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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Cloth diapering... So far

Since Bailey is soon to be 6 months (what?!?!) I think it is high time we give an update on our cloth diapering so far. I hear thing get, ahem, a little messy once solid foods come along, so I figure it would be good to get our first 6 month perspective!

1. We started simple.  

That to say, my over worked 8 month pregnant self met with a cloth diapering consultant. I had dipped my toes into the vast sea of options for cloth diapering.  She showed us some of our options and I said give me your easiest. So I bought a stock of one type of diaper (bum genius 4.0 some snap, some Velcro, some all in one). Honestly, for us this has been good place to start. We had to learn one system and we were ready to go; this was especially good for the hubs. The only downfall of doing it this way is that now I am interested in trying different things, but don't really need to (except for nighttime, but that is a whole different story).

2. We looked for support. 

Cloth is becoming more popular again, but it is my no means mainstream. I have had to really search out answers when I needed them because none of my closest friends with babies cloth diaper.... yet :).  Honestly, this is where social media is an AMAZING tool!  When you post a question on Facebook, people who have an opinion want to answer. And it is better than a random Internet discussion board because you most likely know the person responding and if their values match yours. It is also nice because I can do a follow up message to someone who had a response I was interested in.  

3. We were/are still confused by acronyms. 

I get on a website about cloth diapering or get a message from a friend about it and they are almost always filled with CD, WAHM, AIO, Hybrids and the like. It is hard to know what to do when you don't even know the lingo. I am still learning, but I often still google these!

4. We strongly dislike disposable.

 In our time CDing we have bought one pack of disposables.  We were on a long weekend trip and thought we had enough cloth to make it... we did not. We then used them and on our next weekend trip to Andrew's parents. Maybe it is just because we had gotten so used to cloth diapers, but we did not like using the disposables. It was the blowouts, the multiple necessary 
nighttime changes, and the shear cost (36 diapers in 4 days ). Maybe BD is a heavy wetter but I easily had to change her twice as often in disposables.

5. We are still figuring out nighttime. 

This has been the one big struggle area for us, but have heard it is hard for a lot of parent no matter what type of diaper they use.  When she started leaking through the double stuffed bum geniuses, we tried triple stuffing, but this just caused gaps. We tried disposables,  it had to change her the most using those.  We are currently playing with wool covers and seeing which insert combination does the trick. It also helps when I don't let her eat more than once during the night. The past couple of nights I have used a fitted stuffed with TWO hemp inserts and used a wool cover... and she has been dry!  But her bottom is the size of Texas :)!

6. We don't think washing is that bad. 

Seriously, I just throw them in the wash every other day. I wake up early, so I put them in first thing in the morning. Wash on cold with lost of water to rinse them, do a hot/cold cycle with detergent to clan and sanitize and an extra rinse. Usually I have started all the cycles before I leave in the morning, so Andrew just gets them out. Side note, our washer/ dryer is super small, super old ( I am thinking as 20 years or so?) and not even in our apartment, but it still works.

7. Cloth diapers are super cute and even look like bloomers. 

No bloomer neccesary or you can even coordinate the diaper with the outfit :)!
All in all, it is not easier, but it is worth it. Any cloth diapering mama that says its easier, well they are lying. You have to invest time at the very least to wash to make it work. But it is minimal time and easy work. I recommend cloth diapering to all my friends!
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2 comments:

  1. Great post, Stasia! Glad you are enjoying the journey. My sentiments on cloth diapering are quite similar to yours. I am also guilty of throwing out acronyms like crazy...oops.

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    1. NBD... I just don't understand how everyone is so fluent in them... I have been CDing for months and sometimes still feel lost!

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