It all started when my sister was pregnant and told me about cloth diapers. I thought she was a little nuts, but after hearing all about them from her we decided to go to a class together about them.
After that I was sold. SOLD.
We started using the cloth diapers the week Butterbean turned 3 weeks old, which is pretty soon for a lot of reasons. Many moms wait until the baby is at least 8 or 9 lbs because "one-size" diapers (discussed later) don't fit well on little tiny newborns. Butterbean was born at a pretty substantial 7lbs, 13 oz, and by 3 weeks old she was 8.5 lbs. So they fit her okay at that point.
With the next baby I plan to make my own newborn sized diapers for use from 6lbs to about 10 lbs. They'll fit better and we can start using cloth right away!
I use two different diaper styles mainly, although there are a total of about 6 different types of diapers with about 100 different brands. I mix brands a lot, I've tried a little bit of everything, but these two kinds work best for me. Although I'm learning to love some new styles too!
The kinds I like the most are pocket diapers. They're a waterproof outer layer, and a soft, generally "stay-dry" or wicking fabric inner layer (meaning that it sucks moisture away from the baby's skin) and an absorbent insert goes into the pocket created by these two diapers. So if you have a heavy wetter, you can put an extra insert in the diaper, or if you have a little tiny baby, you can use just one insert. It's pretty neat. And when I wash the diapers, I pull the insert out (or shake it into my pail), so the diaper dries REALLY fast. About an hour if it's on the clothesline, or 2 hours if I hang it inside the house. But we'll discuss the washing a little later.
The other style of diaper I use a lot are prefolds and covers. Prefolds are called that because they are "prefolded" into a rectangle. The middle third of the diaper has extra absorbency, normally accomplished by stitching in extra layers of absorbent material.
It's pretty cool. Then I put a waterproof cover on the outside to keep any wetness in and off my baby's clothes.
It's really very nifty. I don't carry these out of the house a lot because they take up a TON of space in my diaper bag. The pocket diapers I can stuff ahead of time and throw a few in the bag and we're good to go!
So here's the day.
I didn't get the first change, but she was in a pocket diaper for overnight (she'll sleep about 5 hours at a time, and the prefold would get SOAKED in that amount of time, so I put her in a pocket instead with an extra insert). Dear husband gets up a little earlier than I do and he changes the first diaper and sits and plays with butterbean until she starts to get hungry, then he comes and gets me.
First, let me show off the cute red diaper I made for Butterbean! That's right, stitched it myself. I made this one with velcro for use in the church nursery. I find that snaps seem to intimidate the nursery workers who are unfamiliar with cloth diapers, so this solves that problem. Velcro is pretty foolproof.
This is what is called a "one-size" diaper. Above is the diaper on the smallest setting. The snaps on the rise of the diaper (the orange and blueish snaps) can shorten or elongate the rise as needed. So when she gets bigger, instead of the cover becoming too short, I can simply unsnap one row of snaps and we can keep using it! Saves a ton of money! The alternative is to buy covers for specific weight ranges and as the baby grows, you buy new covers. I like this method, as I said, it saves money!
Below: the largest setting.
Change 1: She was already in this when I got up, so here's what Hubby changed her into, a green prefold (I dyed this one this color, it was originally a beige color because it was unbleached) with a snappi (the white thing) to keep it in place, and her blue-trimmed Econobum cover. I really like this cover. It's just the waterproof outer material, which is commonly a fabric known as PUL or polyurethane laminate. Knit fabric is bonded to a breathable rubbery film (the laminate part of PUL) and then that fabric can be used to make diapers and all kinds of other things! It's pretty amazing. No plastic pants here!
I also should mention, that unless poop gets on the cover, I lay the cover on the edge of the changing table here, and let it air dry, then I'll use it again. So it saves me time for washing the diapers also! Here's what the cover looks like.
