On Cloth Diapering

As I have mentioned before on the blog we're cloth diapering Micha.

(I don't have any links for you because I can't find the posts that I wrote on cloth diapering) 

We're big fans of them and I thought I'd share my experience so far with them.

^ ^ ^ ^

- We started with cloth diapering when Micha was about three months old. 

His little bum was to small for them before that, and I thought I had enough on my plate in regards to all the new things I was experiencing.

I'm so glad we chose to do it like this, because when we finally started I was super pumped and had enough energy to really make it work. 

^ ^ ^ ^

- We use secondhand BumGenius 4.0, with velcro closures, and new Flip diapers with snap closures.

I prefer using the Flip diapers, because of the snaps and because it's not a pocket diaper like the BumGenius, that needs changing of the whole diaper every time baby so much as pees.

The Flip has fleece lined inserts that just sit inside the waterproof cover and therefore the whole diaper only needs changing if the cover gets dirty or wet.
But usually the insert absorbs all the pee and the cover is still perfectly clean. 

This way I usually only need about two cover changes a day(whenever there's a poop in it) and all the other times I just change the insert. 

This makes cloth diapering with Flip diapers cheaper than with BumGenius diapers. I need less of the expensive covers and the inserts for the flip aren't that expensive. 

If I'd go all BumGenius, I would need more diapers, and that would make it a bigger investment.

^ ^ ^ ^

- For nights and weekends away we use disposable diapers.
 I don't feel like changing M's diaper in the middle of the night, which would be necessary with cloth diapers because they are a bit less absorbent the disposables.
And when we're a weekend away I don't want to stress out about taking all the necessities I need for cloth diapering, like wet bags and special detergent etc.

^ ^ ^ ^

- It doesn't seem like I'm doing more laundry because of cloth diapering. 

I'm doing a lot more than before baby anyway, so an extra load of laundry every three days isn't a biggie.

^ ^ ^ ^

- Speaking of washing the diapers, this is how I do it:

*I wash them every three to four days(depending on how fast they go)

 *Before I put them in the diaper pail I make sure there's no solid bits (sorry TMI) on them anymore. 

I just shake out the soiled diapers above the toilet and flush the stinky's down. (so much better than a smelly diaper in the garbage pail)

* I put them in the washer and put them on a rinsing cylcle.

* Then I wash them in a cold cycle with a tiny little bit of special cloth diaper detergent,

* then a warm cycle with some more detergent (again, only about a tbsp),

* then another rinse,

*and they're done!

This way they always come out smelling fresh and clean. 

Whenever I can I lay them out in the sun to dry, that way any lingering stains get sun bleached away.

...and some more reasons why I love cloth diapering:

- It's not that much more work than using disposables. 

I'm so happy that I don't have to haul smelly bags of diapers to the garbage area in our apartment building.

- It's so much better for the environment.

- It's much cheaper than disposables in the long run. 

Yes, it is an investment, but a really good one!

- Micha has never had diaper rash issues, and I'm positive it has to do with cloth diapering.

- I just love the look of his fluffy bum in his diapers. 

All in all, we're pretty happy with cloth diapering and I would recommend it to everyone!

Hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions.

Love, Maria