Cloth Diapering 411

Joining us today is Robin, who blogs at No One Thing and From Dorms to Diapers.  After the Green Mommy wrote her post on eco disposable diapers, several readers asked the Eco Women for a post on cloth diapers.  Robin will be addressing that issue today.  The Eco Women appreciate her helpful, detailed post!

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Hello!  I am honored to be a guest blogger and share with you our adventures in cloth diapering.

It has become a joke among my friends that if cloth diapering were a religion, I would be a missionary.  I often say that if I had retail knowledge and the time/money to start a business, I would open a cloth diaper store.  THAT is how good I feel about our decision to cloth diaper.  I am not going on a religious mission or opening a shop — but I am thrilled to share what I have learned so far with you!

My son Micah is 15 months old and has been in cloth diapers since he came home from the hospital.  We made the decision to cloth diaper for several reasons — baby’s health, the environment, and cost savings.  The benefits of cloth diapers for the health of your baby, the earth and your wallet are well documented; here is one of my favorite sites listing these benefits.

There are several different types of cloth diapers available nowadays.  Guess what?  There are no sharp pins, the diapers are very easy to use, and less icky than disposables (I swear!).  There are also several different cloth diapering accessories available as well.  It is great to have so many options, but it can also be a bit overwhelming… I hope I can help with that.  My three favorite shops for diapers, accessories and info are: Kelly’s Closet, Tree City Diapers, and Cotton Babies.  All the items we have used are available at one or more of these shops.

First, the diapers.  We use two different brands of pocket diapers: BumGenius and FuzziBunz.  (Don’t you love the names?!)

BumGenius offers a few different styles of diapers; we chose the best selling One Size Diaper.  One size means just that — your babe will wear the same diaper the first days of his life and right up until potty training.  Snaps on the outside of the diaper and on the stuffable insert adjust the size to fit babies from 7 to 35 pounds.

PROS: The fleece is very soft against baby’s skin, the insert is very absorbent and can be even more absorbent with additional inserts, they never leak, velcro closures are easy to use, and they come in cute colors.

CONS: I admit they were pretty bulky on our little guy when he was a newborn.  Also, our velcro is getting worn after 15 months of use, but I have friends who hang dry (we machine dry) and they don’t seem to have this issue, plus air drying increases the hug-the-earth score!

BOTTOM LINE: Very fun, economical, convenient way to cloth diaper — just think about hanging to dry to extend the life of the diaper. Also note: Cotton Babies will give you replacement velcro kits FREE, all you need is sewing skills or some $ to pay someone on Etsy to do it for you.

FuzziBunz are the original pocket diaper.  A friend of mine used to do their PR and I ran into her right after buying 30 BumGenius for my little one.  She sang the praises of FuzziBunz and I was bummed I did not give them a closer look initially.  We only bought these recently when our BumGenius velcro started failing.  I am so thrilled we added these diapers to our stash.  They come in different sizes, which means the fit is fantastic.  Also, the fleece is amazingly soft and they come in wonderful bright colors.

PROS: Great fit, the fleece is very soft against baby’s skin, the insert is very absorbent and can be even more absorbent with additional inserts, they never leak, snap closures won’t wear out like velcro, and come in cute colors.

CONS: Sizes means you have to buy multiple sets of these diapers (although you will still save money vs. disposables), snaps don’t wear out like velcro, but require a little more cooperation from your little one during changes.

BOTTOM LINE: Amazing pocket diaper!

So, now for the accessories…

Cloth wipes — We have tried these, these, these, and these. All of the wipes are great.  I use a dry one to wipe away solid mess, then spray baby with this and wipe again with another clean, dry wipe.  Lots of moms make their own wipe solution, but I was never able to make one that did not irritate my baby’s super sensitive skin.  I also use sensitive skin throwaway wipes as well.

Diaper Sprayer — Some people swear by this, but I thought it was icky — a little too hands-on for me.

I much prefer Flushable Liners.   They are super easy, low ick-factor, and still earth friendly because they are made from natural materials and biodegrade in under a month.  Bonus: you can’t use diaper cream with most cloth diapers because it can alter the absorbency but when you use these, you can – although most cloth diapered babies rarely need diaper cream.  Since breast milk poop is water soluble and can go right in the wash, you don’t need these till 6 months or so.

Wet bags — These are an absolute cloth diapering must.  We have these for his room (hung on a hook near the changing station) and these for the diaper bag.  They are also useful for carrying toiletries on vacation and swimsuits at the pool!  We wash diapers every day or two and the poop goes in the toilet so his room never smells, which is a big plus compared with typical disposable diaper pails.

Hemp Inserts — We use these in the pocket diapers overnight for additional absorbency.  Our little guy sleeps 11-12 hours (we are lucky!) and still wakes up dry.

Laundry — We wash with Allen’s Naturally, as recommended by many cloth diapering websites.  All our diapers look great, even after 15 months of daily use.  Can’t complain!  We dry with dryer balls because dryer sheets alter the absorbency of cloth diapers.

Overall, there are more amazing products than ever, more resources and support than ever, and therefore more reasons than ever to cloth diaper.  We have found it to have all the benefits we hoped for and more.  The cloth diapers available these days are far cuter than any disposable, in fact I love letting our little guy run around in just a diaper… so cute!  I hope I have been helpful (and not too preachy!) to anyone considering cloth diapering their little one.