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Cloth Diapering Experience

July 3, 2012 in cloth diapers with 2 Comments

{This is a guest post from Rebecca of D&R Tabb about her cloth diapering experience!}

When my son was born 6 months ago, I was way too overwhelmed to even think about cloth diapering. I was so excited about it all through my pregnancy, but changing 12-15 diapers a day when my son was brand new made me way too scared to venture into the unknown. But after 3 months and plenty of research, I was ready to make my first move to cloth diapering.

I had done much of my research while I was pregnant, so I started out buying a Best Bottom diaper and a few inserts. I was so sure that I was going to love these diapers and wouldn’t need to buy any different kinds. To my surprise, I didn’t really like them at all. I didn’t like that there was not a stay dry layer to keep the wetness away from my son and the cover left deep red marks on his skin.

Rebecca’s bumGenius Freetime (left) & FuzziBunz Perfect Size (right)

I turned to my favorite bloggers and decided to try a few different brands. I started out with a few BumGenius Free Times and Fuzzi Bunz sized diapers. What a different experience! I like them so much more. Since then I have branched out to a BumGenius 4.0 pocket diaper, Kawaii Heavy Wetter diapers and a few Rumparooz pocket diapers.

Now my stash is almost built up to the point that we can cloth diaper full time! I love that we are reducing our waste and keeping my son in comfortable, soft diapers that we can use for several years and hopefully on future children.

My tips for new cloth diapering moms are:

1. You can start cloth diapering part time

Don’t feel overwhelmed and get the idea that you have to jump in to full-time cloth diapering right away. Starting out with 2 or 3 diapers is a good way to ease the transition and you can avoid investing a large amount in something you may not like.

2. Do your research

The Cloth Diaper YouTube Channel is a great place to find reviews on cloth diapers. Tons of blogs and cloth diaper websites are out there so start hunting! Read up on prices, features, etc. to narrow your choices before you buy. Video reviews are very helpful so you can see the actual product better than just reading about them.

3. Try several types of diapers

This may seem to be the opposite of what I said in point #1, but the idea is if you try a diaper you don’t like, don’t throw in the towel. Try another. With so many ideas out there, you are bound to find the one that works for you. And resale value is good on used diapers, so you can always sell what doesn’t work for you.

4. Buy used diapers or diapers on sale

I didn’t realize when I made my first purchases that many cloth diaper websites offer great deals on a regular basis. Any time there is a holiday, check for discounts and make sure to read the fine print. Another idea is to buy used diapers from a site such as Diaper Swappers. You will run the risk of the diapers not being cared for the way you might care for them, but the deep discount might be a good way to ease the strain on your wallet.

Rebecca is a former educator turned stay-at-home mom. She enjoys exercising, reading, and blogging about her life as a wife and new mom at D&R Tabb.

Handling Dirty Cloth Diapers

July 2, 2012 in cloth diapers, green with 6 Comments

When I was expecting my first child, I knew I wanted to cloth diaper. I didn’t like the thought of throwing away thousands of diapers and I liked the saving money aspect of cloth diapering.

The one thing that kept me from feeling confident was handling dirty cloth diapers. 

‘What about the poo?’ was the biggest question I had.

Hopefully, this post will make you more confident about dirty cloth diapers!

If your baby is exclusively breastfed, you can treat the diaper the same as you would a wet one. Exclusively breastfed baby poo is water soluble so just dump everything into your pail!

For all other babies, follow these steps:

{These pictures are not of real poo. Instead it’s sweet potato casserole which really makes an authentic looking substitute…eww! If you’re in the early weeks of pregnancy or just have a weak stomach, proceed with caution!}

Dump the solids in the toilet.

Remove the insert from the pocket.

If all of the poo was dumped into the toilet, you can put both parts of the diaper into the pail and you’re finished! For messier jobs, you probably want to use a diaper sprayer to remove the rest.

Our diaper sprayer:

We didn’t want to spend $40+ on a diaper sprayer to hook to our toilet. Instead we purchased a shower head with a hose. We needed a new shower head anyways so we didn’t consider that a cloth diapering expense.

The shower head unscrews from the hose and we purchased a sprayer attachment. We store the sprayer attachment in a shower caddy so it’s easy to grab when we need it. With an exclusively breastfed baby and toddler, it’s rare that we even use the sprayer but it sure is nice to have for the occasional disgusting diaper!

Spray remaining solids off of the diaper.

Wring out the excess water.

Place the diaper in the diaper pail.

And of course, the very last step is to wash your hands!

That’s all there is to handling dirty cloth diapers.

I also want to share that I have a very weak stomach yet I am able to cloth diaper! My boys’ dirty diapers don’t bother me {even while dealing with morning sickness with Weston, I was still able to change Paxton’s dirty diapers without feeling sick!} However, I still gag when changing the dirty diapers of other babies!

Is the thought of handling dirty diapers holding you back from cloth diapering? 

Changing Cloth Diapers

June 25, 2012 in baby, cloth diapers, frugal, green with 6 Comments

Changing cloth diapers can seem intimidating at first but it’s so easy. When I leave the boys in cloth in the nursery at church or with a sitter, they’re always hesitant until I show them how simple it really is.

