I love you because you save me money. I love having you around because you are made new with just one wash cycle. You are very versatile... I can use you as a diaper or a burp cloth or snot rag or a my-son-just-peed-on-the-floor-and-I-need-something-to-clean-it-up-with cloth. You are soft and fluffy. You look adorable on my baby and with all the colors you come in I can coordinate you quite nicely with outfits (not that my son cares).
But, dear cloth diaper, you cause me such grief.
Honestly, you make me want to scream sometimes.
Not because you are more work... it's really no problem to throw you in the washing machine. Not because the Daddy of the house is less excited about changing you... I'm faster anyway (no offence to Steven, I just have more experience since I'm home with John) and I don't mind that much. Not because you stain sometimes... nothing a little sun, oxyclean or bleach can't handle. Not because you wear out with use... really nothing last forever and I've definitely already earn my money's worth out of you.
Why you ask? Why?
But because I can NOT, for the life of me, figure out your yeasty ways.
I can't figure out if you are the problem or if I'm the problem or if my son is the problem. I've tried everything... from bleaching the living day lights out of you to using gentle soaps and grapefruit seed extract. John eats yogurt and probably has the healthiest diet of the house (at least the least amount of sugar for sure). I'm sure I'm washing you correctly because we never have stink problems or absorbancy issues. If it's not him or me it has to be you!
When John wears you he inflames with yeast after only three or four days. If he wears your arch enemy, Mr. Disposable, then his yeast clears up (even without creams). But if I even think about switching back to you, yeast flares us again. Why is that?
I can't bring myself to throw you out because of the start up cost if I decided to start again. However, I have literally committed you the Lord about once a month since John was five months old and I'm just so mad at you!
I love Bumgenius, but I only put up with the velcro. A friend gave me a bunch pocket diapers (not Bumgenius, no stay dry liner, but they are still great for nursery/babysitters) and they have snaps. After using them a while, I realized that velcro was pretty much evil. I hate velcro chains in the drier.. and I hate how lint and various strings (even my hair) gets stuck in the velcro tabs. Don't get me wrong, it is more adjustable on the baby... but it's not for us.
I was STOKED when Bumgenius came out with their 4.0s! However, we don't have tons of money to spend on my every diaper whim, so I had to make my well-well-loved Bumgenius work. I considered getting the tools to convert mine to snaps, but I ultimately decided to have someone do it. The cost to convert my Bumgenius myself was the same as the cost to have someone to do it and the only velcro I have is Bumgenius... all my other cover & pockets are snaps (or buttons on the wools).
So, After finally getting my Bumgenius converted I've decided that Velcro is no longer allowed in my house when it comes to diapers!
Here they are before...
And here they are converted!
I actually found someone to do them by a facebook ad. I usually don't click on those, but I guess they finally figured out the way to my heart :) She allowed you to pick which snap colors you want so I decided to have fun with the colors... and I really liked how they turned out. You can get matching colors, but I figured it would be good to tell these apart in case they start to leak.
The shipping kinda took a while, but I think that was my fault because I paid for the least expensive shipping and thus the slowest. It was hard to live without my Bumgenius. I'm not sure how long I was actually without them, but I totally used disposables in place of when I would use my Bumgenius. I'm so happy to have them back :) :) :)
If you are interested in having your diapers converted she does give a discount for removing the velcro yourself... and we took advantage of that. I recommend taking off the velcro yourself not only to save money but to make sure the pul doesn't get punctured in the process.
“You are still a good cloth diapering Mom if you use a disposable diaper.”
“And you aren’t a bad Mom if you don’t use cloth diapers.”
I love cloth diapers but I have had to tell myself these things over the past year. I would love to be the ideal-I-make-my-son’s-cloth-diapers-from-stratch-and-use-them-100%-of-the-time Mother… but I’m not. And trying to live up to self imposed ridiculous standards is… well… ridiculous. Disposables were invented for a reason. And when our Grandmothers heard of them, they thought they were cool! And they probably wondered to themselves how wonderful it would have been to have them in their days.
There were many days, even weeks, when I thought I was going to throw in the towel on cloth diapers. During John’s first yeast infections I thought I would never see cloth diaper without screaming. However, like with my struggle in not being able nurse John, I learned to receive grace and I thanked God for modern day conveniences.
So why not stop cloth diapering and just enjoy a life of disposables?
Bottom line… It saves us money!
In our situation I’ve only spent about $100 on cloth diapers (Thank you shower gifts & swagbucks). I have cloth diapers and if I use them I avoid spending $35 a month on disposables. So at the end of the year we are $420 closer to having zero debt. Because of the amount I’ve already used my cloth I’ve made back the investment. We are at a point where I’m truly saving money every time I use cloth.
I’m not trying to save the earth or protect John from chemicals… I’m just a Mother that is trying to closely monitor her household’s finances.
So, if you are considering cloth diapering, please, Please, PLEASE don't be overwhelmed. You can do it. And you don't have to commit to doing it 100% at first... or even ever.
Hopefully this week has been enjoyable for you. If it hasn’t… well… you probably stopped reading on Tuesday or Wednesday ;)
I get asked a lot of questions about laundry by people wondering about cloth diapers. Personally, I think the whole how you wash your diapers is made way way too complicated. And just for the record (because I was discussing this with someone recently) I've never touch poop.
Just be warned… I break a lot of rules in this department. If you are concerned about keeping a warranty on your diapers then don’t listen to me.
