When I was pregnant with James the idea of cloth diapering briefly occurred to me. Very briefly. I didn't know anyone who cloth diapered, and the things I read about the people who did left me feeling like cloth diapering was another step on the road to being green, organic, sustainable and morally superior to people who used disposable diapers and fed their children the occasional chicken nugget. Not exactly my thing, I like chicken nuggets. It also overwhelmed me. There are a thousand choices, hundreds of brands- prefolds, all in ones, pocket diapers, covers, doublers, snapis, soakers. Plus, they all have overly cutsie names that refer to butts like "rumparooz", "fuzzibuns" and "bumgenius". I envisioned myself being too tired to wash them, too fumbly to get them on in the middle of the night and constantly cleaning up leaks. Yuck and no thank you. Another major consideration was our loving and wonderful sitter- Ms. Kara. Game for anything and already willing to go through the hassle of defrosting thousands of tiny bottles of frozen breast milk I wasn't eager to suggest she rinse and recycle my dozens of drippy diapers (though she probably would have). I digress.
One fine day I started doing math. We were spending almost $100 a month in diapers on James alone. With baby #2 on the way and my salary close to disappearing I was determined to cut our spending- so I started researching. I discovered they come in bright jewel colors and pretty patterns. Sold! Just kidding (kind of). Then I realized I could save $2000 per child by cloth diapering them from birth to age two, and about $500 cloth diapering James until he potty trained. We want five kids. Thats $8500 in the long run- but more importantly with two in diapers its over $170 in monthly expenses. Every single size 5 Huggies slip-on diaper, even when purchased in bulk on Amazon, was costing me $.41. Newborn diapers cost closer to $.20 per diaper but you use twice as many. My entire stash of cloth diapers, 32 of them and accessories, thanks to the generosity of some friends and some bargain shopping, cost me $445. We've been using them exclusively for four months and I love them. Bed time, outings, everything.
On James (30lbs, 36 inches tall) the only one-size diapers I have found that are big enough are BumGenius. I tried Rumaprooz and Fuzzybunz but they both have too short a rise- the Fuzzybuz are also too tight even on the loosest setting. My entire aim in this process was simplicity- one diaper for all sizes, quick drying, easy to use and durable. Our diaper of choice thus far are the BumGenius 4.0 with snaps. Even John loves them. They have a microfiber absorbent insert that you can pull out to wash and throw in the dryer separately while the covers air dry- which takes less than half a day. Solid waste gets dropped in the toilet and flushed- everything else gets thrown straight in the washing machine. Simple. With exclusively breastfed babies you don't even have to worry about solids, or semi-solids as they usually are- their waste is all totally water soluble. I have 22 diapers that I use on my rotation with James. We use about seven per day. When you change a diaper you throw it in a wet bag or diaper pail (mine is in my laundry room) Each night I dump the day's load in the washing machine, do one short cold wash with a little soap to get out stains followed by a hot wash with a normal amount of soap (Original Tide, the soap you pick is important) and a final hot rinse. The covers are then hung on my little laundry room hangers to air dry and the inserts get thrown in the dryer. The next morning it takes me less than five minutes to re-stuff the inserts. Viola. Ready for another round. Once a month the whole set gets a quarter cup of bleach in the hot cycle. They've stayed delightful smelling and have zero stains, even though I don't sun-dry them.
For the baby I have eight Rumparooz (pocket diapers, snaps, one size) to try and two Fuzzybunz (again- pocket, snaps, one size). It has been suggested to me not to cloth diaper until he weighs 8-10lbs-James weighed 10lbs before he was two weeks old. Other concerns are the initial awful tar poops, umbilical cord and circumcisions since you can't put Vaseline on the diapers and they have a bad tendency to rub and irritate the cord area. We'll see how it goes. I'm not willing to try newborn diapers or prefolds for two weeks or less so I have a small stash of disposables until we can move on to the cloth.
Other great things I've discovered about cloth diapers- they don't stink when they're wet like disposables do- and my garbage never smells anymore! Especially being pregnant with a sensitive nose this is a huge plus. Second- they just FEEL nicer. They're softer, they're more substantial and far nicer to look at than disposables. I get a sense of satisfaction every time I stack up my newly washed stash. Thirdly, James hasn't gotten a single diaper rash since we've used cloth. There are special creams to use if a baby does since Desitin can cause the inside of the diaper to repel moisture.
In short, there is no going back, and I'm sure the good folks who fret about landfills are happy with me as well. I'm no expert but questions are welcome from anyone who would like to give it a try!
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