When I was pregnant with Sarah I started researching cloth diapering just out of curiosity. I wasn't committed to the idea but I was definitely intrigued. I picked up a copy of Diaper Changes and read it cover to cover. Then I called my friend Marian and inquired about her system. At the time she was the only person I knew who currently had a child in cloth diapers. I'm now thrilled to say that I can name no less than a dozen friends that are using cloth too! Everyone has their own system, even if they use the same brand which is why I'm hoping there will be some other people posting on their own blogs about this. I'll list the ones I know of at the end of this post.
In the world of cloth diapers there are three main types: all-in-ones, pocket diapers, and prefolds; each with their own advantages and disadvantages. In the course of diapering Sarah we experimented with all three kinds.
We started with Bumkins which are a brand of all-in-ones. All-in-ones are exactly as the name suggests - diapers that have everything you need in one handy dandy piece. The waterproof outer layer and absorbent inner layer are sewn together to create a diaper that looks and functions almost identical to a disposable diaper. All you have to do is toss the whole thing into the diaper pail when they're soiled. The drawback that we found to using Bumkins was that after several months of use the waterproof layer lost it's waterproofability causing wetness to seep through the lining. Sarah's clothes were constantly damp which was annoying. The worst of it was at night so at that point we kept using the Bumkins but switched to Fuzzibunz at night.
Fuzzibunz are pocket diapers which means they have an outer shell with a pocket to stuff an absorbent insert into. I really loved the FBs for Sarah and never had any problem with leaks. My main issue with them was that they were pretty pricey...I like to have a lot of diapers on hand so I don't have to wash everyday and buying 24 FBs just wasn't an option for me. Another small annoyance was that the fleece innerlining (which was REALLY soft and nice on Sarah's bottom) really chaffed my dry, cracked Colorado hands. A small thing, but still.
Finally when Sarah was around nine months old we ditched the all-in-ones and the pocket diapers and went whole-hog into the world of prefolds and have never looked back. Prefolds are by far the least expensive system and have worked out really well for our family. This kind of system has two parts - the actual diaper made of several layers of thick cotton stitched together and then a waterproof cover that velcros around the diaper. The "cloth diapers" they sell at BRU or big-box stores are not what you would use to diaper a baby. Prefolds are thick and heavy and fluff up so beautifully after several washings.
The particular brand of prefolds that we use are called diaperaps. When mine first came in the mail I was a little intimidated about how to fold them and how to get them on a squirming baby. It was definitely a little slow-going at first but now it's just second nature. Brent helped me put together a little video to show you guys exactly how we do it (scroll down to the bottom of the post). On this video I use a fold that Amy showed me about a year ago that helps keep runny baby poop from leaking onto the cover. I've NEVER had a problem with anything coming OUT of these diapers but occasionally we do get messes on the inside of the covers. This kind of fold has helped a ton though...
More details. We have 6 covers and 24 diapers. You don't have to change the covers every time you change the diaper because they don't get dirty unless poop leaks (hence the fold mentioned above). It totally annoys me to wash a load of diapers just because all of our covers are dirty so I try really hard to make sure the diapers are folded correctly. I use cloth wipes too just because we're already washing diapers so we might as well wash wipes. Plus if we didn't use cloth we'd run into the problem of what to do with the disposable wipes. You can't flush most brands but I wouldn't want to just toss them in the trash either. So washing works well for us. I do my wipes the same way Parmy does and she has an AWESOME post on her blog with tons and tons of details and pictures so I'll just let you read about that over there. We store our dirty diapers in this cheapo diaper pail under the sink in our bathroom. Before we toss them in though we always use the diaper sprayer...it's definitely worth the investment to keep from having to dunk diapers!
When it comes time to wash I just dump all the diapers into the washing machine and run a quick rinse cycle. Then I just run a regular wash cycle on hot with about half the detergent I would use for clothes. Then into the dryer and we're done! I figure it adds the equivalent of about 2 1/2 loads of clothes to our water/energy bill a week. Not bad!
Grab the diapers out of the dryer, fold, and start the process all over again.