The biggest deviation I’ve taken is with laundry is detergent. When I started, I ordered Charlie’s Soap online and use it in to wash all clothes & diapers. Looking back I think that was silly. I wanted to follow the rules, but I didn’t see why I had to order detergent online and sometimes our clothes didn't seem clean. I now use whatever I can find at the grocery store that has the least amount of additives. I don’t stress if it has a brightener or a fragrance. I try to avoid it, but I just need to wash poop off of diapers not spend 55 extra minutes in the grocery store stressing over laundry detergent. We now have clean diapers and fresh smelling clothes. Honestly, (this is just an opinion but) I think some of our yeast issues can be contributed to not using a strong enough detergent to wash diapers. I may not be right, it’s just a theory, but I feel better about the way we have been doing laundry for the last 7 months or so.
So how do I do laundry? 1. Pre-rinse. (makes sense it removes solids… you or your dishwasher pre-rinses your dishes before washing them) 2. Wash. 3. Extra rinse. (protects against detergent build up. Detergent build up messes up absorbance.) 4. Dry.
-I do 'generally' spray off soiled diapers in the toilet before putting them in the diaper pail. I say generally because I don't always do this even though John is formula fed and I'm supose to do it all the time... we haven't had any issues so I break the rule sometimes.
-I do wash on the largest load setting, even if the diapers only fill up a third of the machine. The extra water helps them get clean.
-I don't fill my machine completely up with diapers. I leave extra room so they can swish around in the water and get clean.
-I don’t wash on hot. Overrated. Drying will kill germs. Washing on hot waste money.
-I do add the amount of detergent that the laundry detergent bottle suggests. Based on actual load amount not the load setting amount.
-I do bleach. I talked about this yesterday. I don’t do it with every load, but I’m not afraid to use bleach if needed. (This will void your warranty and fade any cute diaper patterns you have, so if you are concerned about that then don't use Bleach)
-I do use vinegar… but not with every wash. Vinegar helps rinse out any extra detergent and it disinfects.
-I do machine dry my PUL (Not recommended if you want to keep your warranty). Usually on low, but I’ve dried them on high before when in a rush. Truth be told, I hate line drying.
-I don't use drier sheets. I hated these before cloth diapering but I thought they were just a part of doing laundry. You don't actually need them. We haven't used drier sheets in 18 months and we don't have static-y clothes. We have three tennis balls that stay in the drier, instead.
There are a lot of do & don’t out there, but the only two that matter are that you do what works and don’t get overwhelmed. This is what works for me. Something I have to remind myself is that I’m maintaining diapers, not John’s college fund. It’s more important that I actually use my diapers than it is to stress about how I'm going to do laundry.
Unless I’m baking I pretty much curse yeast every time I see it. What I have concluded thus far is that John is more prone to yeast infections when teething. Our first flare up was with his first round of teeth. He cried a lot and I cried a lot and he cried some more and I tried different remedies and I cried a lot and teeth popped up and we made it through it. With the second round of teething, I had a bit more knowledge and we handled it better… at least with a whole lot less crying. A lot of things will suggest starting your baby on yogurt, but that is the one remedy I didn’t try because our Pediatrician strongly suggested that I wait on all dairy (even yogurt) until a year… and I’m a go-by-what-the-Pediatrician-says-kind-of-gal.
My swift yeast combating skills involve preventing poop from touching baby. I do this by generally know when he’s going to go. Then I cake on (literally cake on) diaper rash cream and put on a disposable diaper. If I do hear him/notice him poop without diaper rash cream protection I change him immediately! I also like to use baby powder (actually corn starch). I figure our Grandmothers used it for a reason. Yeast thrives in moisture so the better you keep your baby’s bottom dry the less likely yeast is to have a home to thrive. That being said, don’t make the mistake of thinking you can put baby powder on your kiddo and it will keep him dry for 5-6 hours. I use baby powder occasionally and I use a little amount when I do use it. And I use it with cloth, not disposables.
And after that if I’m still struggling then I result to naked man time and lots of baths. When John wasn’t mobile this was easier. I put him on a towel in the kitchen with a few toys and yeast was defeated. I could see/hear very easily when he went so I cleaned up and he continued to play. Once he got more mobile, I really couldn’t do naked time unless it was outside… or I followed him around with a towel & a few prefolds all day.
I used everything from Grapefruit Seed Extract to Bleach to ensure that yeast didn’t stay in my cloth diapers. Grapefruit Seed Extract seemed to work initially but the yeast persisted. I tried a whole list of essential oils, in addition to prescription creams (on John with disposables), all to no avail. Bleach (in laundry) worked great… even after the yeast persisted, but the problem with bleach is that is hard on PUL. What I do now is make sure I’ve used enough laundry detergent (cloth diapering sites warn about using too much, but I think they scare you into not using enough) and then I like to do a vinegar rinse and a nice long dry on high. If he’s having a bad outbreak I will pull out the bleach, but only sparingly now because I get nervous about the PUL.
I’m not sure we’ve seen the end of our yeast days and I know our methods for removal aren't typically found on cloth diapering sites, but this is what works for us. I feel significantly more empowered than I did the first time John had an outbreak, but it was a steep learning curve... and I pray that you never have to deal with yeast.
Grand Total $270 Now, don't be overwhelmed by that number. It is compared to about $600 to diaper a child in disposables from this post. And the supplies listed will allow you to very easily diaper your child the entire time he/she is in cloth diapers.
