Cloth Diapers

Since I feel generally yucky, and I don't have all my wits about me (sinuses, allergy, cold...who knows), I thought I would post on our cloth diapering adventure. For those who are curious read on...

When Zoe was in diapers, we put her in good old disposable diapers...not the expensive ones, but the cheap brand from Wal-Mart. I liked them, they worked good, no problem.

Then when I was pregnant with Ace, a friend who was also pregnant, told me she was going to use cloth diapers. I thought she was crazy!! But I decided it wouldn't hurt to do a little research. Now, I'm all about saving some money so I googled cloth diapers online and started comparing costs for diapers. I wound up at DiaperPin and found a great little calculator that determined my costs, etc for cloth versus disposable. I just punched in the numbers and added in all my costs with Josiah's diapers and we'll break even in less than 10 months and save over $300 in a year and a half...now, considering that the average toddler potty trains at 2 1/2 to 3, we're raking in a big savings!!

I was sold...but I wasn't about to stick my hand in a toilet or use my child to practice voodoo (sticking pins on/in them). So I did more research and found that I could buy diapers with snaps or velcro already on them. What's more...I could buy diapers that would last from newborn to potty training! Wow! I got really excited. Our first diaper purchases were Little Lambs One Size All in One Diapers. Now these were/are a bit confusing for family and friends to use but they picked up on it. There were snaps in the back to adjust the fit and then an insert that snapped in to help absorb the...well, you know.

Those were great but Liam was a wiggler and trying to snap his diaper four times (two snaps on each side) got me to thinking about getting Josiah diapers with velcro. Just in case he was a wiggler too. I did more research (thanks Google!) and found four different diapers to try. These diapers were mostly what was called "pocket" diapers. They worked by stuffing an insert into the diaper in the back or some other area to absorb the...you know what. The inserts have to be pulled out, which isn't as bad as I thought, before they are washed. We settled on ones that kept Liam dry all night long with just one insert in them. They are the bumgenius diapers that Josiah is modeling in his two month pics! They are wonderful and easy to clean. We keep an extra insert in the diapers overnight but that's not too hard.

Oh, and as for the toilet dumping, we actually purchased what is called a mini-bidet or mini-shower that attaches to the toilet and use that to spray the...ahhhemm...off.

If you're interested in cloth diapering, Diaper Pin has a wealth of information and product reviews. I have to say that my mom thought I was crazy for using cloth diapers and thought I wouldn't stick with it. She refused to even change one of Liam or Ace's diapers. However, this weekend, I threw her one of Josiah's to get him changed and ready to go and she had no problem with it...except that she started to put in on backwards...but to her credit, it's been a long time since she's changed a diaper, disposable or otherwise.

Oh, and other benefits...none of my kids have really dealt with bad diaper rash...we're saving the environment...and their diapers are kind of like a fashion accessory...except that they're boys and boys don't have fashion accessories...okay, scratch the last benefit.

I guess I'm goofy when I'm sick.