Since many people have never changed a ‘modern’ cloth diaper, here’s the process:

Step 1: Prepare to change the baby.

Step 2: Grab a diaper. Place the diaper under baby.

Step 3: Take the soiled diaper off of the baby.

Step 4: Remove the soiled diaper from baby’s reach! I have a wicker hamper beside our changing table that I set the diapers on once they’re taken off.

Step 5: Fasten the new diaper on baby. Here we’re putting on a bumGenius 4.0
with snaps. The snaps are a bit more intimidating than hook and loop {velcro} diapers but they’re still simple to use!

Step 6: You’re finished with the change! You now have a happy dry baby with an adorable cloth diapered bum!

Step 7: Place baby somewhere safe so you can put the diaper in the diaper pail. {I put Weston in his crib but just put Paxton down.}

Step 8: Take the insert out of the pocket {or prefold out of the cover} and dump into the diaper pail.

That’s it. It’s really just as simple as disposables and involves the same amount of steps. The only difference is the last step, with disposables you place them in a trash can but cloth diapers go into your diaper pail. And of course you’re saving money with cloth and not throwing away money with every diaper change!

Cloth Diapering Basics

June 18, 2012 in baby, cloth diapers, frugal, green with 7 Comments

When you’re first exploring cloth diapering, it can seem overwhelming. After you’ve figured out what types of cloth diapers you think will work best for your family and invest in them, there are still a few more things that are needed to get started.

Cloth diapering can be expensive but you can cloth diaper on a budget by sticking to the basics.

Paxton{21 months} Weston{1 month} in bumGenius 3.0s

Diapers

The number of diapers needed vary by family and by the amount of time you’re cloth diapering. For cloth diapering part time, I’d suggest a mininum of 12 diapers per child. If you’re planning on cloth diapering full time, I’d start out with no less than 20.

The number I’m comfortable with is 24 diapers for diapering just one child. When I was just cloth diapering Paxton, we were averaging 8 diapers a day. Having 24 diapers gave us a 3 day supply and I’d wash every other day. Since I line dried everything, having that extra day worth of diapers was nice, I never ran out of diapers!

For cloth diapering my two boys {ages 2 and 5 months} we have 24 pocket diapers, 9 prefolds/4 covers and 3 overnight pocket diapers. That equals to a total of 36 diapers for 2. There are some days I get a little nervous about running out of clean diapers but we’re washing every 1.5 days so that helps us get by on less.

Wipes

The type of wipes you use comes down to preference. Some cloth diapering parents are grossed out by cloth wipes. I personally think they’re wonderful, you’re saving money by reusing wipes plus you don’t have to worry about disposable wipes getting in your diaper laundry.

We use cloth wipes. We started out with baby wash cloths which got the job done but weren’t the best size. Before Weston was born, I made cloth wipes from flannel which are wonderful.

I don’t use a wipe solution. I just keep it simple and only dampen about 2 days worth of wipes and store in a wipe container. In 2 years of cloth diapering, I’ve never had them sour. I also think the wet wipe does an adequate job cleaning up messes {and for those really messy diapers that I feel like a simple wet wipe isn’t enough, I’ll just give the child a bath!}

Diaper Pail

Cloth diapering families use all different types of diaper pails but you’re going to need a place to store your diapers. I’ve read that some parents use their washing machine as dirty diaper storage, some use trash cans with pail liners, some use hanging wet bags and others use actual diaper pails.

When we first started we used a Simple Step Diaper Pail. It was roomy enough for cloth diapering just one child with an every other day wash routine. When Weston was on the way, I started looking into a larger diaper pail but ended up purchasing a large  Wet Bag. The diaper pail holds all the cloth wipes, inserts and prefolds and the large wet bag {which hangs on the bathroom door} contains the covers. {We wash the covers separate from the inserts, prefolds and wipes.}

There’s no right or wrong way to store your dirty diapers, just do what’s best for your family!

Wet Bag

If you ever plan on cloth diapering outside the home, you’ll need a wet bag. We have a Planet Wise Medium Wet Bag  This bag will hold about 4-6 cloth diapers.

You could get by without a wet bag by just using plastic bags but the wet bags help hold in the stink {and trust me even wet diapers stink…do you really want your car to smell like that?}

Another benefit of the wet bag is it can contain clothes from messy accidents. Many times bibs, shirts and pants have been placed into our wet bag while out.

Detergent

Washing diapers is a huge part of cloth diapering so you’ll need detergent. Most detergents that local grocery stores carry are not recommended for cloth diapers.

There are many different options like Rockin’ Green, Charlie’s Soap , Soap Nuts , bumGenius Diaper Detergent and some mama’s have had luck with plain ole Tide. Cloth diaper manufacturers often recommend certain detergents to use for their products, so start there when searching for the right detergent for you.

Are there any other basics you think are necessary for cloth diapering?

{And if you’re new to cloth diapering, ask questions! I’ll answer and I’m sure other Intentionally Simple readers who cloth diaper will chime in to answer too!}

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