If you are still overwhelmed by the $270 AND you have about an ounce of craftiness in you, you can save some money. Wipes are the simplest thing to make. If you hit a nice flannel sale at your fabric store (or have some old flannel around) you can save some money. However if you are rushed or just don't want to stress about it... it is only $24 to get 2 dozen wipes. Depending on how adventurous you are feeling you can very easily make a prefold... especially cost effective if you use old clothes you were going to donate to Goodwill. As far as covers go, you can make wool covers... but they aren't as leak proof as the PUL covers that come with the Econobums. When it comes to wet bags, I say leave it to the professionals. Keeping moisture in is vital to your sanity when cloth diapering. The only thing I have yet to re-create at home is the stay-dry liners that come in the Bumgenius. Bumgenius are amazing…
Bumgenius… If I were to do it all over again, I would buy all Bumgenius. Why? The stay dry liner. The fleece-y-suede-y-type-stuff they use in their diapers keeps John as dry as using a disposable, yet still allows moisture to pass through to the soaker. John staying as dry as possible is crucial to preventing diaper rash (& yeast). If the thought of changing a diaper every 1 to 2 hours doesn’t seem like a big deal then order 3-4 full kits of Econobums and go to town. Me? I like sleeping a lot… so I use Bumgenius at night and whenever I know I can’t get to his diaper that quickly. In a Bumgenius I feel comfortable letting John got a good 3-4 hours during the day and 12 hours at night. And magically, a Bumgenius over night (11 hours) will clear up the majority of John’s diaper rashes. So, what would it cost if I were to buy all Bumgenius? About $570. You would break even with your first child, but the start up cost is high. Since I know I like Bumgenius I keep an eye on sales and only buy a few at time ($600 hurts less that way).
Econobums… Now don’t think that all the praise over Bumgenius means that I’m ready to throw out my Econobums. I still like Econobums a lot too. A few reasons… newborns, back-ups & I love the covers. With a newborn, you really don’t sleep longer than 1-2 hours so changing a diaper that often comes with the territory. And when you exit the newborn stage, it’s really nice to throw a few prefolds and covers in the car/diaper bag just in case you forget to pack diapers. Prefolds are simple and they’ve been around forever, so go with Econobums to build the base of your cloth diapering system. I love the Econobums Full Kit that Cotton Babies has put together. What you get for $50 is unbeatable. Even if you bought one kit with each child and used it when you could (even while using disposables to fill in the gap) you would be saving a lot of money.
Snappies & Wipes... I have found that snappies help a lot when it comes to keeping poop off of your reusable covers. They aren’t totally required, but they are like $2 a piece so it’s not the end of the world if you buy one and decided you didn’t like it. I think cloth wipes are a great investment. I use a ton of wipes… and it doesn’t hurt that I essentially have an endless supply if I keep up with laundry.
Wet Bag… I started with the traditional pail and pail liner and after a year of cloth diapering, I don’t like that system at all. Once I started using my Plant Wise hanging wet bag I decided the diaper pail was stupid. First of all, with the hanging wet bag your entire pail system gets washed each time you do laundry…. with a traditional pail you have to wash out your pail about once a week. The hanging bag is smaller, but I view that as a good thing because it forces you to do laundry. And why do I recommend one instead of two? It forces you to follow through with laundry. If you need to change a diaper while your laundry is drying then you can use one of the small wet bags that come with the Econobums Full Kits. If you don’t like being forced to do laundry, buy more wet bags :)
From Birth to Potty Training… One thing I love about Cotton Babies is the One-sized thing they are so big on. My Econobums fit John’s skinny little legs when he was a newborn and they fit him today AND there is still more growing room! Same with my Bumgenius. Now that being said, I didn’t start cloth diapering until John’s umbilical cord fell off and I will probably do that again. You can buy diapers to fit newborns … but I like having one set for the whole way through... just my preference.
That’s my recommendation and I’m stickin’ to it!
(I did not receive any form of payment for recommending these products)
John is ridiculously close to turning a year old (it goes fast) and I thought I would be a good time for a cloth diapering update. I’ve written a few post and scheduled them for this week. Keep checking back for more information about how we cloth diaper.
The verdict after a year???..... I still really like cloth diapering.
However, I don't hesitate to use disposables on harder than normal days. What qualifies as a harder than normal day? Sickness (both him and/or me), Diaper Rash, Traveling, occasionally at Mops or Nursery & the dreaded-evil-most-horrible-thing-to-deal-on-a-baby's-bottom-YEAST INFECTIONS!
That sounds like a lot of excuses to not use cloth diapers, but even so, we still use them the majority of the time. John has really only been sick enough for me to not use cloth once and he rarely gets diaper rash (Praise the Lord). Traveling? I used to be better about using cloth but decided that the extra hassle was too much to stress about... plus we really don't travel that much so one purchase of disposables (~$35) will last us a few months. And yeast infection.... well, yeast infections are pure evil and are in fact the worst thing ever to deal with when it comes to a baby's bottom, BUT despite the extremely steep learning curve we are now highly skilled in swift yeast removal skills!
I don’t want to go into too much detail just yet. Tomorrow I’m talking about my ‘recommendation’ for Mom’s thinking about cloth diapering. I get asked enough that I’ve decided to write it down.
I made this for a friend, Macie, who is expecting a baby girl this spring. I have sooo many girl crafts in my brain that sometimes it just hurts. I'm so thankful our church is expecting some girls with this baby wave.
It is made out of wool, just in case Macie decides to do cloth diapers. But she can always use it as bloomers.
It's about 70 degrees today, which means it's Winter here in Texas! Yeehaw! Just kiddin'... but it is really winter and I've been working on a pair of longies for John.
I completed them over Thanksgiving, but I just recently got them on him. I used the pattern with "I love this wool" from Hobby Lobby on size 7 needles. I wouldn't say it was a quick knit, but it was fun. And a great project to do while watching tv!
