Since it has been hot here in Texas, Elliot has been running around in just a diaper a lot. This has prompted a lot of people to ask me about cloth diapering.
Some common questions:
- "WHY would you ever want to use cloth diapers?"
- What kind do you use? Where do you buy them?
- Where do you put the diapers when they're dirty? Do they stink?
- How do you wash them? How often?
- Don't you have to rinse them?
- Do you have to touch poop?!
- ... isn't it really gross?
Well, I'm about to address all the above questions, and more. In fact, {lucky you!} I'm about to give you a complete cloth diaper run down. A lesson, if you will, about how and why I use cloth diapers.
Why I cloth diaper:
- It saves money.
Disposable diapers are expensive. I don't know if you've looked at the price of a box of diapers lately, but it's pretty ridiculous. And how long does a box last? For Elliot, less than a week. It is estimated that we spend an average of $2000 per child on diapers. I can think of a lot of better ways to spend that money than throwing it into the trash {or a diaper genie}.
- It's better for the planet.
A single child, while he is in diapers, leaves behind approximately 2.7 tons of non-biodegradable waste... and that's not including the waste created by manufacturing the diapers themselves, either. Nobody really knows how long it takes a diaper to decompose... because nobody has ever witnessed it. That's right- it takes over a lifetime for just ONE diaper to decompose. The average child uses about 4,000 before potty training!
- It's healthier and more comfortable for my son.
Would you like stiff paper or plastic against your most sensitive areas? I definitely wouldn't! I always joke around with my husband that they better make cloth Depends by the time I'm 80. Elliot has NEVER had a diaper rash in cloth diapers- and I attribute this mainly to the fact that he does not have paper or chemicals against his bum. It seems like all of my friends who use sposies are constantly battling yeast infections... but we've never had that problem.
Even worse, disposable diapers are full of chemicals. They contain polyacrelate gel, which wicks all the moisture away from your baby's skin, all kinds of dioxins, which are among the most toxic chemicals known to science and are listed by the EPA as highly carcinogenic chemicals, and several other chemicals such as sodium polyacrylate, tributyl-tin, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene and dipentene. If you want to scare yourself, look up the side effects of just one of those chemicals.
All of the big disposable diaper companies {Pampers, Huggies, Luvs, etc} refuse to release the contents of their diapers- that means they have something serious to hide...
- you can read more about this here: Livestrong article on chemicals in cloth diapers
- They are ADORABLE!
... do I even need to explain this one? They're cute. 'Nuff said.
My favorite diapers + where I buy them:
I have tried a lot of different kinds and brands of cloth diapers, including Fuzzibunz, BumGenius, Flips, Rumparooz, Thirsties Duos, Best Bottom, Itti Bitti Tuttos, Kawaiis, Sunbabies, and prefolds + covers. Out of all of these, my favorites are Kawaii and Sunbaby. They are much cheaper than the other options, come in a ton of cute prints and colors, they are durable, they fit well, they don't easily leak, they're both one-sized, meaning they adjust to fit one baby from shortly after birth to potty training, and they're ADORABLE.
Sunbaby diapers are thinner and trimmer than Kawaiis, but they don't last quite as long between diaper changes. Kawaii Baby diapers are virtually bulletproof, but give him a puffier butt.
Click HERE to visit the Kawaii website or HERE to visit the Sunbaby website.
At night, we use a Kawaii or BumGenius with two inserts. When he was younger, we also had to add a Joeybunz hemp insert... because this kid pees A LOT at night.
I do also really like Fuzzibunz and Flips, and still use and recommend both of those, but they don't come in very many different colors, and they are a lot more expensive. So I use the ones I have, but I don't think they are really much better than Kawaiis or Sunbabies to justify spending so much more on them. I buy all of my supplies {wet bags, etc} and other diapers at Kelly's Closet. They have a HUGE selection, a diaper dollar rewards program, and often have "free diaper" coupons which I love!