Okay, other diapering blog posts to check out...
Marian (coming soon, I think!)
Megan (be sure to check the comments here for a husband's view!)
My mom!!! (cloth diapering circa 1978...a fun read)
Shelby (she's tried 'em all!)
I'll list more as I find them!
don't forget to scan the comments for more info...
45 comments:
I PROMISE to do this sometime soon - not promising exactly when - but I want to add to the discussion too! Thanks for being patient!
Okay, now I wish I didn't put up my dorky post. You did a great job explaining and showing everything. I'll have to use your folding tip. That fold was actually on the instructions, but I didn't understand it until I watched you just now! Thanks.
Ok...quesiton time!
Do you still use only the prefolds and covers for overnights?
The site where you purchased your diapers from offers several options, white and unbleached infant and regular, regular and premium...can you confirm what exactly you use.
Covers - do you buy your covers at the same site? If so, which ones do you suggest.
Finally - this may seem like a silly question - do you spray diapers for both #1 and #2 and do you always change the baby in the bathroom or do you just bring the diaper in there?
Thanks for taking the time to do this!
Adrienne
also, you're going to think I'm the most moronic blogger ever, but how do I add a hyperlink to my post, oh hyperlink queen?
i know i never comment on your blog, but i read it often. i love the idea of cloth diapers, and i do have a question. What do you do when you aren't home? I am on the go a lot and sometimes am out of the house with baby in tow for 6 hours at a time. What do you do with the dirty diapers? and do you still use the cloth wipes? Also, if you take your kids to a childcare situtation (such as church nursery or gym nursery), are the caregiviers willing and able to change the cloth diapers?
Erin this is great! Makes me wish I would have clothed diapered my three. I didn't realize it was so "simple". Just told Tony that if we would have another baby I would do this. He just gave me a look which had more than one meaning to it!
Thanks again this is great!
Amy C.
Marian, whenever you get to it (if you can!) I'm sure everyone will love to hear what you have to say. And to do a hyperlink you just type the word you want to be a link and then look on your blogger toolbar (directly above where you're composing) and click on the icon that looks like a chainlink. When the dialog box pops up just insert the web address for wherever you're linking.
Parmy, you're crazy! When I saw your post I felt like I didn't even need to do one...you covered EVERYTHING! I wish I had seen something that detailed when I started doing it. You're amazing!
Okay, Adrienne's questions...
Yes, we still use cloth diapers at night. Sarah is now potty trained so that's a non-issue but Ephraim uses his regular diapers at night and they've never once leaked. I have the white regular diapers from diaperaps. Right now we have the small size diaper (not sure exactly what they call them but they're stitched with green) and the small size cover (11-14 pounds). The premium diapers are really nice for heavy wetters but are SO SO thick that they really don't fit well under clothes. I originally ordered those for Sarah but when they came I realized they were too heavy for what we needed. I ended up selling them on ebay but keeping four of them which worked perfectly as her night time diapers. For Ephraim I'll probably just buy a few doublers (just pieces of heavy flannel or whatever) to fold inside his diapers for nighttime once he's sleeping through the night and needing something a little heavier.
I do buy my covers from the same site and we use the polyknit ones. I just checked the site and saw that they're out of stock...not sure how long that'll be for. I've never used the cotton ones that they have listed on that site but the polyknits are nice b/c the inside of the cover is slick and water-resistant while the outside is still a soft material.
We only spray #2. When (if) you get your diaper sprayer make sure to do a few test runs with it before you actually spray a dirty diaper. It's pretty powerful and you'll want to get the hang of spraying DOWN so as not to get an reverse splashage! :)
We don't change E in the bathroom. We just change him on his changing table and then carry the diaper into the bathroom to take care of it. I put him under his mobile while I do it and I'm back to him in under a minute.