For those of you who I lost at "longies" ... Longies are basically a wool diaper cover that doubles a pants. You put the cloth diaper on the baby and then the longies are water proof so they don't get everything soaked. I've put a onesie on over his longies (it makes them look more like baby legs) or just a shirt on him, but either way I go he's super cute! The extra layer is nice during his naps. His room gets really cold and I usually layer him up for naps & night time.
I’ve been working on this post for probably a month. It is really, really, really long so prepare yourself. Hopefully you will enjoy learning about how I do cloth diapers and maybe gain some ideas for your system of cloth diapers... or maybe you will just think I'm crazy... cuz I kinda am... but this crazy women is saving TONS of money!!!
Anyway...
I LOVE, love, LOVE our cloth diapers! I really thought it would be hard to overcome the convenience of disposable diapers. But I’ve gotten used to the extra laundry and it’s really not as much as of a hassle as I thought it would be. I can honestly say I enjoy using cloth more than disposables. Cloth diapers work! And they save money! (and they are soft & pretty) If they didn’t work I would be using disposables… but since I don’t have leaks and I never really touch dirty diapers after they come off of John, I don’t mind using cloth at all.
John has been in cloth since he was 2.5 weeks old. However, we didn’t start using them while out of the house until John was three months old. I lacked the supplies to do diaper changes while away from home, so I kept a small stash of disposables around. It was kind of a pain to do both cloth and disposables… I would have to remember to switch him out of cloth before our trips out of the house. Now that we are fully equipped, I feel comfortable using cloth everywhere from bible study to trips over night at Grandma’s house.
We started with the simplest system, prefolds and covers, and our stash evolved from there. However, we didn’t deviate too much. We still use prefolds and covers, but we have added homemade fitted diapers and pocket diapers… and a few diapers which don’t really fit those categories, our Flip diapers.
Okay, so that you will understand what I’m talking about when I say “prefold” or “Flip diaper” I’m going to try to explain all parts of our system.
Covers
Cloth diapers have two parts. The part that absorbs water (I’m going to call it the diaper) and the part that keeps your baby’s clothes dry (the cover). We started with PUL (polyurethane laminate) covers because they aren’t too expensive and are widely used. We have added in wool covers because I can make them! (I probably wouldn’t use wool covers if I couldn’t make them… they are really really expensive!)
The great thing about the cover & diaper system is that you can use the covers more than once without washing them if they aren’t soiled. I usually keep two out during the day and rotate between the two. I wash them when they get soiled or about every three days whenever I’m loading up the washing machine.
I love my one sized covers! All of my covers except for some of the wool covers are one sized. I LOVE the idea of one sized covers. You buy it once and it fits your kiddo from 8-35 pounds! So smart and cost effective!
I really like snaps on the covers (as opposed to Velcro) because it makes washing a lot simpler. Velcro can stick to different things in the wash and it is kinda annoying. Snaps eliminate that and it’s nice. But they say with Velcro you get a “better” fit… although I’ve had no fitting problems with John so far. Snaps are also supposes to last longer but I’ll have to get back to you on that… so far so good.
When I made my one sized wool cover I used Velcro simply because it was cheaper. I also experimented with buttons on wool covers. I like the buttons a lot more, but I’m not going to go back and change my Velcro one because it works fine.
Wool covers are pretty amazing (but once again, if I couldn’t make them for as cheap as I do then I wouldn’t use them). Wool is very breathable, yet it becomes surprisingly water resistant when lanolized. It is also antibacterial and super cute on little babies.
When I first started using wool I made a one sized green cover. It was a great cover. But, I thought I had lanolized it incorrectly because his diaper would feel moist. I thought it was the wool (because it came from an old skirt) and tossed the diaper cover and the rest of the skirt material.
I now totally regret that. After I started using the covers that I knitted and crocheted I realized that they do get a little moist but you can have a soaked diaper under them and they won’t get your baby’s clothes wet. It actually is kinda nice because it helps you know when your baby is completely soaked. I’m really mad at myself for throwing away the wool so quickly, but we do have 3 working covers that I made out of one skein of Fisherman’s Wool (plus our maroon one I made from a skein of fancy wool from Lonestar). I probably only need 4 or 5 covers… but I will most likely continue making them because I really enjoy making them.
I still haven’t perfected wool covers while we are out, but I have many options so I’m not stressing about it… we mainly use wool when we are home. I love the idea of doing cloth for next to nothing as far as cost is concerned and the MOST cost effective way for covers is to get your knitting/crocheting needles out with a good ball of wool. I also love knowing that if John outgrows our current set of diapers (that are supposed to be one sized) I can make him a bigger set.
Prefolds (diaper)
We started with a ton of these because we borrowed some from a friend, but we are now back down to the 10 I recieved as gifts while pregnant. They couldn’t be simpler… it’s a rectangle that you fold around your baby. It is the traditional cloth diaper and it works well.
Fastening with a Snappi is optional, but I really like Snappies. John is a WIGGLE WORM! I have found that the prefold stays in place much better during his play time if I fasten it with a Snappi. And, with a little boy I’ve gotten soaked a couple of time during changes. A Snappi keeps the diaper in place (containing any sprays) while I’m trying to get the cover on.
We asked for Econobums because they were the most inexpensive way to diaper your baby (and because Cotton Babies makes them). The starter pack ($50) comes with 12 prefolds and 3 covers AND now 1 wet bag (I totally missed out on the wet bag when we got ours… so jealous). I highly, Highly, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Econobums. They are inexpensive because they only come in white and because they have a one sized PUL cover with a prefold (a one sized cover and a prefold is the cheapest way you could go even if you opted out of buying Econobums… but unless someone gives you diapers Econobums is the least inexpensive way I’ve seen cloth diapers done).
