Thursday, October 11, 2012

Day 82: Making the Switch to Cloth Diapers


The Task:  To switch from disposable diapers to cloth diapers.

The Why: When we started having kids we used cloth diapers.  Cheap, leaky, crummy, flannel cloth diapers.  They were the only cloth diapers available in my local stores at the time, and because I didn't have internet at the time, I didn't know about the bounty of wonderful cloth diapering options out there.  When I was pregnant with our third child I was thrilled to discard our thread bare fitted cloth diapers and torn and stained plastic pants and switch to disposables.  I think I did a happy dance and everything.

But then all my posh friends started having kids.  And I started seeing the cute, functional, absorbent diapers they were choosing for their kids.  And I browsed online and my eyes were opened to the possiblities.  Cloth diapering doesn't have to be a miserable, horrible, what-smells-like-pee, oh-it's-the-rug sort of experience!

So we're making the switch back to cloth.  And this time around, I am loving it!

The Benefits of Cloth diapering:
  •  Cloth diapering reduces the amount of trash going to our local landfill.
  • It also reduces the amount of manufacturing waste involved in making paper products.  
  • There are some serious concerns about toxins present in disposable diapers.  
  • It can be a lot cheaper. 
  • It can result in less diaper rash
  • Plus, little babies with their colourful cloth diaper bubble butts are pretty much the cutest thing ever!

The How:  We are using organic cotton prefolds and cute little diaper wraps from this fabulous etsy shop.  Although it means that there is some assembly required at diaper changes, I couldn't be happier with this system.  I also have an assortment of All-In-Ones and pocket diapers that we like to use at night time and for outings.  I plan to try my hand at making some wool diaper covers as well.

I have a couple cute waterproof  wetbags that I hang on the bathroom door and stash all of the dirty diapers in until it's time to wash them.  So much cuter than the big yellow pail I used last time we cloth diapered!


The Verdict:  Because our three year old son is still in diapers at nighttime, our twins are 15 months and we are expecting our new baby in just 7 weeks (yikes!) we are going to soon have 4 children in diapers!  So spending a couple hundred bucks to start our cloth diaper stash seems like a mighty good investment.

The truth is that we were never really comfortable with our choice to use disposables.  It just seemed so wasteful, another symptom of our throw-away-and-don't-think-about-the-consequences culture.  We just didn't know the awesome options available to us.  I love cloth diapering!

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

29 comments:

  1. yaaaaaaaaay! we loooove our cloth diapers! we use BumGenius, Flip and FuzziBuns. I am so impressed that you did old school cloth diapering - welcome to the new easy cloth diapering system!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE my cloth diapers!!! But I also love my gDiapers! They are completely compostable, or flushable. Best of both worlds.

    http://www.gdiapers.ca

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love our cloth diapers :) Hooray gDiapers. It seriously is the best of both worlds - flush the poopy diapers, compost the wet ones. Perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm 6 months pregnant, and building my cloth diaper stash. I'm sure I'll be much happier using cloth than disposables. A co-worker is 4 months pregnant and I told her I was going to try cloth. She replied with "Oh, you'll switch to disposables..." It's so encouraging to hear stories like yours, 'cuz all this baby stuff is new to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cloth is soo easy once you get a system going, once you make out through the first few weeks of cloth you'll love it. . The first few weeks of baby life are pretty diaper heavy no matter what you're using, just keep that in mind! Then things level out and you'll start having patterns to your wash schedule. . It's easier than disposables once you hit that point!

      Delete
  5. I've been using cloth for both of my girls, we love it! Another nice benefit of cloth is that since baby can feel when they are wet they potty train a little faster supposedly. . . I am assuming this is true since my18 month old pretty much always tells us when she had to pee now. . Afr didn't always make it to the potty in time, but she's learning!

    Stephie
    SimplyBEEcause.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really admire you taking this on with soon to be four in diapers. As the due date approaches I will understand it the blogs become non-linear, sleep deprived observations. I would have been impressed if you managed to get the diaper on the right end. Doing it with cloth deserves a "You are Amazing" award. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I find I cannot be exclusive to cloth OR disposables as using each 100% of the time leads to more rash problems but if I use cloth during the day and disposable at night, it is much better. I will have to look at the g diapers. Does anyone know of a pullup type cloth diaper for night for my day trained "big" girl who does not want to wear a diaper at night but needs to?

    And, one other thing, I do find it difficult to find appropriate clothes for my babies using cloth. They are big and chunky and often have trouble fitting clothes with disposables! Pantwise you cannot go up in size as then they are too long. I should add that I am not good at sewing. So that tends to add to the budget here and there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For the onsies, I found an "extender" at a yard sale. It's just a little 3"x3" piece of cloth with snaps on it that match up with the snaps on most onsies. It has been a lifesaver for those outfits that are just barely too small!

      Delete
    2. I believe the flip diaper system makes pull-ups - $30 for a shell and 3 liners at http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=139&products_id=3105 tried it but I'm certainly intrigued. Assuming there's not much nighttime pooping involved, you could probably make do with just one shell?
      Also, I'm a big fan of the some-of-each system - we are all cloth during the day, but use a disposable at night. When we looked at different nighttime options (our girl is a heavy wetter!) it was going to cost a lot of money to buy diapers to experiment with - more than the cost of 1 disposable/day for the next 2 years!
      We tried g diapers but had bad luck with them - in our experience, we saw more of the worst of both worlds :( We're fans of the flip system, though, with cloth inserts.