When we're out and about I usually still use cloth. If I'm feeling kind of lazy I'll start him out in cloth and then if he needs a change while we're out I'll just put him in a disposable and put the cloth in one of those scented diaper sacks. You can easily fit 2 or 3 diapers in one of those and then just tie them up to keep any smell in (although I never really have problems with smell). I always use paper wipes when we're out. When Sarah was younger and was in all-in-ones I just left her in those for the nursery at church because they were foolproof to put on but now that we're using the prefolds and they're a little trickier I usually just leave E in cloth for church and tell them to just put it in a bag for me if he needs to be changed and then put him in a disposable. It's never the taking off that's a problem...it's the putting on! Maybe I should just show them my new training video... :)
More questions? Anyone? Anyone?
Jeez, you were a little more detailed than me. I hope mine helps. I linked to your blog so they can get more help if needed.
You made it look so easy. I wish now I had pursued this a little harder. I brought it up once to my husband when I was pregnant with our oldest and he looked at me liked I'd gone crazy! I'm just thankful they're both potty trained.
Thank you for this post! This is something I have thought about, but didn't know even half of the information you had posted here. ;) I might consider this next time around. :)
OH! I love all of this!!! I've just decided (note, scotty is TDY, but i'm making the decision for the entire family!) that we will be going this route in a year or so!!! Thanks so much for your info- i've read all the links you've provided!!! I'm hooked!
you made this look far far too easy!! I am willing to try this with baby #2 as long as the price is not toooo much higher to do so- is there a site that does a cost /benefit comparison that you know of?
wow, this is a great post! SOOO much easier to understand than the various message boards with all of their crazy abbreviations and such. ;-) THANK YOU! as soon as we get our tax refund, i'm going to take the plunge! wish i had sooner, since ryan is now 2. sheesh, 2 dozen pre-folds cost the same as 2 boxes of diapers from sam's club! oh well...there's always the next baby, right?!
Jen, try googling it to see...just be mindful of who the authors are and what their slant might be (for either side). Diaperaps birth to potty package is $250. I would buy a few more covers and diapers than what they include but even if you calculated your birth to potty price at like $350 and calculated an extra 3 loads of laundry a week I'm not sure there would be any comparison between the price of cloth and disposable. If you went with a more expensive diaper like fuzzibunz I could see how the price might even out a bit more. Just my two cents! :)
Erin,
Didn't know you were a cloth diaper-er! Kudos! KJ and I are looking to go this route, my only worries being that of when I have to return to work, but we'll cross that bridge then. I know Colleen cloth diapers, so see if you can get her to do a little post ;).She uses bumGenius which is the brand I'm considering, although you make the prefolds look easy-peesy too, so I'm really looking into all of my options before the little mini gets here. Also there's a blog I read Fina Drea where the mom writes often about her cloth diapering experience. Here's one post that some may find helpful Cloth diapering per Drea.
Along with looking into cloth diapers I've thought about what disposables I would want to use if/when the need arises and I've found great reviews for Seventh Generation which are biodegradable. Again, I'm by no means an expert as I'm still growing our baby, but I thought I'd share the little bit that I do know.
Thanks for all of the eco-friendly things you've been writing. You've really got me thinking and I'm embarrassed to admit that we get an F in the saving the world dept. Taking steps to do lots better!
I posted on diapering in the "olden days". In reality, it was not very different than what you all do. Just fewer choices in the kinds of diapers we had. I love all these posts, sweetie. Love, Mom
off topic slightly, but has anyone ever used g-diapers?
www.gdiapers.com
they are a flushable diaper - which conserves on water!
Just another option for the diaper covers...have been using Thirsties diaper covers recently...they are really nice and come in super fun colors.... http://www.babycottonbottoms.com/thirstiesdiapercover.htm (nice website too with a good selection of cloth diapering choices and info)
I am a Fuzzi Bunz fan since the fleece layer keeps baby's bottom drier than the prefolds or fitted diapers as the wetness soaks through to the terry cloth insert leaving the fleece layer dry.
Erin is right though everyone has their own system and favorites!
Colleen W.
This has been such a fun post, Erin! I love reading what everyone else uses. So far, we are all different in our systems, which is pretty neat. I've even had a few really helpful comments on my post!!
Thanks for the great post! I think I am now ready to at least give this a try with my little one.
