Cloth Diapers//Why We Made the Switch

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. Since I now feel pretty comfortable with my cloth diapering routine, I figured it would be a great time to share in case any moms or dads were considering it. Here are some reflections regarding cloth diapering our baby girl.

Why I Became Interested in Cloth Diapering:

The idea came from the mom-blogs I started following while pregnant. I have followed quite a few blogs that made mention of cloth diapers, and one of the best blogs I had found regarding her opinion (and she had done regular reflections on her cloth diaper experience) is found here.

I remember mentioning to Ben I was considering doing cloth diapering after reading a few posts on the topic. After showing him some pictures and talking it over it became a serious option for us. The diapers aren't pins and cloths like so many think they are. When we saw that and watched a few funny youtube videos of dads recommending cloth diapering, we were sold. We thought it sounded great for several reasons (convenience, lack of chemicals, sustainability, etc.) but our main motivator was money.

Does it really save money?

So, we started crunching numbers. We had heard conflicting views on whether or not it was really worth it financially and concluded that for us it really was. We figured out how much it would cost if we cloth diapered comfortably (more than 10 diapers) and we figured out it would take about 2.5-3 months of buying disposables to= upfront cost of buying cloth . So what that meant to me was if I hated it-after about 2-3 months I could quit.  Lucky for us, we love it. Both of us find it convenient and now that we're in the 4th month of CDing (cloth diapering), it feels especially good to not be having "diapers" be one of our budget items! This is something Ben mentions near every month during our financial meetings. :)

Which diapers to choose?

Next step was deciding which ones. This is the hardest part. There are a ton of diaper options out there regarding cloth. A good book to read if you're interested in getting the full scope of it all is found here.
I ordered it from our local library and appreciated the information. It helps to set a budget of what you're willing to pay. For us, it was about 150-200 dollars. This limited our selection which was helpful in making decisions.

After talking with Ben, and doing WAY too much additional research we decided on the FLIP for affordability and FUZZIBUNZ for convenience (and it was recommended by a few friends.) We figured we'd try them both and we'd purchase more of the ones we liked best if needed. I would recommend just going with whatever one or two you're learning towards. Yes, another diaper might work better, but the only way to find out is to try it out. We actually went to a place in Saint Paul called Peopods Natural Toys & Baby  to physically look at them. I wanted to get my hands on them to actually see what they were like and the people there are awesome. Ben ultimately decided which ones we would choose. When we went to that store, Ben picked the two he liked best and we went with that.

Our Experience So Far:

It's recommended to wait till you're baby is born before purchasing. I struggled with this and went ahead and bought a few of both prior to her coming. I'm glad I got limited quantities however, because 1) I used disposables the first 8 weeks because E was too small for the One Size Diapers (6 1/2 pound baby and  its recommended to use disposables to prevent staining from Meconium )and 2) As stated, I really didn't know what would work well.

Once we started, it was exciting. I prepped all my diapers (washed them a few times with cloth diaper detergent) and was ready to go. The first day we did cloth diapers felt like an achievement  Eowyn went in them just fine no issues. Other than at night time, we started cloth diapering at about 8 weeks old. and it was nice not having to take out the trash so often.

It actually wasn't till about three weeks ago that we started doing cloth diapers FULLY. She is somewhat of a heavy wetter and would leak through the cloth at night so I bought some hemp (read: Super absorbent) inserts and they've been perfect for overnight with the flip.

"The Stash"

Several websites recommend 15-24 diapers to start out with. We just simply couldn't afford more than 13 or so at the time we wanted to start so I started with a Day Pack as mentioned previously, and about 5 fuzzibunz. We also got a free BumGenius Diaper with buying the fuzzibunz which brought us to 14. since I've gotten a few more things here and there. My recommendations on what I think you might really need bare-bones is below.

 My "Stash" as of today:
8 Fuzzibunz One-Size Elite Diapers
2 FLIP Diaper Covers
6 Stay Dry Inserts
1 BumGenius (free with my purchase of the fuzzibunz through clotton Babies)
3 Joey Hemp Inserts (Purchased recently)
Wet Bag (purchased recently)
Rockin Green Laundry Detergent

Total Costs:approx $215.00

We had some amazon credit from selling textbooks that allowed us to buy the FLIP and a few of the fuzzibunz, so we actually were able to only spend about 100 of our own dollars. This has been a huge money saver for us. In reality, I'm functioning just fine with the amount I have and don't necessarily see us buying too many more. We may, if we decide for convenience sake buy another FLIP pack, or buy two covers and buy some prefolds as is recommended by the first website listed.

How Are They Holding Up?

Our cloth diapers have been washed several times over the past 4 months and are holding up incredibly well. They still look new. It makes me feel good to very rarely have to use disposables, mostly because I like not having to buy diapers anymore. Ben and I intend to have a few more kiddies, Lord willing, and it'll be nice to have a stash of diapers to keep using. It'll be super cost effective this next kid!

Laundry hasn't been so bad either. It really is only an extra load every couple of days. They come out looking mint. Once she starts eating solids, I'm sure it'll be a whole different ball game in terms of cleaning, and I might buy a sprayer, but currently I find it all to be very easy-and have very little interaction with the contents inside the diaper.

Problems?

I will say that it took a while to figure out how to get the Fuzzibunz not to leak. For us it was adjusting the elastic (its a super customizable diaper) in her little legs and using both the inserts that come with the diapers. Since weve had very little problems.  The Flip we never had issues with. We just snapped  it and it worked. I'd recommend these in a heartbeat.

Recommendations:

I personally think we could do just fine with 4 Flip Covers and 12 inserts. That would be 2 Day Packs at 100 Dollars total. If you were to purchase from places like Cotton babies or Kelly's Closet you can customize colors etc. I love the flip and while the fuzzibunz are working now, for a while they were leaking and it was frustrating  The FLIP is the brand that I've heard most consistently good reviews from friends and bloggers. And they're one of the most affordable mainstream brands. I like them a lot, and will generally use them even when going out and about (something I have yet to fully trust my fuzzibunz with.) If one were to buy two Day packs and the laundry detergent it'd be around $115. If you wanted to just buy the covers and prefolds, as MoriahMakes recommends, I think that would be even more affordable

Knowing what I know now, I still would definitely cloth diaper. I plan to with all our kids. It's easy and it is nice not every worrying about running out. Plus, once we bought them, it was incredibly nice to not have to worry about budgeting for it any longer!

Bonus: I noticed Eowyn got a fairly decent rash when using disposables, and then after a few days of medication/using cloth she hasn't had any issues. When I start to see any bit of red I use the California Diaper Rash Cream approved for cloth and that seems to do the trick.

While this may be more than you ever wanted to know about cloth diapering, If you have any questions about it, I'd love to answer them. Feel free to email or leave a comment below.

Yay for babies!