Monday, July 23, 2012

Our Cloth Diapering Adventure Begins

I don't think that there has ever been a time in my life where I would define myself as "green."  For starters...I kind of hate being outside.  Brian keeps trying to lure me into camping or hiking, and well, that's not me.  Ever since I was little, I only wanted something to do with Mother Nature if it involved a chair and book.  I don't mind driving through the mountains.  And I mean, I love the beach, but bugs and dirt and roughing it? No thanks.

I mean, I do recycle.  Fortunately I live in a place that gives us a bin for recycling that's just as big as our trash can!  It's usually filled to the top, but I give the vast majority of the credit for that to my husband, who actually is a bit of an "environmentalist." In fact, I've been thinking about getting a second recycling bin because they only come every other week and we run out of room sometimes!

Even though Brian has always had concerns about the environment, we honestly never gave any thought to cloth diapering.  We just plopped them in their Pampers (and Up and Up's - I don't like Huggies), and went on with our lives.  And I think we missed the boat.  Because the idea of cloth diapering has been weighing on me lately.  For economical reasons.  For environmental reasons.  And also because my big guy has some sensitivity issues with his bottom!  I've been splurging on diapers from The Honest Company to at least avoid the chemicals bothering his sensitive parts, but they're expensive!

So, after doing some research (thanks in large part to a group of very helpful friends), I broached the subject with Brian, who thought that I wanted to diaper our kids with the same diapers we use to clean up spit up.  A very 50's version of cloth diapering! Um, not so much. So we watched this You Tube video together.


And he was sold!  After a lot of thought, I've decided to start slow.  I've order 6 Fuzzi Bunz diapers, a wet bag to carry in the diaper bag, and another for the laundry room.  I rarely change him upstairs, so there's no need for double trash storage.  I also ordered Rockin Green detergent for the wash (at this point, I am incredibly thankful that we have Amazon Prime)!  I used a combination of websites to get started. I ordered the diapers and hemp inserts for overnight from Cotton Babies.  I ordered everything else from Amazon.


I went with Fuzzi Bunz mainly because Hudson's bottom is so sensitive, and I've read mixed reviews about the suede lining in Bum Genius being bothersome.  If I don't like Fuzzi Bunz, or I feel like I want to give it a try, I might order some Bum Genius diapers, too.  I'll definitely need more, but I don't feel like I'm going to need to go up to 24!

A LOT of people have asked me about the laundry.  Honestly, I'm shockingly undaunted by that challenge!  Wyatt and Reese were both potty trained without the use of pull ups (we tried them, but they were basically pointless), so I have a lot of experience cleaning up those, um, messes.

I'm going to give this round with Hudson a go, and then I think I'll have a better idea about what to do with the Baby Girl when she comes...so I'll keep you updated on our new adventure, but I'm also open to any and all advice!

2 comments:

  1. Congrats on your decision to try out cloth diapering!!! We really do love it and honestly...the laundry part is no biggie (its not like you have fold these things):) Let me know if you have questions - I'd be more than happy to share any info I've got!!

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  2. Good for you---I always want to do cloth diaper, but can't quite get myself to make the jump:) Good luck!

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