do you clean a cloth diaper? Well, maybe I should start by showing you a few pictures of the cloth diapers I use and how they work.

Below are a few pictures of what the cloth diapers look like when you buy them. I buy FuzziBunz diapers and absolutely love them! They come in lots of colors and have a great warranty. They are made with snaps which I prefer, since velcro can sometimes stick to everything in the wash. They come with one diaper, two inserts and extra elastic, in case the elastic starts wearing down. If you have problems with snaps, the waterproofing layer, or sewing issues, they will replace them forever! That means a lifetime guarantee! Not bad! If you want to know more about their diapers and their warranty you can visit: http://www.fuzzibunz.com/

Since I really want you to be able to see how they work, I took a lot of pictures of the diaper and the inserts. Here they are:

 So the diapers come with two inserts, the two on the left. You can order the one on the right for $3 more. During the day, I use two inserts total, one of the two on the right and the small one. The reason I like the one on the right so much is that it is super thin and amazing at holding water and not leaking. It is made of hemp and bigger so I can use it and one other insert at night or for longer times out shopping an guarantee that he won't leak! It is super awesome!

This is just a picture of what the diaper looks like. You can see there are a lot of snaps. This helps you to achieve the ideal setting. So if your kid has chunky legs, but a small tummy, you can adjust it to that and be sure it stays put (unlike velcro). The diapers also have elastic on the legs and waist that you can adjust with them as they grow. This diaper is what they call a One-Size diaper and could diaper a child from birth to potty-training. This makes cloth diapering even more affordable!

I took a picture of this side so you could see how soft the lining is (this one is a fleece lining, but the newer ones are made with a minky lining). The inside of the diaper (the green part) is lined with a plastic-like lining to ensure there are no leaks.

 You can see here that the diaper is now filled with the two liners. I have found it is easier to put in one insert at a time. It is really important to make sure the inserts lay flat, otherwise you can leave spaces and might experience leaking.

 Another important step is that you tuck the fleece lining over the inserts but under the elastic. This helps to make sure there are no leaks out the top. When you actually put the diaper on, it is a good idea to check all the sides to make sure it is on securely. It takes a few times figuring out the right adjustment for your kid, but once you figure it out, they are great at preventing leaks!

Finally, the above picture is what the diaper could look like all buttoned up. So now we get to how you clean the diapers. After a diaper is soiled you basically take out the inserts and put the inserts and the diapers into a laundry bag, and then they stay there until it is time to wash them. What about poopie diapers, you ask? Mostly, it isn't a huge deal. When Alexander was little, I could just put the poopie diaper right in the laundry hamper because they were really liquidy due to the fact that he was exclusively breastfed. And when he was breastfeeding and doing solids, the poop was pretty solid, so I would just dump them in the toilet and flush the toilet. Now we have entered a tricky situation where his poop isn't quite liquid but not completely solid. We really need to invest in a diaper sprayer. That would make his diapers easier to clean. And if I were still breastfeeding, I wouldn't have this problem. Unfortunately, I had to switch to formula last week because my milk supply was dropping and his weight was really low. I do think once his body gets used to formula, we will be fine again. Anyway, if I had a diaper sprayer, it would attach to the toilet and you could spray it into the toilet. So convenient!

So now that you know what to do with the dirty diaper, here are some pictures of our diaper bags. The first one is the one we use for putting soiled diapers in when we are away. It is also plastic lined and can easily hold up to 3 diapers. I have never needed to hold more than that so I suppose it might be able to hold more. The second one is a diaper laundry bag. It is also plastic lined so the wet stuff stays in. It hangs on the doorknob, and when it is time to wash the diapers, I basically unzip the bottom of the bag and all the diapers fall into the washing machine. No extra touching! I love that fact. Then I do a cold rinse, and then wash them with half the amount of detergent and a little oxy clean on hot/cold. You can buy special laundry soap for your diapers, or just use one free of perfumes or dyes. I use Arm and Hammer Free because it is cheap and does the job. Below are the pictures of my diaper bags:

So, as you can see the laundering process is pretty easy. The diapers can all be dried in the dryer on the lowest setting, but I prefer to hang dry at least the actual diapers. Some days I hang dry the liners and some days I dry them in the dryer. It all depends on if I have been lazy and need the liners done more quickly. I wanted a way to hang dry the diapers, and was about to purchase a drying rack, when I went to the dumpster to dump out some trash and noticed pieces of a child's bed frame sitting next to the dumpster. I instantly got an idea as to how I could use them as a drying rack. So these are just two pieces tied together with ribbon. Maybe one day I will actually buy hinges and make it more practical, but for now, it works! Here are some pictures of my drying rack:

As you can see, the diapers come in LOTS of cute colors. They also have pink and purple ones, but we don't have a need for those colors yet. I also found a way to organize the top drawer of the changing table to easily hold everything and a few disposable diapers, in case I ever need them. We do plan to use disposables while traveling, so we still will use them a little bit. Here is my drawer:

Okay, so I have finally finished covering a lot of the basics about cloth diapering. But, I still have yet to tell you why I switched. Here it is: Rachel said that cloth diapers eliminated her daughter's blow-outs and diaper rashes. This was unbelievable to me! Alexander had an average of four blow-outs a day in disposables as a newborn, and one a day right before we started cloth diapering (only a few months ago). His blow-outs were so bad that they would often go all the way up the back and ruin his outfits. I found myself constantly scrubbing out poopie outfits and soaking them in oxy clean. If I didn't do this, they would be forever stained. So we constantly had a bucket for soaking his clothes in his bathroom. When she said this, I was willing to give it a shot. I showed Scott her blog and he was willing to try too. After all, we were already dealing with scrubbing out all his poopie clothes, so we figured cloth diapers would be no different. Well, I am happy to report that Rachel was right. Alexander rarely has diaper rash, and almost never blows out of his diapers. The only time he has it has been the amount the size of a small crayon, and that was due to us just not adjusting the diaper setting right. So we are happy to report that the soaking bucket is gone! 

The final verdict is that Scott and I both love cloth diapering. And I have to admit, I love how much money we are saving and will continue to save as we use these diapers on multiple children. Overall, the cost of scrubbing out the occasional poopie diaper is far outweighed by not having to scrub out Alexander's outfits, and knowing that we are saving tons of money!

What about wipes, you ask? Well, I went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to go cloth for at least the wet diapers. Then I realized, I don't use cloth when I go to the bathroom, so if I can buy toilet paper, than wipes are okay too. Maybe I will change my mind, but that is what I have decided for now.

I was also curious about swim diapers. So below is a picture of a swim diaper I bought. Right now, FuzziBunz is also selling a spring diaper that is super cute and works as a swim diaper too. That one is the one in the pictures later, that Alexander is wearing.

 Okay, so let's see...is there anything else I need to cover? Oh yeah! Two things to be aware of if you are considering cloth diapers: First, you need to change cloth diapers about every two hours to prevent leaks and keep your kiddo more dry. Second, they make your baby's but look bigger. Both aren't a huge deal, but just something I thought you should know!

Oh yeah...one more thing. If you are looking to buy these diapers you can get them at: https://www.fuzzibunzstore.com/. I like their website because you can sign up for an account and earn 10% in store credit, every time you shop. Or you can get them a lot cheaper at their seconds store. It is where they sell diapers with minimal defects for a significant savings. That's where we bought most of ours and loved them. The seconds store website is: http://www.fuzzibunzseconds.net/store/Default.asp That store seems to constantly have a buy five get one free sale, which we used a couple of times. You can get the diapers and the inserts for about $5 cheaper a diaper, making them about $15 a diaper.

Well, if you have made it this far, I am impressed! This blog was super long, but I wanted it to be informative just in case any of you out there were wondering about cloth diapers! Below are some pictures of my cute little man in his new FuzziBunz swim diaper. He is just so cute! Enjoy!

Doesn't he just make you want to love 'em? Well, that is all for this post. Feel free to ask me any questions if you are curious! Tune in next time for a fun, but much shorter post :)