The Flip system (also made by Cotton Babies) is essentially the same thing, however, they are more expensive because the covers come in different colors and have some extra features to help hold the insert in place. In addition the inserts (instead of prefolds) have fancy microfiber, which can hold a crazy amount of fluid, and the inserts have “stay dry” liners which helps out a TON with diaper rash.
Econobums aren’t fancy, but they work… and you can literally diaper your baby from newborn to potty training for $150! That is so great! In the beginning they fit John’s skinny legs really well… and they still do now that he has chucker thighs. So far the covers haven’t shown any sign of wear and tear and my Econobums get a lot of use because I tend to grab them a lot (in most of John’s pictures he is in Econobum Covers).
I’ve talked about how much I love Cotton Babies (mainly because of their diaper grants for missionaries) in the past and this is just another GREAT Cotton Babies product. When it comes to purchasing new cloth diapering supplies it is really hard for me to purchase anything from anyone else besides Cotton Babies (and no, they didn’t pay me to say that… although, I wish they would!). I only really buy things outside of Cotton Babies when I have swagbucks to spend. And now that swagbucks added PayPal cash to its list of gift cards I may start saving up for those instead of Amazon gift cards.
Flip Insert (another type of diaper)
I’m not going to spend too much time on our Flip diapers. You can go to the website and read more. However, I will say I’m a fan of Flips if you can kinda predict when your baby is going to poop. The inserts have no elastic so they can’t contain messes… thus ruining your cover until laundry day. John is pretty predictable so I still use the two flip insert we have. I like to use them when we are out because they are less bulky and they absorb a crazy amount of fluid!
In my quest to find even cheaper diapering options I stumbled into the homemade diaper realm. And I have to say it’s quite satisfying to make something so functional out of things you were going to discard (old sheets, t-shirts, socks with holes, etc). I love my (16) fitted diapers because they are so simple to put on (no folding) and the elastic around the legs holds in messes better than prefolds, saving my covers for another use before laundry day. They also tend to be less bulky… but not quite as trim as the Flip diapers.
There is a disadvantage with pockets diapers because the cover part of them can’t be reused like a PUL or a Wool cover can be. I initially thought I wouldn’t use them. But I had one and I really really liked it when we started struggling with diaper rash. I received 5 additional pockets as an AMAZING gift and I was hooked! My current count is up to 8 and I use them all! I’m currently saving swagbucks like crazy to buy more and requesting them for all Christmas and Birthday presents for John for the next three years!... and for all our other kids :)
I don’t mind stuffing them and they are so great for babysitters and long road trips. If we weren’t so concerned about money (they cost about $15-$20 each… and you need 36 diaper for a set) I might have opted to use all pockets (or Bumgenius to be more specific)… which I thought I would never say… but it turns out I really really like them!
(not pictured below is my yellow Bumgenius and a orange Fuzzi Bunz)
This usually tends to confuse people the most. I get the craziest looks when I pull out my wipes (especially since they are dark green and plaid). Cloth wipes can go straight into the pail with the diapers and it saves me the step of sorting disposable wipes from cloth diapers. Plus, we use a lot wipes (on his bum, face and/or hands) so it definitely saves us money. After I wash diapers I sort out the wipes and continue re-using them.
You can purchase cloth wipes, but I opted to cut up an old flannel sheet we had. I didn’t see the point in spending money on flannel wipes when I had a flannel sheet that Steven wanted to get rid of. One half of a fitted sheet made WAY more than the enough wipes.
I do spend some time folding the wipes because I want them to pop up out of the box just like the ones you buy at the store. It does take time, but it’s so nice to not have to fight with a chain of wipes when you are trying to hold wiggly little legs and clean a messy bottom!
For a wipe solution I use baby wash and water. Once again, you can purchase special wipe solution, but we already have baby wash for baths so I use it. You can even add some oils or aloe vera to the solution to make it more moisturizing. To keep things simple I use only baby wash and water most of the time. I’ve experimented with different moisturizing agents in our quest to fight diaper rash, but it didn’t really make a difference.
You can add the solution to the wipe container to make pre-moistened wipes or you can use a dry wipe and a spray bottle of solution. We have done it both ways and I definitely like the pre-moistened wipes for changes at home. On the go I use a spray bottle because the wipes might mildew due to lack of use.
Cleaning Diapers
We use a dry pail for our dirty diapers. It is a trash can (that I decorated) with a PUL liner (planet wise purchase on Amazon with swagbucks… whoop!) that we pull out and transfer to the washing machine. Everything gets washed and we never touch a dirty diaper after it comes off the baby. I occasionally wash out my pail because I’m paranoid about our bathroom smelling… a little bleach or oxiclean does the trick.
Before a poopy diaper goes into the pail the poop has to be rinsed out. We have a little luxury item in this department… our diaper sprayer. You can purchase one, but I read a blog about how to assemble one from parts at your Home Depot… I spent about $20 and I don’t have to splash around in poopy water to get the diaper clean (unless I’m at Grandma’s house… then I just suck it up and wash my hands afterwards).
To wash the diapers (in the washing machine) I do a pre-rinse, hot wash and two rinses. We started using Charlie’s Soap, but have since switched to any soap without brighteners, fragrances or softeners… I’m a little liberal when it comes to detergents. I try to avoid brighteners, fragrances or softeners because they can build up on your diapers and make them less absorbent… but I have used whatever is available at Grandma’s house and we lived through it. I made a decision that life is too short to worry about detergents and moved on. If my diapers get ruined then I will just make more or fix them. Even if I have to purchase a new set of cloth diapers with each kid I’m still saving some money so I’m really not going to worry about it.
