Update:
(The original Fluffy Butt post is below)
We've been cloth diapering for almost nine months now and we're still loving it. Our stash of BumGenius diapers has paid for itself at least twice over at this point and we haven't looked back. Though we considered experimenting with various types of diapers, we loved our BumGenius pockets so much that we have only used them.
A few months ago, I sold several of our more girly colors and bought some of BG's newer prints that were a bit more masculine. These newer ones have snaps on the front instead of the velcro and will hold up much better over the long haul. Never under estimate the reselling power of cloth diapers!
Lets talk about poop. Its the question I get most often now that Charlie is almost completely on solid foods. How does solid food poop work with the cloth? The answer is - easier than breast milk/formula poop, actually. Yes, we get the occasional consistency that needs to be scraped out before going in the wash, but for the most part, we just plop everything into the toilet before throwing the diaper in the pail. The mess gets flushed away and helps keep the diaper pail smell to a minimum. Take that disposables! There's no poop just sitting around in this house.
We still have only had one or two bouts of diaper rash since moving to cloth and one instance of a yeast rash, that we're currently battling. Getting yeast out of cloth can be tough since its a hearty little beast, but there are a ton of remedies out there (both natural and chemical) to combat it. So far, we've gone the bleach and hot water route, but we plan on using some grapefruit seed oil if that doesn't work.
One last thing that has changed since the beginning is how we handle overnight diapering. When C was little and getting up every few hours overnight, we were changing him more often. Now, he's sleeping 10-12 hours a night (WOO HOO!) and needs something a little beefier than a normal daytime diaper. BumGenius diapers come with two liners - a newborn liner and a regular liner. For daytime, we use the regular liner and for nighttime we use both together. If we ever needed a bit more oomph, we could always add another newborn liner to the pile. The up side is that the absorbancy is completely customizable and easy to change. The downside is that it can get bulky. Poor kid is in 18 months size PJs so his butt fits.
We're looking into other options for absorbancy like hemp and Zorb, but haven't made the switch from microfiber just yet.
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We love fluffy butts in this house. What is a fluffy butt, you ask? A cloth diapered butt! I've posted about our cloth diapers before, but figured it might be helpful to anyone curious about CDing to compile information in one place. Keep in mind, I am in no way an expert. Just a Momma researching, buying, and using cloth diapers...and blogging as it happens.
(The original Fluffy Butt post is below)We've been cloth diapering for almost nine months now and we're still loving it. Our stash of BumGenius diapers has paid for itself at least twice over at this point and we haven't looked back. Though we considered experimenting with various types of diapers, we loved our BumGenius pockets so much that we have only used them.
A few months ago, I sold several of our more girly colors and bought some of BG's newer prints that were a bit more masculine. These newer ones have snaps on the front instead of the velcro and will hold up much better over the long haul. Never under estimate the reselling power of cloth diapers!
Lets talk about poop. Its the question I get most often now that Charlie is almost completely on solid foods. How does solid food poop work with the cloth? The answer is - easier than breast milk/formula poop, actually. Yes, we get the occasional consistency that needs to be scraped out before going in the wash, but for the most part, we just plop everything into the toilet before throwing the diaper in the pail. The mess gets flushed away and helps keep the diaper pail smell to a minimum. Take that disposables! There's no poop just sitting around in this house.
We still have only had one or two bouts of diaper rash since moving to cloth and one instance of a yeast rash, that we're currently battling. Getting yeast out of cloth can be tough since its a hearty little beast, but there are a ton of remedies out there (both natural and chemical) to combat it. So far, we've gone the bleach and hot water route, but we plan on using some grapefruit seed oil if that doesn't work.
One last thing that has changed since the beginning is how we handle overnight diapering. When C was little and getting up every few hours overnight, we were changing him more often. Now, he's sleeping 10-12 hours a night (WOO HOO!) and needs something a little beefier than a normal daytime diaper. BumGenius diapers come with two liners - a newborn liner and a regular liner. For daytime, we use the regular liner and for nighttime we use both together. If we ever needed a bit more oomph, we could always add another newborn liner to the pile. The up side is that the absorbancy is completely customizable and easy to change. The downside is that it can get bulky. Poor kid is in 18 months size PJs so his butt fits.
