Before I begin, let me just say that I'm not going to try to innundate you with some liberal propaganda to make you feel bad about using Pampers and how they're ruining the environment. That's not my objective. I'm just so happy with my experience that I want to share it with you.
Let me also say that there are many wonderful and different types of cloth diapers out there. The only kind that I am familiar with are the Bum Genius 3.0's. If you want to do your own cloth diaper research, click here.
These are two of the Bum Genius 3.0 All-In-One diapers.
One thing that I LOVE about the Bum Genius 3.0 diapers is that with proper care, they'll last a very long time. How is this possible? Well, the brilliant people at BG figured out how to make the diaper grow with your baby (which saves money on having to buy different sizes of diapers).
Here is a picture of the diaper in the "small" setting.
Here is a picture of the diaper in the "medium" setting.
What sets this one apart from the small setting is that you unsnap 1 row of snaps to allow for extra length. This will be made clearer in the next picture.
Here is a picutre of the diaper in the "large" setting.
If you look at this picture in comparison to the one directly above, you'll notice how there are now more snaps visible, making the diaper bigger. Also, instead of using an adhesive to fasten the diaper, you can see that velcro tabs are used. This is very handy when washing the diapers.
You may be asking yourself, "So, just how do these things work?" Here's the rundown. The first thing you'll need to do is gauge how much your child (ahem) pees. The younger they are, the less they pee. This is important because you need to figure out what size insert to put into the diaper. These are what they look like:
If you look, the one on the left is smaller than the one on the right. The left one is what the company calls the "newborn" insert. I think that I was safe to use this one alone in the diaper for the first 6 months or so (to be fair, I didn't really start using cloth diapers on Annie until she was about a month old because she was so small and the diapers looked like they could swallow her up). As the child gets bigger and pees more, you'll need to switch to the adjustable insert. If you look carefully, you can see some of the same snaps that are on the outside of the diaper. You will just adjust the insert to the same size as the diaper and you're golden. For now, Annie is safe using the adjustable insert, but I have heard that some people with older children may have to double up the newborn and adjustable inserts for nighttime.
Now, where exactly do these inserts go?
If you look at this picture, you'll see how there's a little pocket at the top of the diaper. Quite simply, you just stuff the insert into the pocket and you're ready to go!
What about when your child is ready to go, so to speak? Easy! You pretty much have to options to correspond with their two functions. If the child pees, all you reall need to do is spray the diaper and insert with deodorizer (I recommend the Bum Genius deodorizer because it's natural and doesn't stink up the nursery with that overpowering smell that often accompanies aerosol sprays).
Just give the diaper and insert a few squirts of this spray and then you can toss the dirties into a specified hamper. I do not recommend chucking the dirty inserts and diapers into a clothes hamper since these need to be washed differently than your standard laundry, but I'll get to that later.
Now, about the poop...
Honestly, it really depends on the poop itself. If the poop is hard and nugget-like, you should be safe just dumping it into the toilet, spraying the diaper and insert, and putting the diaper and insert into a hamper. However, for those lovely and unexpected runny poops (which are generally more common the younger the baby is), you'll need to have a sprayer on hand. This will be your best friend.
This lovely little sprayer attaches to your toilet and allows you to spray any runny or particularly messy poops into the toilet. Also, you're able to clean any remnants clear so they don't stain the diaper. You may not need to use the sprayer often, but you definitely want to have it on hand!
As far as washing goes, this is what I do:
Liners and diapers will need to be separated from each other and all snaps will need to be undone. As far as the velcro tabs, there are actually little squares available to attach the tabs to so they don't snag anything in the wash. Once you have the items in the washer, you'll need to put it on the cold water setting and add a detergent that is free of perfumes and dyes. I recommend Tide Free and Clear. This is important because you don't want any perfumes and dyes to be on a fabric that's on the bare skin of your child's sensitive areas, possibly leading to a rash. Run this through one cycle. Once the cycle is complete, you'll need to adjust to the hot water setting and add a cup of white vinegar. While the first cycle was for cleaning purposes, this is for disinfecting. Once this cycle is finished, go ahead and throw everything in the dryer (and don't forget to turn off the hot water setting). Don't put in a dryer sheet (this goes back to the perfume issue). After the cycle is finished, you're good to go!
*Note--if you have well water or hard water, you will most likely wash the dirties a different way.
I have found that there are times when I can't use cloth diapers. The most often occurs when we go on a trip or someone babysits the kids. Most people aren't familiar with cloth diapers nowadays (at least not these kind--most just have memories of the ones with safety pins) and I don't want to pressure/scare people into having to use cloth alone. I do keep disposables on hand for the rare occassions that may call for them.
In the interest of trying to "go green," I have a strong preference to the Huggies Natural Diapers. They are organic and biodegradable. Yay! I will admit that when I'm short on funds I will buy whatever is cheaper and do feel bad about it, but I know that overall, my cloth diapers are keeping me from contributing to a huge mess in a landfill. Plus, in the long run, my cloth diapers are going to save me money (who doesn't love that?). Sure, you have to spend a bit at first to save in the long run, but it's worth it. You figure that a box of diapers in any brand is about $20 and that may last you a month (if you're lucky). So if you figure that an average kid wears diapers consistently for maybe 30 months, that puts you at about $600 alone on diapers (if not more, since there are less diapers per box as the sizes go up). If I remember correctly, when I bought all my supplies (cloth diapers and inserts come together, the sprayer, clothes hamper and liner for dirties, and deodorizer) I think that I spent around $300. So, I know I'm saving at least $300 compared to someone who has a kid the same age as Annie and uses nothing but disposable diapers.
Now, here's what's going to blow your mind. As long as they're taken care of properly, cloth diapers can be passed down. This means that you won't necessarily have to stock up on more diapers (unless you want to; if I have another baby and it's a boy, I'm going to have to buy more diapers, since Annie's are mostly in girly colors) or other supplies, since you'll already have them. What's that mean? YOU SAVE MORE MONEY! Whoo hoo!
Okay, that's my schpiel on cloth diapering. I will say that I wish I had this information sooner so I could have used cloth for Max. Oh well--can't do too much about that now. It may seem like a bit of work, but I believe that it's worth it. If you aren't interested, it's cool--I'm not going to judge those who do things differently. Honestly, I thought it was all a bit funky at first myself. I do have to thank my friend Colleen who turned me on to this.
Have a wonderful day and spread a little cheer!
~Jenna
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