I line dry anything that has PUL on it and usually everything else goes in the drier. Because I got a really high electricity bill last month (I think it was because of all the additional laundry not just diapers… extra bath towels, burp cloths, baby clothes, bibs, blankets he spit up on, etc) I decided to start line drying more things. I did try at first to line dry my prefolds, but I really did not like the crunchy prefold (and I didn’t want to “fluff” it after it dried… too much work to pull everything out, let it dry, put everything back in and then sort it again). However, that electricity bill was high! So for the month of September I’m turning off lights more and air drying all of our laundry to see if it makes a difference. If it doesn’t affect our bill much, then I’m totally going back to using our drier.
Now wool covers are a different animal (literally… haha). Initially I thought this was going to be way too much work, but it’s not bad at all. You can’t throw your wool covers in the washing machine like you can your other covers because they will felt (making them smaller) and they won’t stay lanolized if you do that. You have to hand wash them and re-lanolize them about every 2-3 weeks or when the lanolin wears off. It’s not hard to lanolize at all… and it doesn’t take much time.
“On-the-go” cloth diapers
When we go out for day trips (to church, bible study or to visit a friend) I pack a few extra cloth diapers, a wet bag and my cloth wipes.
The cloth diapers are much much bulker than disposables and I don’t know how to fix that… but it is really nice to not worry about buying disposables. The wet bags are used for putting wet diapers in (or a swim suit if you are at the pool). The wipes are dry and the spray bottle (recycled from old body mist container) has the wipe solution in it. I hardly use wipes when I’m out but when I do it’s the same routine… I put the wipes in the diaper and the diaper in the wet bag. When I get home I empty the contents of the wet bag into the diaper pail and throw the wet bag in behind it… I don’t touch a thing! So far my bags have not leaked. I have two Kushies bags that I used my swagbucks to get… didn’t cost me a penny! However, I need more. We get pretty busy over the weekend and I could use another 3 wet bags… so I’m saving more swagbucks.
When we go for an overnight trip I pack everything (EVERYTHING) into a separate suitcase. I’m sure with more experience I will be able to just add the supplies to our suitcase, but I’m always afraid I’m going to need something so I just bring it all. What I’ve done in the past is do the last load of diaper laundry a couple of hours before we leave. When the laundry is done I put all the clean diapers in the suit case and grab the baby and the diaper bag for the trip there. Doing laundry overnight works well because all the PUL can line dry and the baby only dirties one diaper during that time. Then when we are ready to head back home I do the same thing at whoever’s house we are staying at. I use my Bumgenius diapers when John is going to be in the car seat for long periods of time because sitting on wet diaper is hard for his bum and they have the special stay dry liner. I’ve had no problems so far and will probably keep using cloth when we do overnight trips.
ALRIGHTY! You lived through the most detail explanation of anyone’s diapering system you will ever get. But just in case you are still reading, I’ve got more for ya!
I’ve mentioned diaper rash a few times. It has been our biggest problem so far but he is getting it less often now. When John got diaper rash in the past it would clear up if I used a rash ointment. However, you have to use a disposable diaper when using most ointments (ointments approved for cloth diapers get expensive… and we all know how I hate to spend money). Rash ointments are designed to repel water and if they get on cloth diapers and it is very, very hard to wash out. The result is a cloth diaper that doesn’t absorb water… bad cloth diaper!
This problem began when John started sleeping more than 3-4 hours at a time. When he was a newborn I changed his diaper at every feeding so his bum stayed dry. When he started sleeping longer at night I began to notice red bumps. I switched to disposables long enough to clear up the rash and then used my Flip and Bumgenius diapers at night. These two brands have a “stay dry” liner and it helps a lot.
Another thing that helped a lot with diaper rash was “naked man” time. After a bath we let John play on the floor naked for a while, usually in the kitchen on a towel (or a prefold) so that it is easy to clean up when he pees (in the future we will just let him run around naked outside… don’t worry, we have a privacy fence). You kinda have to be proactive, but “naked man” time works so well that if I catch the rash early enough I can give him a bath and let him “air out” and the rash will be gone the next day. It makes me very happy!... because I don’t have to spend money on either diaper rash ointment or disposable diapers.
My homemade diapers came about because I wanted to mimic the “stay dry” liners found in the Bumgenius and Flip diaper (and because I wanted to save mad amounts of money). The stay dry liner that Cotton Babies has on some of their products is really like a fancy fleece/suede material. Fleece will dry out quickly… have you ever taken a fleece jacket out of the wash… it’s pretty dry even before being dried in the drier. So fleece is a great material for a diaper that is against a baby’s bottom for long periods of time… and I wanted it on ALL my diapers!
I started looking around my house for fleece. I cut up an old scarf and made long rectangle liners that I put on top of his prefolds so that it would protect his bottom from the wet diaper. It wasn’t a bad idea… I just had to do extra sorting once the diapers came out of the wash. I decided I need to attach the fleece to my diapers so that I wouldn’t have to sort out liners from diapers. But I didn’t want to sew it on to my prefolds because they worked great as burp cloths, “naked man” pee protectors, and as inserts for our pocket diapers.