Change 2! Using a Bumgenius 4.0 pocket diaper another one-size diaper. On the left of this picture you can see a little bit of the insert peeking out of the pocket. I can either pull that out when soiled, or I can just shake the diaper and it will fall out. Although shaking it can be messy if Butterbean has pooped. So most of the time I just pull the insert out. And then go wash my hands thoroughly.
And here it is on my lovely model!
Change 3: I decided to switch it up and use a flat diaper. So named because it is literally a large flat square (30"x30") of fabric you fold various ways. This is the most versatile style of diaper because it seriously will fit any size baby. Newborn to potty training, although I find that I need a little extra absorbency, so I have shown a microfiber insert on the flat diaper. I actually folded the insert into the flat diaper, though. NEVER have microfiber sit directly against baby's skin, or it will leave a burn-type rash. The microfiber is so absorbent it will actually pull moisture out of the skin. So this is just for illustrative purposes! Oh, and this is an "origami" fold. I had to look it up on youtube, but once I saw how to do it, it's SO EASY.
And this is technically a flour sack towel I bought from Target. But it works the same.
And actually on the butt. She was not liking the flash, but it got too cloudy to turn the flash off. So sorry kiddo!
This is the last time this cover will fit on her, it is a sized cover, meaning it will not adjust on the rise of the diaper (no snaps, see?). Her little chunky legs were getting squished by the elastic. It's just too small. I'm not sad. This cover was one I bought used, and made by a mom and this cover snaps on the side.
See how the adjusting snaps are on the sides of the diaper as opposed to the front of the diaper? Some people love it, some don't. I'm in the latter camp. But I love the superman print so I'll keep this diaper around for future kiddos. But the side snaps just bother me. I find that it looks a little more bulky on her.
Speaking of bulk, you may ask, "can they wear normal pants?" Yes. My baby can wear normal baby sized pants over her cloth diapers with no problems! And our diapers aren't even the trimmest diapers! She easily fits into everyday clothes, and think about it, most baby items are stretchy. So they'll stretch to accommodate the extra bulk of the cloth diapers.
And I missed a change, my mother-in-law stopped by and I had to change her out of the flat diaper. But you didn't miss much, I changed her back into a prefold and since the Econobum cover was still good I put that back on her.
Change 5 (since we skipped pics for one): Into an Alva pocket diaper. I love these diapers. They're pretty cheap, but still good quality. They come from china which is why they're so inexpensive. You can get them here in the states too, but only online. Pockets are a little different though, once they're soiled (urine or poop) they have to be washed. You can't simply change the insert and go. So a little more washing, and when they are dry you have to stuff an insert in them, so it's a minutely small amount of more work.
Here you can see the snaps in between her legs. Those are the rise snaps. Different brands will have different numbers of snaps. This brand has three snaps across, and three different levels of adjustment. She's on the smallest adjustment here.
A little about my setup.
Here's my changing table/ pail. I use a dry pail (meaning the diapers don't soak in water or something in the pail. Not recommended because standing water is a hazard to small children).
The top shelf has extra inserts, and the wipes container has my wet cloth wipes. I just get about 10 wet and put them in the container, then when it's empty I refill with more wipes (which are in the basket on the second shelf). The wipes are cloth too, and all I do is throw them in the pail with the diapers!
The bottom shelf has burpcloths in it. Easily accessible.
My pail is open which you'd think would be more stinky, but it's really not. Until I dump the diapers into the washing machine, I don't EVER smell dirty diapers. Unless I get really close to the pail, and I just don't do that.
Top drawer has my pockets/covers. I stuff my pockets before I put them in here, so they're ready to go when I need them!
Second drawer has my prefolds. I used to fold them and put them in the drawer, but decided that was silly, and now I just stack them in the drawer. The pink/blue items are my other flats. I dyed these also.
And the bottom drawer has my handmade inserts and gerber prefolds. Let me say something right now. Gerber prefolds are NOT good prefolds. Cut one open sometime and you'll find poly fill, stuffing in other terms, in the middle. Stuffing is not very absorbent in case you weren't aware! Real, quality prefolds (such as those from cottonbabies.com or brands like osocozy) have several stacked layers of fabric in the middle that makes them absorbent. Huge difference. I use my Gerber prefolds on the changing table in case baby makes a mess before I can get the diaper on her. But seriously, they're not worth much. I plan to turn some of mine into swiffer cloths for my wetjet!
