Yup.
Over the past few months, we have made the switch to cloth diapers, and I am just kicking myself for not taking the plunge sooner. Even though we are using probably the most expensive cloth diapers on the market, we did the math and we will save a BUNCH of money on diapers for Henry and his baby brother (even without resale - I was shocked to discover that these diapers fetch almost full retail price used on ebay!)
We are using BumGenius Elemental All-in-One One-Size Organic diapers. At first we just bought a couple, thinking we might want to try some different types and brands of diapers. But it didn't take us long at all to fall totally in love with these and buy a full stash without trying any others - I really believe these are the perfect cloth diapers. If I were the one at home during the day and had more time (and energy), I would probably go the old school pins and plastic pants route to REALLY save money, but these are a great compromise for our busy family.
First of all, they are EASY. Other an one more load of laundry at night, there is nothing more complicated about using these than disposables. They are all one piece, so no stuffing or pinning or anything - you just slip it under baby's bum and snap up the sides. We throw dirty diapers in a zipped up wetbag (we dump solids in the toilet first, and if needed, rinse with the diaper rinser) - we are using the Weehuggers hobo wetbag, and it holds all of our diapers and has never smelled or leaked or anything (can't say the same thing about disposable diaper pails!). At the end of the day, we just turn it inside out and throw it in the washer with the load of diapers/wipes. That's it. I think it's actually less stinky than emptying out a diaper pail of disposable diapers.
Henry totally prefers these to Pampers - I'm not kidding! When we only had a couple of these, we would still use Pampers sometimes, and Henry would bring me a BumGenius or say "no no" if I put a Pampers on him. They are so soft, I am sure they are more comfortable. Being organic can't hurt either. And so cute too!
Henry has far fewer rashes now that we are using these. If we know he will be in a diaper for a long time, we use Grandma El's Diaper Cream to prevent rashes. But he's only had a couple of rashes (if he poops during his nap), compared to before, when he was getting them more frequently.
Also, he is at that age where he had started leaking out of the Pampers Cruisers at night. Since we've been using these, we have not had a single leak! For overnight, I stick a Thirsties hemp liner in the diaper to double up. During the day and naps, I don't use an insert, and we haven't had a single leak. He has even had diarrhea and some other big poops, and NO leaks. That's definitely better than disposables!
It took us a little experimenting to figure out a good wash routine, which I've gathered is normal for cloth diapering. Probably the biggest downside to these diapers is that they do take a lot of water/energy to clean (for this reason I am NOT going to claim that these are saving the earth). At first we had some problems with stains on the diapers and some odor when they came out of the wash. But once we figured out our routine (with the help of the wonderful Cotton Babies customer support folks!) we have not had any troubles - our diapers look brand new and have not smelled or had any more stains. Here's what we do:
1. A regular wash cycle on cold with no detergent or other additives,
2. A heavy duty hot wash with extra rinse - I discovered that our biggest problem was that our washer (Whirlpool Duet, which I hate) wasn't using enough water. So now during the "add a garment" phase of this cycle, I pause it and add a big pitcher of very hot water. I use Nellie's Laundry Soda, which requires only a teaspoon per load. (we tried some other detergents but they didn't work as well or gave Henry rashes).
3. Before bed, we throw them in the dryer on warm. They take a LONG time to dry - 1.5 hours. But we're sleeping, so we don't care.
4. Once a month, instead of detergent, to the hot cycle, I add 1/4 cup bleach and a couple of squirts of original (blue) Dawn dishwashing detergent, plus the extra water. It takes one more extra rinse to get the suds all out. I secretly sit there and watch the sudsy washing action through the glass of our front loader.
Like I said, all of our diapers look like new now - no stains, no smells, no rashes. And yes, that is a lot of washing/drying. But now as soon as Henry goes to bed, Davis or I throws the wetbag/diapers/wipes in the washer, then when the washer beeps, we add detergent and restart it, and before I go to bed I throw everything in the dryer. While they're washing, I just do whatever I normally do in the evenings (lately - that would be NOTHING).
At first, we continued using disposable wipes. But really, it was awkward - we had to find a place to throw them out after putting the diapers in the wetbag. So we started using cloth wipes. Now I realize, we will probably save even more money on these than on the diapers! The only wipes that didn't give my kids rashes were the Pamper's Sensitive wipes, which were $7 per pack. We went through a LOT of these!
I got a couple dozen Ragababe wipes (we tried the BumGenius, Thirsties, and some other sample wipes, and these are BY FAR our favorites!) - they are soft and just great. We used to use several wipes per dirty diaper, but we use only one cloth wipe. I think there were maybe 2 or 3 times that I used more than one wipe since switching to cloth.
Once every 3 days, I use one of my new giant mason jars to mix up 1/3 gallon distilled water with a squirt of Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild Soap and a couple of squirts of baby oil. Then I put a dozen or so wipes in the solution and slosh them around to get them all get wet. I wring them out, roll them up, and put them in a wipes warmer, where they are ready to use when we need them.
Now they just go right in the wetbag/laundry with the diapers. Preparing the wipes really isn't any trouble and takes maybe 10 minutes twice a week - all the last minute trips to the store when we ran out of diapers or wipes were much more time-consuming!
We will be renting some newborn diapers (through Itsy Bitsy Bums - GREAT company!) for the new baby until he is about 10 lbs, then he will fit into the BumGenius. So even though I still have 3 or so years of diapering left - I don't plan on ever having to buy another diaper!!! (I am sure there will be a time we buy a pack of diapers for traveling, but as long as we have access to a washer, these are easy to travel with too... and with four kids, I can't imagine traveling anywhere that doesn't have a washer ha!)
So there. Random diapering post. You're welcome.
(by the way, none of the companies in this post gave me anything or asked me to review their products, I just love their stuff!)
1 comment:
I cloth diapered my second and it was not as hard as I thought it would be. I used to hang the diapers out in the sun to get rid of any stains. I worked really well. If I have another I will be looking for this post :)
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