Our stash to thus point plus a robins egg blue and a bright yellow!:)
Why in the World would we decide to cloth diaper??? Well I will give you our top 3!
1.)$$$$$$$$$$ <- Money! Yes! That is our number one. Noel has a super sensitive hiney. Thus, we have tried nearly every kind of disposable out there and the only kind that seemed to treat her okay was Pampers Sensitives. So lets go into a little math..... A big box of Pampers sensitive is 45.99 at buy buy baby. Usually, a month we would go through 2 boxes. Then we will throw in a box of wipes a month which is 12$ at target. Soooo I plan on having Noel potty trained by the age of 2. SOOOO 2 years of disposables equals 1391.76, and that doesnt include my gas/time to go to Knoxville for the big boxes of diapers. To this point I have spend close to 180$ on 18 cloth diapers, a wet bag, probably 30 inserts, special detergent, stain remover, a bamboo night time insert, cloth wipes, and pump soap for cloth wipes. I do not plan on spending more then 300$ on cloth diapers. Yes our water may go up just a bit but not much. Plus with the beautiful weather lately instead of using the dryer I just line dry in the sun. ***Helpful tip: Sunlight helps bring out stains:)
Oh BTW if you wondering what you cost may be I have stumbled across a helpful lil cloth vs disposable diaper calculator. Here is the web address: http://www.groceryalerts.ca/cloth-vs-disposable-diaper-calculator/
2.) Well I already touched on it above but our second reason is Noels sensitive hiney. But to add a little more to this second reason our families notion that we want to be self sustaining and more natural has helped push the topic. I hear about all the yucky chemicals/burns in disposables in all my mommy sites and Im over it. Its my resposibiliy to keep my daughter healthy and safe and if that means washing her diapers then so be it! ***BTW Im not a cloth diaper prude if you dont cloth diaper thats cool beans or whatever but for me and my family these are our beliefs:)
******Side note: Just had to spend two days out of cloth due to what I believe is a reaction to the detergent.... New detergent as of today so hopefully that helps....
3.) I keep hitting reasons in other reasons. So to go along with the all natural stand we are making, our third reason to cloth diaper is because its better for the Earth. Ive read somewhere that in a 2 year span(birth to 2) you will change somewhere between approx 5,000-6,000 diapers. Can you imagine all of those diapers in a land fill. Goodness it kinda make me sick thinking about it. :/
There are more reasons including; how stinkin cute Noel is running around like big booty Judy, or the multitude of designs, etc. But, I am going to link a lil video from one of my favorite bloggers. I align very closely with her views. Shes does her own personal video on her families reasons why cloth diapers are better then disposables its a great watch: http://youtu.be/9YxIvhjkC7g
Now we shall enter the *WHAT?!
When we started cloth diapering I was so lost on the terminology and the whats and hows and what kinds/brands mumbo jumbo it was almost intimidating! So basically this is what we have decided on......
At first I thought I would go with a ALL IN ONE or for the cloth diaper savvy a (aio)... Why? Well because they are all in one.... there is no extra step they are the closest thing to a disposable diaper but it being cloth. You dont have to have any sorta snap together contraption or inserts etc etc. All you do is clean them out rinse and throw them in the washer. Therefore, I thought that would be the easiest adjustment for us(Christopher). Well then he saw the difference in price a aio diaper was compared to a pocket diaper.
What is a pocket diaper you ask?
It is basically a diaper cover and you have to stuff inserts into the pocket. So there is that added step of putting in the insert and taking out the insert. However, there is a difference in pricing. Thus, we decided we would go with pocket diapers. I do have 2 aio diapers of which I love. However, it take a whopping like 5 mins more to stuff the pockets so I dont mind. When it comes to kinds we have a few different kinds. We have: Alva babys, a Bumgenius, a Blueberry Simplex, and a Thirsties diaper. I would say my least favorite is my thirstie diaper just because of lack of snaps and fit. That brings up a good point. I got a tip from one of my cloth diaper friends to stick with snaps. Why? Because she said at the rate the diapers are to be washed the velcro kind tends to run their courses pretty short into their lives. Therefore, I have all snap diapers. (Of which is a good decision now that Noel can take off her sposies:/ )
And now the one everyone seems to get caught up on *THE HOW*
..... you mean you have to clean out their poo? Thats what I hear.... but honestly, tell me as a parent you have changed your child and never got pee or poo on you?! Tell me... be honest!!!!! Okay exactly!
---Here is my process for a pee diaper---> take diaper down stairs to our utility sink... take out pocket...spray out diaper and insert/ ring out/ hang or put in pail until wash time.
---Here is my process for a pee diaper---> take diaper to the toilet clean out what poo I can into the toilet.... take diaper down stairs... take out insert spray out the diaper/insert.... apply spot remover(CAREFUL HAS TO BE DESIGNATED FOR Cloth diapers)..... hang or put in pail until wash time...
Wash with detergent that is cloth diaper safe.... Air dry on a cloths line outside ( or dry in dryer on the low setting) *BTW the sun is a great stain remover!!!
Then stuff inserts:)
Thats it.... all done.... not that hard... its really not that gross either! :)))
Im going to link another how to from mama natural because they are awesome and Id be lost on this journey with out their helpful videos: This video is cloth diaper set up:) http://youtu.be/ujJ0s-6-xro
I know I am missing tons of information(stripping the diapers, night time, etc) I plan on doing a update on this topic in the next couple months! :)))
-<3Kim
Some images from google search images:)