      Delete
    3. I roll up pant legs when they are way too long, but i haven't really had the problem of the bums being too big really. . . for the most part elastic stretches enough . .

      Delete
  8. Look up victor mills....he was the chemical engineer who developed disposable diapers. Enough said?
    Give a flip cover a try with your prefolds. You will love the cover! Even bums leak eventually, but a stuffed flip cover absolutely will not leak. Paired with prefolds they are simple and super economical.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nicole, I use Kissaluvs Pocket Trainers for my three year old. I don't use them at night yet because they don't hold a super big pee. You can stuff them with liners or a prefold, but mine still wets too much at night for me to be confident in trying them. They are really great for a training kid. I used to stuff them when we went out, but I don't have to do that anymore because she is finally doing so much better. I have used cloth for both my kids, originally my reasoning was financial, but I grew to understand all the other reasons for it...and have never regretted the choice.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yep! I tell people every chance I get that if I had known it was so easy I would have used cloth with my first, too. They look at me askance, but I hope I get someone reconsidering! I find I get way fewer poop leaks, too, with the elastic in the back. A load of laundry every day or two is really not a big deal!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I always wanted to cloth diaper, but our daycare will only use disposable diapers. That's no reason why we can't do it at home and on the weekends though! We had already decided to look into it when we have another baby. There's so many options!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Try gDiapers! They are like a disposable, but toxic-free and flushable paper. When I drop my kids off in the nursery at church, I just have a bunch of g's pre-made and then they are as easy as a disposable to change. I love 'em!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I thought I was kicking butt with two in cloth.. (2 and 9 months)... But I know how much we're saving by doing so! I can't imagine spending $60-$100 on sposies each month

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have a newborn in cloth and the 2 year old is in a diaper at night. We were using disposables at night for the 2yr old until recently. He is a very heavy wetter even though he is day trained on the potty. We bought a flip training pant and stuff it with the insert it comes with plus a hemp prefold from Thirsties (holds way more than cotton prefolds) and I line it with a microfleece liner. The baby uses mother-ease fitted and we have a few Rearz velour fitted in small. I replace the really worn out ones once in a while. You find them often listed on kijiji for a great price, but new they are really economical. Diapertrader.com is also a great source for second hand diapers. If I buy new, I buy them from well.ca (in Canada) because you don't have any postage costs.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm pregnant with baby #3 (my husband's 5th child) and it's been 11 years since there was a baby in my house last (24 years since my husband's youngest were born - twins). Cloth diapering was just not done back in those days unless you were some weird hippy person! :) I'll admit the idea of buying all those cloth diapers without knowing how it'll all work out scares me! However we want to do better for our environment so we're dipping our toes in the water and we're going to embark on this cloth diapering journey wtih the aid of a diaper service. We plan to use them for the first 3 months and then we'll either make the investment into our own cloth diapers and continue from there on our own or we may just continue with the diaper service until this little one is older. Not having to worry about the laundry side of things makes the whole thing much less intimidating for me! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. LOVED our cloth diapers! We decided to switch to cloth when our second was born and oldest was still in diapers. I can't tell you how much money it saved, even with the washing & soap use! One thing I couldn't live without was my diaper sprayer. NO sticking my hands in the toilet to rinse off poopy diapers! Just spray them off and throw them in the bag to be washed. Yippee! We used the BumGenius as well. Now that both are beyond diapers, I'm wondering what to do with all these great cloth diapers left sitting in the closet . . . Good luck, and praying for the safe arrival of your newest little one!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cute! Prefolds and a good cover are actually my favorite kind of diaper (although I also have some other types). You will be saving a lot of money for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  18. We use econobum and flips now we have some thirsties and a few others! So simple! If anyone in town wants to use cloth they usually ask me how it works! lol Glad you are now able to use the cuter newer version! :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Just found your blog and am loving reading through it--and your reasons for doing so!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Glad to see you made the leap back to cloth!!! Welcome back! :) We use the prefolds with Snappies & covers. I absolutely love, love, love them! Our favorite covers are the Bummis and Thirsties. We found the ones without snaps worked better for our string bean of a daughter, especially, when she was first born. She was a skinny 6 lbs 14oz and only the Bummis newborn size would fit- even the Thirsties extra small was too big for the first 2 months! She's 18 months now and I''m so glad we took the leap even though many of our friends warned against it. We got a lot of "we'll see how long that lasts" comments. We're looking forward to being able to reuse the covers with our future kiddos. Very worth the initial cost as it saves thousands of dollars over time. Velcro on the covers is super easy to replace too if it wears out. Oh I also just found a great product from Grovia- Mighty Bubbles. It's a diaper treatment you do about every 8 weeks to remove build up. It works really well. Happy diapering!

    ReplyDelete
  21. We just made the switch to cloth and we love them so far. Who doesnt love a bodacious cloth baby bum?

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've converted quite a few friends to cloth diapering. You never know how easy it is until you try :)
    http://fluffybutts-aclothdiaperaddictsblog.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love cloth diapering! I'm on my fifth cloth baby now, and he does Econobums prefolds and covers. I love a classic diaper, and his booty poof from the diaper is TOO CUTE to not love. I've tried every kind out there in the 9 years I've done this, and I keep going back to the classics :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Another happy cloth diaper mommy... I'm a huge fan of Bum Genius 4.0 w/ snaps. They've held up well for 3 years!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.