Cloth Diapering: One Year In.

When I started cloth diapering a year ago, I had no idea whether or not it would last. Now that we're one year in, I can honestly say that it's been a great experience.

My first "stash" of cloth diapers were the twelve Fuzzi Bunz diapers that I ordered for Hudson.  I loved them, but the elastic was a pain for me in the beginning (and honestly, two of my diapers were ruined because of the elastic).  When it came time to order some for Finley, I decided to give Bum Genius a try.  I love them, too.  Her diapers are a lot easier to get the right fit, but I'm not as big of a fan of the inserts in those as I am of the Fuzzi Bunz inserts- I'm hard to please!  I still think they're both great, and I like using them to cloth diaper my kiddos.

The washing is always a work in progress.  I don't find the washing to be intimidating, the drying to be annoying, or the stripping to be a pain.  The biggest pain is stuffing the fluff!  Ha!

My process for washing the fluff is pretty simple.  For starters - I use liners.  That makes the um, nastiest part, a bit easier to take care of.   Then I throw the diaper in the wet bag (I keep it hanging on my linen closet door in the laundry room), and they all just collect.  I do try to separate the inserts from the diaper before I throw them in the bag so that I can just unzip the bag and everything goes into the washer without any intervention by me!

I've found that I like Rockin' Green the best for washing the diapers, and while I love a good air dry, my stash hasn't always offered the luxury of time when it comes to waiting on those puppies to dry.  I have been operating at 10 diapers for Hudson and 10 diapers for Finley for the last few months.  In fairness, they do not wear cloth to bed, so that makes things a bit easier.  I usually wash and dry them every two days.

And that would be the only place where things have gotten dicey.  The washing of the diapers pushes back the washing of other things.  My clothes.  Brian's clothes.  The kids' clothes (although theirs seem to be clean more frequently than mine are!).  I do my best to make the cloth a night wash so that I can dry them the next morning, and that has worked pretty well!

When it comes to the opinions of the people who actually wear the diapers - I would say that they unanimously prefer cloth to disposable.  Hudson has gotten to the point that he downright shouts "CLOTH DIAPER!." at me (usually when we're on our way to the Y, because honestly, I'd just rather send them in a disposable in case they need to be changed).  Finley isn't quite as vocal, but she does do a little dance that involves banging her hands on her legs when she sees me grab a cloth diaper!  The hardest part of potty training Hudson (no lie) is that he currently asks me for cloth diaper occasionally, even though his new big boy pants are just as comfortable!

When I think about all the money we've spent on disposables over the last 6 and a half years, I feel a little sick to my stomach (for real).  I honestly think that the best review that I could give to my cloth diapering experience is that it's something I wish I'd done with all 4 of kids!  Really!

Our Cloth Diapering Adventure. So Far.

It has been about a month since we decided to make the switch to cloth diapers.  I figured that I should give a little but of an update about how we've liked them so far!

We LOVE them. In case anyone is legitimately concerned, these are my personal opinions based on my experience.  No one is giving me diapers or anything based on what I say.  I just thought this might be helpful for people who are also thinking about it, or are new to cloth diapering!  

Anyway, I started out with 6 Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers, basically just to "give it a go."  I figured that if we hated them I could keep them on stand by for days that I knew we were just going to be home, or I could sell them or something.

So unnecessary!  We got them, and I have literally just kind of fallen in love.  Cleaning them is a snap.  Once they've been soiled I just throw them in the pail and wait for more to dirty up.  Which is guaranteed.  Ha!  I haven't broken down and ordered a sprayer for my toilet (yet), but I think it's probably something that I might do, just to clean them up first.

We have had one bout of diaper rash, and I switched him to disposables because Desitin Max Force is really the only thing that will clear his rashes up (I might try coconut oil next time so we can stick with cloth).  I think that he might have had a little stomach bug at the time, so that was a mess, and I was also trying to get some Vitamin C in his system, and his little bottom did not react well to the citrus at all.  After about 2 days of Desitin he was okay again, and back in cloth!

And when it comes to his opinion, he is totally pro-cloth.  When his bottom was broken out, he actually threw a temper tantrum because he could see clean cloth diapers and I put him in disposable!  He cracks me up!

When I originally ordered my first 6 diapers, Cotton Babies was having a July Special where you could buy five, and get the sixth for free.  So that's where I ordered my first 6.  Fuzzi Bunz was having a 10% off sale at the beginning of August, and I got free shipping, so I decided to order 6 more.  I'm washing them just about every two nights, and it's working out well.  It took me a little bit of time to get the elastic sized just right, but that was more user error.

I think that we're pretty good with 12 for now, I don't feel like we have an excess of diapers, but I do have to keep up with demand.  Honestly, I would probably wash them every two days anyway because I think they would get a little too stinky if I let them sit longer.  I'm not sure what we're going to do when the baby comes (well, I do know that I'm going to put her in disposables for a bit), but we may need to order a few more! 

The switch to cloth has also seemed to benefit Hudson on the potty training front.  While I'm not even attempting to train him right now (Wyatt was 3 and a half before he was completely trained, Reese was 2 and a half), it would be nice if he at least recognized when he was going!  It might make it easier when the time comes.  It's actually pretty similar to what worked for the big kids anyway - they trained much easier and faster in regular underpants than they did in pull ups!

That's really all I've got for now.  I am really happy that we made the decision to switch.  The last time that I bought disposables was over a month ago!  We still have a big package, but I'm setting them to the side so that our moms can use them when I'm in the hospital.  I'll give an update again after the baby is here and we're settled more into a routine!