Around the same time I decided I wanted to increase my supply of diapers. I had previously been using the diapers that we received as gifts and I had to do laundry every other day and it was a pain. I know that prefolds are as inexpensive as you can get, but I had heard of making prefolds from old t-shirts and I thought I might experiment with adding my fleece to them. I made 3 prefolds with fleece… they worked great, but I wanted to see how hard it was to make a fitted diaper. Turns out it wasn’t that much harder… and I loved using my fitted diaper (and now have 16). So I went back and made my 3 t-shirt prefolds into fitted diapers.
All this time there was only a small fleece rectangle on the inside of my diaper. During a visit to my mother’s house she let me have a good amount of extra white fleece that she wasn’t using. I used my template to cut out full coverage fleece to go next to John’s sensitive skin. I then proceeded to take apart ALL of my homemade diapers (which was up to 12 by this time) and re-line them. It was a lot of work, and I kept shaking my head at myself while I was doing it, but it was really worth it. Now my diapers look a lot more professional and fleece (aka stay dryness) is the only thing touching John’s skin. I’m very pleased.
John pretty much wears the homemade fitteds if he isn’t wearing a Bumgenius or a Flip. I do still use prefolds, but only when we are running low and I need to do laundry. It’s kinda nice because when I run out of fitted diapers I put John in a prefold and do a load of laundry… prefolds are like my signal to start the washing machine.
Okay, believe it or not, I can’t think of anything else to add! If you have any questions about cloth diapering just ask! I love talking about cloth diapers (as you can see)! :) :) :)
I promise I am working on a complete diaper update... but I've got about 1,000 different projects going on right now and I need to reign them all in.
However, I am very proud of some recent projects.
I've been making diapers!
"Out of what?" you ask.
Well just about anything that says 100% cotton. I've made some out of flannel bed sheets (My favorite because they are so absorbent!) and old t-shirts and old socks and old pillow cases... if it sucks up water, then I'll try to turn it into a diaper.
The best part is that I've have 7 new fitted diapers and it's only cost me $1.75 for the purchase of elastic.
Actually, I started making prefolds because that seemed like an easy way to up my diaper supply the quickest. Then, while disassembling some fitted sheets I found some elastic. A few experiments later I had new fitted diapers. I quickly went back and turned the 3 prefolds I had made into fitteds. I love the fitted because there is no folding and they hold in poop a lot better... which saves my covers...
Which brings me to my wool covers. John has been in cloth since he was about 2.5 weeks old but I hadn't experimented with lanolized wool until recently... as in yesterday. I knitted a cover before he was born out of Fisherman's Wool from Hobby Lobby, but recently I bought an 100% wool skirt at a garage sale for $1.00. Considering that one wool cover goes for about $30-$50 and I can make 4 covers out of my skirt... that was an AMAZING deal!
I turned it into a one sized (I know, fancy right!) diaper cover using my Bumgenius as a guide/pattern. Right now the one cover is in it's "testing" phase and I will make the other 3 after it passes.
Here are some pictures....
I took one t-shirt and made TWO fitted diapers with just a small amount of scrap.
Here is the diapering process...
Put fitted diaper on baby, fasten with snappi
(I opted out of using Velcro because I didn't want it sticking to different things in the wash and it was a lot cheaper to just use one of the six snappi's I already own).
((note the strategically places Texas A&M symbol, courtesy of Steve's old dorm days shirt... it's currently my favorite diaper))
Then wrap up lanolized wool diaper cover made out of skirt.... and PRESTO! A diapered baby ready for a nap!
It's so fun to have an actual baby to do all the modeling for me... I'm glad he's a good sport. (And sorry, Mom, that I cut out his face... the camera took a better picture of just the diaper)
Okay... coming soon... a really, really, REALLY long post about our entire diapering system!
****re-post*** I accidentally put 1/4/09 instead of 1/4/10 when I originally posted this... sorry... you get to read it again.
Steven and I will be using cloth diapers while at home and I did a summary on why and the cost of both cloth and disposable diapers. I've needed to post a sequel but have been so busy with graduation that I have put it off for quite a while. My sequel is mostly because one of my friends helped me refine my numbers for the cost of disposables (she has four kids and definitely know the ropes of diapering) and because we have kinda changed on minds on which cloth diapering system we want to go with.
The truth is, Steven and I will use the least expensive route no matter which option actually happens... be it cloth or disposables. As far as disposables go, if and when we use them we plan on cutting coupons or investing in a Sam's Club membership... like our friends.
Below is the updated spreadsheet.
I'm still learning a lot about cloth diapers and the more I learn, the more excited I get. I would have never believed how excited I am to change dirty diapers!
Steven really likes the diaper with a cover system and I'm a fan of it too! Mainly because you get a lot of use out of the covers and because the pocket diapers or all-in-ones require stuffing... boo for stuffing diapers! CottonBabies, a company we really like, just came out with a new system called "Econobums." They are made with less expensive material and half the cost of other diaper/cover systems available. I'm keeping my eye on the reviews because they are so new and I'm a little worried about how the diapers will do with multiple children... but even if we have to purchase a new set for each child, Econobums are still cheaper than using disposables exclusively.
A full set of Econobums is $150 dollars. That is 9 covers and with 36 diapers. That should give us at least a day in between washes at the beginning and possibly three days when little John gets to potty training age. The great thing is that Ecocobums are one size... which means that they can expand as the baby grows. See this picture to get a better understanding of how the diaper grows.
CottonBabies also has a new line called "Flip" again its a diaper/cover system. They seem very durable but a little less than twice the cost of the Econobums. They are priced similarly to other diaper/cover systems available. I'm also watching the reviews for Flip because they are new, but I really think I'm going to like Flip diapers. You can get a full set (8 covers, 36 diapers) for about $270 dollars. I hope that we receive Flips as gifts so that this option is more economical. We will probably use both Flips and Econobums.... possible a Thirties cover if John get really big (Thirties has a large cover that fit bigger kiddos well... so says most diaper review websites).