We're looking into other options for absorbancy like hemp and Zorb, but haven't made the switch from microfiber just yet.
---------------------------------------------------------
We love fluffy butts in this house. What is a fluffy butt, you ask? A cloth diapered butt! I've posted about our cloth diapers before, but figured it might be helpful to anyone curious about CDing to compile information in one place. Keep in mind, I am in no way an expert. Just a Momma researching, buying, and using cloth diapers...and blogging as it happens.
When I told my Dad that we were going to cloth diaper he told me that we were crazy. Cloth diapering has come a loooong way since rubber pants, pins, and soaking dirty diapers.When I finally showed him the diapers we have he said we were cheating - it was too easy to be considered cloth diapering! I'd have to agree on the easy part, but technically its still cloth Dad. Sorry!
Why cloth diaper?
Here is where I try to convince you to join the fluffy side...
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| First fluffy butt picture |
Cloth is cheaper. We're all watching our wallets these days and this is an excellent way to save some dough. In general, disposables cost a family about $2,000 if the child is potty trained by the age of three. Our stash of 24 diapers cost us $350. Each diaper has snaps on it to grow with Charlie from 10 lbs to 35 lbs. Yes, we need to pay to wash them, but we have an HE washer and air dry them. We can also use the same diapers with subsequent children or resell them. Used cloth diapers are actually very popular and can get the seller up to 50% of their money back if the dipes were well taken care of.
Cloth is better for baby. Most disposable diapers contain chemicals that I can't even pronounce that have side effects that I don't even want to think about. Gross. And believe it or not, when disposable diapers were introduced, diaper rash went up a reported 70%. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Also, in our experience thus far, we've had zero diaper blow outs with cloth. When Charlie was still in disposables, we had leaks and blows outs all. the. time.
Cloth is better for the environment. Some scientist somewhere calculated that it would take 300 years for one disposable diaper to decompose in a landfill. In addition to that, disposables create more than 50 times the amount of solid waste that cloth do, use twice as much water, and use up to 20 times more raw materials (like crude oil) in the manufacturing process.
Cloth is WAY cuter. I mean really. Do you wear white underwear all the time? Probably not.
Types of Cloth Diapers
At the moment, we're using bumGenius one size pocket diapers, but are looking to expand our stash to include fitteds and prefold diapers. As we get them and try them out, I'll update this page with reviews and links.
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| BG Covers air dry in just a few hours |
Pocket Diapers
Pocket diapers are two piece diapering system typically with a piece of fleece that makes up the inner portion of fabric and a waterproof layer that makes up the outermost portion. An absorbent material is placed inside of the two pieces making the whole system act as an all in one system that keeps babies dry.
We use: bumGenius and a few handmade from Etsy sellers
What we like about them: They are pretty idiot proof and most like disposable diapers in terms of putting them on and taking them off. The suede cloth inside is soft and wicks moisture away from C's butt preventing diaper rash. Also, they are one size and adjustable meaning they will fit until C is potty trained. Since the absorbent insert is a separate piece, we can customize how absorbent the diaper is - we use a small insert during the day and a thicker one for overnight wear. They are easy to wash and line dry very quickly.
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| Fun diapers from Etsy |
Things that we don't like: They are pretty bulky and take up a lot of space when being stored. They also can create a lot of laundry since you need to change the entire diaper at each change. When laundering, you need to pull the wet/dirty insert out and then stuff it back in when they're clean. They come in a bunch of solid colors, but no cute prints.
Fitteds
Fitted diapers resemble disposable diapers. They have a contoured shape and have gathered edges around the legs. Instead of tape, they are fastened with either velcro or snaps. They differ from pockets in that an absorbent layer is either sewn on or just placed between the diaper and baby. Fitteds can be made from almost any fabric, making upcycling an easy and economical way to increase your collection. A waterproof diaper cover (polyurethane laminate, wool, and fleece are common cover materials) is necessary when using fitteds.
Prefolds
Pre-fold diapers are rectangular shaped diapers that are divided lengthwise in 3 sections. These are the old school ones that closed with pins. Nowadays you mostly see them advertised as burp cloths. The outer sections usually have a thickness of 4 layers. The middle section can have 6 or 8 layers. This gives pre-folds absorbency where it is needed most, in the middle. Pre-folds are the cheapest alternative in diapers. They can be enclosed in a velcro or snap fastened diaper cover or they can be pinned with safety pins or snappi fasteners.