I do have a couple of questions though. What did you use when potty training Sarah? I have an almost three year old little boy that is as stubborn as they come and I am having some serious problems training him. My oldest daughter took a while to potty train but we went straight to underwear - non of these pull-up type things. Any suggestions?
My other question is, is it worth it to switch my 15 mo old now knowing he is our last child? And how hard is it to make the switch?
Thanks so much for all of the great information!!!
This is great! (you are looking great, btw, too!). I'm working on a cloth diapering post myself. Hopefully by tonight I'll have it.
I'll also steer people to my favorite mom site. Moxie has a great description of the different styles of cloth diapers, too:
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/03/qa_cloth_diaper.html
Thanks to Colleen, I have a few BumGenuis already stashed away awaiting use one day, but, WOW, you made prefolds looks like a piece of cake. I may have to give that a try, too. Thanks for such a great post.
i thought of another question! what in the world are 'soakies' for? i heard someone refer to those adorable knitted crankypants as soakies and longies once, when used with cloth diapers.... thanks!
SO glad you posted this info, I have a 4 yr old, we are trying again and I am investigating cloth diapers. I started looking last week and was so confused with all the options, your video is great, and look forward to a posting on clean up of a dirty diaper. Thanks! I will forward this posting for sure!
Jennie, I have NO IDEA what "soakies" are...sorry!
hmm...from the description it sounds like they replace diaper covers? but that just seems gross...i think i'd rather find a diaper that fit better! ;-) thanks!
ok, totally not about cloth diapers but... holy cow your mom lives in gallatin? we are from hendersonville and moving back there this summer! that's cool! thanks for the tips, we thought about cloth diapers but didn't know anything about them. we may make the switch!
Thank you so much Erin, and all the other ladies for all the information! I have learned a TON! I think I am 100% sold on cloth diapering #3 when he/she arrives. I wish I had done it with my first two. I have a few questions -
I am a little worried about nighttime & leaks. I know you said that Ephraim has never leaked, do you do a middle of the night change/feeding with him?
How long can you go without changing a diaper during the day or night...obviously you change w/ every poop, but if he went 4-5 hours of just pee, would the diaper hold all of that?
Thanks for the video on the pre-folds, I've been so confused on how those work - you did make it look easy!
Well, Ephraim is still typically waking once for a mid-night feeding and I change his diaper then. He has slept through the night once and the diaper still didn't leak. If you have a heavy wetter I think you have a few options: 1) use a doubler - some form of additional cloth folded inside your regular diaper 2) try a different brand of diaper specifically for nighttime - with Sarah we used fuzzibunz at night but that was when she was still in bumkins and we were having a horrible time with leaks. Once we switched to diaperaps we just used their premium diaper at night - this would have the same effect as using a doubler 3) use a disposable at night.
I typically change Ephraim with every feeding during the day so that ends up being about every two hours plus additionally when he poops. I have had him out and about before though and not changed him for 3-4 hours and we've been fine. I think the key is knowing what kind of wetter your child is and how often he/she needs to be changed. Sarah just potty trained a month ago and before that I was only changing her like 3 times a day. Obviously she was taking in less liquid than a baby on a milk only diet but as your baby grows you'll have to change him/her less often.
Carrie, sorry I forgot your questions until now! When I decided to potty train Sarah I just put her in panties and never touched cloth again. We did pull-ups at night for a while but now we're done with that too. Good luck with your little guy!
Not sure what to tell you about your 15 month old and switching but I would assume that you've still got at least a year in diapers with him so $$$ wise I think it's definitely worth the switch. The learning curve really isn't that steep once you just dive in and do it so I don't think that would be a concern either. Plus you'd probably only need a dozen diapers and maybe 2-3 covers since you're probably changing him less often now. I will say though that once Sarah was really, really active (like big kid-active - in the last 6 months or so) I felt like the diapers were really starting to sag just because she was on the go so much. That was one of the big reasons I decided to go ahead and potty train her!
hope all of that helps! I'm so excited that so many of you are going to try it out...make sure to let us know how it goes!