And a word about washing diapers. I currently will throw all my diapers in the wash (with the amount I have I can go about 3 days in between washing diapers), put the machine on a regular cycle without any soap, and run it through once. Then I put in my Rockin' Green diaper detergent (only 2 Tbsp does a large load of diapers and they don't smell when they come out!) and run it through a warm wash with a cold rinse. Then I run the washer again on the normal warm wash cycle as an additional rinse. If you skip the last rinse, the detergent can cause irritation and a rash to the sensitive baby skin.
I typically hang dry my pocket diapers, my covers, and my inserts/prefolds. Although I sometimes throw the prefolds and inserts in the dryer. It is not advised to dry anything made of PUL in the dryer repeatedly. If you do it once or twice it's not going to do much, but repeated drying on high heat will cause the waterproof layer to separate from the fabric and the diaper will be useless. So just a warning! Don't do it! I have some clothesline strung up in my laundry room that I hang the diapers on if it's a rainy day.
Also, since Butterbean is exclusively breastfed, her poop at this point is completely water soluble. It washes out in the first cycle through the machine. And any stains that may occur come out when I leave the diapers in the sun.
Once she starts solid food, I'll be investing in a diaper sprayer (little spray nozzle like the one on your sink, but it attaches to the toilet) and then I'll have to spray her poop into the toilet before I throw diapers in the pail or in the wash. But I still have a few months before I have to worry about that.
You may wonder if we spend a ton of money on water because I do so much laundry, actually we don't! Our water bill is MAYBE $10 more expensive each month because of the cloth. And our power bill has gone down, so we're not using more electricity either, running the washer or dryer. The water and power that goes into making disposable diapers is WAY more than what those who wash and dry cloth diapers use.
You may also wonder why I do this. Why I don't just throw diapers away like most people. Well, several reasons. The biggest reason is because we truly save money. At this point I don't HAVE to buy any more diapers or wipes. The only recurring cost will be detergent to wash the diapers, although because I use so little it will last me a while! I do still buy diapers though, some of them are just so cute!!! But I don't need any more, and these diapers (if cared for well, which I plan to continue doing) will last me through several more kids. AND on top of that, when I am done using them, I can sell them to make back a portion of my money. You can't do that with disposables!!
Second reason, chemicals. I prefer to limit chemicals on my little one's behind. There are all kinds of chemicals that go into disposable diapers to make them so absorbent and there are even some that are known to cause cancer and infertility. In other countries these chemicals have been removed from the disposable diapers, and some american brands (7th generation, Honest co. diapers for example) have these chemicals removed and are more natural. However, there are still other companies that keep these chemicals in their formulas. Now, I'm not some crazy, crunchy, totally organic mom. I use lysol wipes, and windex for my bathroom like a lot of people, I just figure if I can keep these chemicals away from my children's sensitive parts, why wouldn't I?
And lastly, I do this because it's fun. Yes that's right, it's FUN! Girls, let me ask, why do you wear cute underwear if no one sees it but you? Because it's fun. Because it makes you happy. And that's why I love having cute things on my baby's butt even if they are covered up by clothes most of the time. I mean, hey, if you're going to be changing diapers, you might as well change the baby into cute diapers, right?
And that's it! That's my day in cloth diapers. It's not as hard as most people expect, and I really enjoy it! I hope this helps anyone who is curious about cloth! Feel free to contact me about any questions you may have. I'm certainly not an expert, but I've done a lot of research and I know my stuff! E-mail is amiekp"at"gmail"dot"com. (replace the "at" with "@" and the "dot" with "." this is so that the spam machines can't find my e-mail.)
I hope you've enjoyed this! I know I have! Although it has taken me TWO hours to get this posted!! Goodness gracious. Anonymous reader, that's how much I love you.