Where I store clean and dirty diapers:
I keep my clean diapers organized in cloth storage bins. Most of them are in the four bins you see there, but there are more in Elliot's closet, because we have a lot of diapers.
Once they are rinsed, I keep my dirty diapers in a hanging PlanetWise wetbag, which I hang on the bathroom door. I have two of these, so that I have one to use while the other is in the wash/drying, and I also have two smaller wetbags for in my diaper bag while I'm out and about. If the bag is zipped, they do NOT smell EVER. I'm not kidding.
Diaper Changes:
This is where I change Elliot's diapers. Doesn't look like a conventional changing table, does it? Nope. It's my bed. I absolutely hate changing tables. They're too small... and I can't change babies when they are lying sideways. Plus I don't like worrying about the baby falling or rolling off that tiny table. And nobody ever uses them once their babies get older so they end up just taking up space. To me, changing tables are just a waste of money.
I keep a basket of 4-5 diapers and a box of wipes on my dresser. I just set the dirty diaper on the nightstand until I get the new diaper on him. Once he is all dressed, I put him down and he usually follows me into the bathroom to watch me rinse and toss the diaper into the wet bag. When he was younger, I'd put him in his bouncer or swing while I took care of the diaper.
Elliot often has meltdowns during diaper changes... or he tries to escape, so I also have a random collection of trinkets in my room to entertain him with while I'm changing him. Sometimes I bribe him with a tasty treat like a few chocolate chips. That's the only drawback to snapping diapers... they take a little bit longer to put on than velcro ones. But we manage. Worse comes to worse, I do some serious baby wrangling... or just wait a few minutes and come back to try again.
My Wash Routine:
I wash my cloth diapers every three days. Unfortunately, our townhouse doesn't have washer and dryer hookups, so I wash them in one of our apartment complex's laundry rooms. I do two full hot cycles- the first with detergent, the second without. It's very very important to make sure all of the detergent gets rinsed out of your diapers, or else you will have leaking and stink issues.
I tried all kinds of special detergents, and spent a lot of money in the process. But it seemed like everyone on Diaper Swappers was raving about how well Tide worked on their diapers. Once I finally tried it, I never went back. It works better than anything else I tried, and it's not outrageously expensive. I use up to the "2" line in the first wash, and I prefer the "clean breeze" scent.
I hang my diapers outside to dry. You can machine dry diapers, but since I have to pay $1 each time, I choose to line dry them outside. Plus, machine drying is tough on cloth diapers and they last a lot longer if they're not machine washed... and I hope to use my diapers on all of my kids!
Rinsing, Touching Poop, & all that Fun Stuff
I'm a rinsing nazi. I rinse every single diaper- pee or poop. I know a lot of people who don't rinse pee diapers, but the thought of diapers just sitting in pee for 2-3 days really grosses me out. I've been rinsing my diapers in the bathroom sink ever since I first started... I just rinse out the sink and wipe it down with a lysol wipe afterwards. I did just buy a diaper sprayer, but need different parts to connect it to our toilet :(
For poop diapers, I swish them around in the toilet first and most of the poop comes off in there. If you know what you're doing, you do NOT have to touch any poop. In fact, since cloth diapers actually CONTAIN giant, messy poops, unlike disposables, I really don't touch poop... ever. I am also proud of the fact that I have never had a stain in any of my diapers! You'd never even know what they were used for! Cloth diapering, to me, really isn't any grosser than using disposables. Either way, you have to wipe your baby's butt and smell/see the poop in the process. Yes, it takes a little longer to rinse a diaper out than it does to just roll up a sposie, but the benefits make it worth it to me.
Well, that's about it! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Cloth diapering may not be for everyone, but I really like it! Here are a few more pictures of Elliot and his adorable fluffy butt, just for fun. :)
Thirsties Duo cover with a Flip staydry insert underneath.
Sunbaby diaper.
Fuzzibunz.
Kawaii "snazzy minky".
& another Sunbaby.
