Cloth Diapering!

Really, those of you that know me in real life know that it was just a matter of time before this topic showed up.


In my quest to personally save the planet, I discovered the wild world of cloth diapering. And guess what? It isn't that bad! Its actually pretty easy, and fun! If you can believe it. Even my poor husband who was dragged into cloth diapering kicking and screaming will admit that it is so completely not a big deal.

I am going to give you a very basic run down on the TRUTH about cloth diapering.

There are many different types of cloth diapers. I will only cover a few, because it would be impossible to list all the different kinds, and brands, its nuts when you start to research it.

The basic types are:

A-I-Os or All in ones. 

These are one piece diapers, that are basically exactly just like disposable diapers. They have a fuzzy cloth inside, and an outside that is made with a polyUrethane Laminate fabric, or PUL, that is basically a plastic lined fabric. They can have velcro fasteners, just like conventional diapers, or snaps. These come in fitted sizes, so you will need to buy more diapers as your baby grows.

Fitted diapers

These are kind of like disposable diapers, They are a soft absorbent fabric that have elastic around the back and legs, and fasten with velcro or snaps. But they don't have a waterproof outer shell, so you have to use an additional diaper cover with these.

Prefolds

These are the burp cloth diapers. The ones that come in packs of 12 that you buy at Target to use for burp cloths. These are the cloth diapers that your grandma used to use, that everyone thinks of when they think of cloth diapers. They need to be folded to fit the contours of your baby, and fastened with pins or a "snappi" which are these clever little plastic thingeys that someone came up with to eliminate the need for pins. These need to be used with a Diaper cover also, since they aren't waterproof.

Pocket diapers

These are like the All In Ones. They go on just like conventional diapers, with velcro or snaps. They have the waterproof shell, the super fuzzy absorbent inner layer, but they also use absorbent cloth Pads that you have to manually slip into a pocket between the outer and inner layer. Think, big cloth maxi pad. When its time to wash, the pad is removed, and washed separately, then the diaper is re stuffed after laundering. They come in only one size, with snaps that you use to make the outer shell bigger and smaller, so one diaper can grow with your baby from 8 lbs to 32 lbs. Full disclosure... this is the type that I use.

This is how I deal with my cloth diapers.

I keep a 5 gallon bucket in my bathroom, about 1/2 filled with water, and a couple table spoons of borax, and a couple table spoons of arm and hammer washing soda. Now that my baby is pulling up, I keep the bucket in the bathtub so he can't get at it and accidentally drown. Also, you can pull the shower curtain closed, so no one has to look at your poo bucket water.

So, when baby pees, I just take the wet diaper into the bathroom, hold onto a corner of the absorbent pad, shake a little over the bucket. The water proof cover slides right off, into the water, I drop the pad into the water after, and thats all there is too it.
But what about the poo? This is what people find to be the scariest part of cloth diapering. Well, guess what, its not that bad. So, when it comes time to change the poo diaper, I take it into the bathroom, hold it over the toilet, shake the turd off, then shake the diaper over the diaper bucket until the inner pad comes free from the water proof shell, drop the pad into the bucket and I am done. 



About every other day it is diaper washing day. I take the whole bucket, water and all down to the washing machine. Dump it into the washer, water and all, and wash it using an extra rinse at the beginning and end of the wash cycle. Guess what? My hands never actually touch the poo!
After being washed, I like to hang my diapers out on the line to dry, the sun helps remove any stains. But since I live where there is cold weather 3/4 of the year, I have to dry my diapers in the dryer most of the time. So, people ask, what about all the extra water and electricity I use to clean these diapers? Seriously. Don't even start with me. Its 3 loads of laundry a week. I haven't noticed a change in my water or energy bill at all. And I am doing laundry anyway.

After the diapers are dry they need to be re stuffed, which I do while sitting in front of the TV, or while visiting with my husband, which are both activities I would have been doing anyway, so I don't consider that to be taking any extra time, but for those of you who care, it takes about 15 minutes to stuff my diapers and get them ready for baby to wear. That equals all of about 45 minutes a week.

Lets talk money.

Cloth diapers can be very expensive, depending on how you do it. This is how I personally do it, so these are my personal numbers.

If I were to use disposable diapers, I would be buying large boxes of pampers at Target.
Today, a 30 day supply box of pampers would have cost me $45.
That works out to about $540 a year, and if my baby doesn't potty train until he is 3 years old like my other 2 children, over the 3 years I will have spent about $1620 on diapers.

Now I have 20 cloth diapers. That is enough for me to do laundry about every other day without having to worry about running out of diapers. The Diapers have a very wide range of prices, from as low as $1 a piece if you are brave enough to order them from china, to $25 a piece if you need to have name brands. I prefer to use an off brand called bububibi, they are bamboo, and cost an average of $7 a piece. I have some that I bought new, some that I bought used, and some that I bought from china. (yes I was scared, but it ended up being completely fine! )
I figured my grand total for all my diapers was about $150.  These are all diapers that will grow with my baby, that fit him from 8 pounds to 32 pounds, and will be the only diapers he will ever need.

So, lets do the math. That's a savings of about $1470. That's not pocket change people, that's real cash.

If you want more information, there are tons of online resources, some of my favorites is,

http://www.diaperjungle.com/index.html

And if you are local to me, a really great place is Elegant Mommy. They offer used diaper sales, classes on cloth diapering, and are super helpful.

http://www.elegantmommy.com