We use: Unbleached OsoCozy prefolds
Things we like: Prefolds seriously cut down on the amount of diaper laundry we have! They're also much cheaper than pocket diapers.
Things we don't like: Unfortunately, the size of prefolds I bought were too small to use with Snappis so we've been using them as flat inserts with covers. :-( The only other thing we're not a fan of is how hard it can be to get the prefold to lay correctly inside the cover and get it on a wiggly baby.
Things we like: Prefolds seriously cut down on the amount of diaper laundry we have! They're also much cheaper than pocket diapers.
Things we don't like: Unfortunately, the size of prefolds I bought were too small to use with Snappis so we've been using them as flat inserts with covers. :-( The only other thing we're not a fan of is how hard it can be to get the prefold to lay correctly inside the cover and get it on a wiggly baby.
Diaper Covers
Like diapers, covers come in many forms. Like fitted diapers they may be contoured shaped and can fasten with snaps or velcro. Some covers resemble underwear and are often made of polyurethane laminate (PUL) to prevent wetness from getting on baby's clothing. These are ideal for covering a diaper during the daytime.
For the baby with sensitive skin there are also wool or polar fleece diaper covers.
We use: We have a Baby BeeHinds Wrap and a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap
Things we like: Since this is just a cover, it doesn't need to be changed every time. One cover can last all day if it doesn't get dirty! This seriously cuts down on laundry. The only thing being thrown in the diaper pail is the prefold insert. Also, the cover dries super fast.
Things that we don't like: As I mentioned above, maybe we're just novices, but its hard to get everything put on a wiggly baby in a leak proof way. We're still working on that.
Things we like: Since this is just a cover, it doesn't need to be changed every time. One cover can last all day if it doesn't get dirty! This seriously cuts down on laundry. The only thing being thrown in the diaper pail is the prefold insert. Also, the cover dries super fast.
Things that we don't like: As I mentioned above, maybe we're just novices, but its hard to get everything put on a wiggly baby in a leak proof way. We're still working on that.
There are also "all in one" diapers, but after reading some reviews, we've decided not to use them. All in one diapers have the absorbent layer permanently attached and while that sounds more convenient, its harder to customize absorbency and they take forever to dry.
Cloth Diapering Accessories
Wet Bag
I often get asked what we do with wet/dirty diapers when we're out and about since just putting them back in the diaper bag is gross. A wet bag solves this problem. Made of polyurethane laminate, a wet bag is a small drawstring pouch that keeps in moisture and smell while you're transporting wet/dirty diapers. They're also good for wet or dirty clothes, shoes, wet bathing suits...you get the idea.
Pail Liner
Same idea as a wet bag, but for your diaper pail.
Diaper Liners
A breastfed baby's poop is completely water soluble, meaning you don't need to rinse it off before putting it in the washer. No, I don't think its gross. No, it doesn't mess up my washing machine. Yes, everything comes out perfectly clean. When a baby starts on solids or is formula fed, however, the poop isn't quite as cooperative. Putting a flushable paper or washable flannel liner between the baby and the absorbent layer can make removing more solid waste easier and save your diapers/prefolds from staining.
Cloth Diaper Friendly Detergent
At the moment, we're working through a box of bumGenius brand detergent that we bought after we realized that we couldn't (and shouldn't) just use whatever we had on hand. Turns out, cloth diapers are finicky things when it comes to cleaning. The detergent doesn't need to be expensive or fancy, but it should be free of dyes, fragrances, brighteners, enzymes, and a bunch of other stuff that can cause the cloth to repel liquid or retain smell. Here is a huge list of detergents, their ingredients, and their effect on cloth. And never, EVER use fabric softener. It will instantly kill any fabrics absorbency until its washed out.
Cloth Diapering Links
Information & FAQ
The Diaper Pin: Cloth Diapers, Tips, Reviews, and More!
The Eco Friendly Family: Cloth Diapering FAQ
Where to Buy
Jillian's Drawers (Great trial program if you're curious about cloth!)
There are also several websites that have swap boards to trade/sell used cloth diapers and great prices.
Now you're all ready to cloth diaper! If you have any questions, I can try to answer the or point you in the right direction!