I am very excited about this post! And the comments are great. I'm going to give it a try. My daughter will be two in May so it won't be long for her I hope but I figure it will get me started on the process for when we have more children. Thank you for being such inspiration. I swear when I am on the fence about something, it just takes reading your blog to get me going.
Erin, somewhere I read that Diaperaps are great for babies who are NOT breastfed. Is that true? I know BF babies poop differently than formula babies, but does that mean cloth diapering may be more of a disaster for us BF moms? Or should I consider another brand of cloth diapers? Thanks!
Hey Sarah, the issue with the diaperaps is probably because of the whole runny poop getting on the cover thing. I've never had E's runny b-fed poop come out of his diaper (like through the cover onto his clothes - although I HAVE had this happen with disposables). It can get annoying when the poop runs off the diaper and onto the cover b/c then you have to change covers and if you don't buy enough covers then you have to wash a load of diapers/covers before you run out of diapers. I have 6 covers per size so I usually avoid this problem. Does that make any sense?
In my experience every kind of cloth diaper I've tried has faired far better than disposables when it comes to runny breastfed poop explosions!
THANK YOU! I always look at your blog through AKs and never leave messages but I love everything that you post about. I am 20 weeks pregnant and really want to use cloth diapers but I am struggling to find the "right" ones, so thakns for the advice!
Thanks, Erin! I was going to say...we've had our share of blowouts--and that was with disposables! So it can't be any worse with cloth. I just thought maybe there was something I was missing. Thanks!
Erin, you totally need to check out this site!
www.storyofstuff.com I promise you it's worth watching the 20min video :)
Had another thought..... I'm about to embark on the homemade baby food journey I think I'm ready. Have any pointers?
Laura, that seems like such a fantastic video but everytime I've tried to watch it I get interrupted! I'll keep trying and hopefully life will cooperate.
Heather, good for you for getting started with homemade baby food! Check out wholesomebabyfood.com and also the book Super Baby Food. Good luck!
I've just ordered a sampling of cloth diapering things. Thank you again! I'm excited and petrified to see how this works for us. :)
Tis is interesting - we used those all in one for bot girls and only started having leaking issues after the 4th year? I wonder if quality has gone down? That stinks because they were my favorites and I was planning on restocking for the next one. I do love the flats ones too - definitely the most absorbent in my opinion. We also like kissa luvs - they look so cute in the summer wit out a cover. I'm a very eclectic cloth diaperer - I can't say I ever had a "system". Also, I didn't see you mention hanging them out to dry - more energy/money savings! I love the smell of clothes dried on the line! Evie was tall enough this summer that she could help - of course there would be 5 clothes pins on one shirt, lol!
Thanks for making the video and post - it really is soo easy, more people just need to be educated.
Hey there,
A friend sent me a link to your blog. Not only are you a cloth diapering mama but you live in Huntsville. COOL! Right now I do fitted's with covers but am considering branching out to prefold when we bring home our adopted daughter. :) I have a bunch but haven't tried them yet. :)
I solved our runny bf-poop leakage problem by getting a snappi, which is a plastic stretchy gadget that "pins" the diaper in place underneath the diaper cover. We were going through a wrap per poop until we got this, and now it's just the really big ones that get on the wraps.
Thank you again for all this fantastic information!!
Erin-
I was wondering what type of detergent you use?
Thanks,
First time MOM-to-BE
so this post was made a while ago, but I'm still going to comment. I've always loved your Momma mondays and when I saw this I was super excited. My son has such sensitive skin that after we got rid of his last rash we made the switch. We use a mixture of prefolds/covers (thanks to your video which made me a lot less scared of how to fold) and fuzzibunz. I'm in love with CDing!
Hey Erin! Bree just introduced me to your site. I am a CDer too--love hearing about your system! I am a fuzzibunz gal, but recently fell in love with GroVia. Thanks for sharing how prefolds work for you!
This is my take on the FB system--http://styleberryblog.com/an-accidental-passion-cloth-diapering-for-the-modern-mom
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