the one where I start cloth diapering

Part of the new baby agreement I had with my husband was that I could cloth diaper.  Also, that I could dress her in adorable hats.

#1 Reason to have kids

I spent far too much time online obsessing about diapers.  Seriously, it is embarrassing how much time I spent reading reviews and looking at prices, harassing friends who do cloth diaper. Thinking there was a light at the end of this tunnel then seeing a link for cloth safe detergents.  What?!  You have to be picky about detergents and diaper creams.  Sighing deeply and reading 200 million contradicting posts about how Tide is the devil, but everyone still uses it.  Finally, I had to just do something.  Anything.  I just couldn't read any more about cloth diapering.  So, here it is.  The low down on what is going on on the business end of my new kid. 

I decided to go with prefolds and diaper wraps. Mainly for these two reasons:

Bummis Whisper Wrap over prefold

 1) I am cheap. You need to buy a dozen or so prefold diapers and a couple of wraps.  Wraps don't need to be washed every time they get used.  Most of the yuck gets on the prefold and you can just wipe the wrap (or not) and reuse it with the next diaper change.

2) I wanted my diapers to fit. I had big plans to cloth diaper my newborn as soon as she got here and the general consensus is that most other types of cloth diapering systems don't really fit a newborn's tiny (and adorable) toosh. 

Maybe later I'll use the fancy pocket diapers or the All-in-One (AIO) diapers, but right now prefold and covers are working just fine.

I'm using homemade wipes which are basically flannel squares cut and serged.  These get dampened with water and then stuck in a wipe warmer I bought at the Salvation Army for $5.  I bought the pillow pad from Walmart for a couple of bucks.  You don't want to give your wipes time to mold and smell funky so don't load the warmer down with hundreds of wipes.  I put just enough wipes in for the day and add more as needed.  Some people use special solutions for their wipes.  I'm not right now although I was sent a few samples of Monkey Doodlez from Green Diaper Demos with my order.  There are hundreds of websites with recipes to make your own solutions if you want to save some moo-la.

I'm using Imagine brand prefolds from Nicki's Diapers along with the Bummis Super Brite and Bummis Whisper diaper covers.  I also bought about 20 Little Lion seconds in infant size from Green Diaper Demos that are too big still.  I also bought a container of CJ's BUTTer to use on baby's bottom which I LOVE.  It isn't gross and thick like other ointments, it is cloth diaper friendly and spreads on nice.  Plus you can buy little sample containers which fit wonderfully in your diaper bag.  She hasn't had terrible diaper rash so I can't vouch on how well it works for that.

For cloth diaper clean up I am rinsing the yuck off with cold water.  To avoid stains I'm using a watered down solution of peroxide and Dr. Bronner's castile soap in a bottle.  I squirt this on the diaper and rub it into the stain before throwing it into a bucket of cold water.  Then I take the pail downstairs where I do a cold rinse cycle followed by a normal cycle (extra rinse on heavy soiled) with Ecos laundry detergent.

Disposables?!?!

I've read to not leave diapers in your bucket for longer than three days.  I only own 10 newborn prefold diapers so I can't go that long anyway.  Plus, I'm a little OCD about laundry, especially soiled laundry, so I wash every day or every other day if things get crazy.  If you paid close attention to the picture of my stack you probably noticed disposable diapers and wipes.  Gasp.  Confession: I'm not exclusively cloth diapering.  I had envisioned a life where a disposable never touches my babies skin, but then reality hit.  Having a new baby is crazy and while I'd like to think of myself as mother nature, it was just too stressful to think about doing full time.  Maybe once things get back to normal (ha! does that even exist once you have kids) I'll step it up.  Right now, I try to use at least three cloth diapers a day when I'm home (if not more) but I occasionally use a disposable throughout the day and always at night.      

Q&A break.

Why Imagine Brand?  Because they are cheaper than the GMD prefolds(Green Mountain Diapers which are supposed to be THE LEXUS of PREFOLDS) and I wasn't going to spend the extra cash and not be sure I really wanted to cloth diaper. 

Why Nicki's Diapers and Green Diaper Demos?  Nicki's happened to be the first place I found that offered a cloth diaper registry for showers. Green Diaper Demos popped up when I was searching for little lion prefolds.  They have been wonderful to work with (very friendly customer service).

Why Bummis Super Brite and Whisper?  That's what GMD told me to do.  However, I like the way that the Whisper wrap fits better than the Super Brite once her cord fell off.

Why Eco's laundry detergent?  There are several places like here and here you can go to look for cloth diaper friendly detergents.  I decided on Ecos because I live in a small town with very limited access to "green" resources.  Ecos was something that was recommended on the charts and my Wal-Mart happened to carry.  Win-win.


Disclaimer.  This is not meant to be a "how to" guide.  If you haven't noticed, I am not an expert or anything remotely resembling one.  If you want a more detailed and professional guide try any of the following websites below.


Diaperswappers
The Cloth Diaper Whisperer
Green Mountain Diapers
Diaper Pin