So if you round up for other things like increase water/electricity usage, purchasing a pail and liner to store dirty diapers, the re-usable wipes and other cloth diapering expenses it come to about $250-$300 dollars for cloth. Disposables are about $600 per child.
So... based off of those numbers alone we plan on using cloth diapers. Even though it is more expensive to use disposables we will probably dapple in them a bit... for trips to visit family, when we take the baby to church, when he goes to a sitter or if he gets that dreaded diaper rash.
Anyway... I'm excited and will probably post picture of little John in a cute cloth diaper when I post about how cloth diapers works out for us! More to come!!!
I have many Mommy friends right now and I am very thankful for the knowledge and experience they provide! (You know who you are girls… Thank You!!!) Currently, a little less than half of my Mommy friends use (or want to start using) cloth diapers. So I decided to do a detailed report diaper report. It’s more for me to get my thoughts together, but I hope to also use it to explain to all why we are deciding to use cloth diapers.
Cloth What?
Now, let me tell you… the world of cloth diapers is way complicated… at first… it gets easier, I promise. There are several different styles (or methods) and brands and different ways to folds and snaps and Velcro and even a bungee/snappy thing? It is very interesting and overwhelming at the same time. The only real way to decide is to talk to moms who are doing or have done cloth diapers before and hear their thoughts on things. I feel much better about it and even excited about trying them, but to explain it to you let me show you some pictures…
Pre-folds with covers: the traditional rectangular piece of fabric that you fold around your baby can secure with a snappi (used to use safety pin). The cover is to protect the clothing from getting wet… it’s made out of a non permeable material and does not have to be wash with every use (usually washed every 2-3 changes). Video1. Video2. Video3.
Pocket Diapers: designed just like a disposable diaper and just as easy to put on. The pocket allows you to put extra liners in and allows for less diaper changes. They are more expensive, require a wash after every use and take longer to dry. We hope to receive them as gifts, but may purchase a few for the convenience on trips and with baby sitters. Also… bumgenius (also runs cottonbabies.com) gives diaper grants to missionaries so we really want to purchase this brand whenever possible. Video1. Video2. All-in-ones: This eliminates the stuffing part of the pocket diapers, you could still put an additional liner in at night but it would be similar to the pre-fold method. I have heard that they take a very long time to dry and that they tend to wear out sooner. Video.
One-sized: very similar to the all-in-ones, except snaps allow you to adjust the size (first link is for a pocket-one-sized diaper). Video.
And the list carries on as far as options go. For the diaper with a cover system, you can have… pre-folds, fitted liners, flat liners, or contour liners with fleece covers, wool covers or synthetic covers. Sorry I didn’t research them all. I more interested in what I have seen work with my friends.
We decided to go with… pre-folds and covers during the day and pocket diapers for the evening, sitters or trips with some disposables when necessary. Pre-folds are the easiest to clean and pocket diapers not only allow for double liners at night time but they also make cloth diapers easy for guest who want to help out with the baby. Our friends that use pre-folds don’t bother with snappies because the cover holds the diaper in place. I like the idea of one-sized diapers but Steven feels they may be too bulky and he is right!
Pros and Cons
Disposable Diapers
Pros -convenient & easy -no extra laundry -everyone knows how to use them
Cons -will permanently take up space in a landfill -have to buy them continuously -may take longer to potty train (disposables are designed to keep babies dry and as a result they don’t know when they are wet) -some studies say babies have more diaper rash with disposable.
Cloth Diapers
Pros -they don’t produce waste to fill landfills -more economical -less chemicals on baby’s precious bottom -may be easier to potty train (babies know that they are wet) -reusable with each child (in fact the more kids you have the more money you save) -cloth diapers have come a long way… with the new advances they are almost as easy as disposable!
Cons -have to clean with every use -increased laundry -may leak -can’t use them with diaper rash ointment (ointment can reduce absorbency because it is designed to repel water.) -need special soap to wash them (some detergents cause a waxy build up and can reduce absorbency) -not as easy to travel with (you have take your dirty diapers with you)
My Thoughts
I hate the idea of contributing to our growing landfill problem!!! However, like my husband I have a passion for saving money… so I don’t mind a little extra work to help reduce the waste I put into the landfill. We already compost and recycle… I fell like this is the next responsible step when it comes to good stewardship with our planet.
I am also very excited about the potty training thing.
I’m not too worried about the cleaning and extra washing concerns… if I start with the first baby they day we bring him/her home then I won’t notice the disposable vs. cloth diaper difference. Besides, it turns out we already use the “correct” detergent! Some recommend soaps are Dreft, Ivory, All Free Clear, and Charlie’s Soap.
About diaper rash… it happens… and we can run and purchase a small pack of disposables... we may them for nursery visits at church anyway.
You may wonder about the extra water used. Well, we believe that water is a more renewable reasource than landfills. God designed our water to be re-cycled... evaporation, rain, etc...
Being responsible with God's creation (earth) and saving money are our reasons for using cloth diapers.
Cost Breakdown
Here is my break down on cost.
Average Changes per day
(this is what I calculated by. It may be off by a bit, but I wanted to just picked some numbers, based off of online research, so that I could compare cost) 0-3m.................................... 12 times a day
3-8m.................................... 8 times a day
8-15m................................. 6 times a day
(((most cost were based off of what Steven and I register for at Amazon and Target)))
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