Why cloth diapers? Why not. I mean, really, why not? I'm not the most environmentally conscious person, and I don't eat all organic food, but we try to do our part by recycling and driving cars (instead of SUVs or trucks), and I do buy local and organic from time to time. Frankly, that had very little to do with cloth diapering, all though, the THOUSANDS of diapers that go into landfills is disgusting and reason enough to do cloth. We decided on cloth because we thought it would save money, and darn it, those things are cute!
So for anyone considering cloth, I've decided to do a rundown on my experience with diapers. I will add the disclaimer that I only have experience with Fuzzi Bunz and Applecheeks, which are both pocket diapers.
I'll start with an executive summary, because you can't rid a girl of her MBA roots.
I love cloth diapering my kid. I will cloth diaper all of my children and will encourage others to cloth diaper as well. I think Addy benefits from wearing cloth diapers and I feel good that we're doing our part to contribute less waste.
How is cloth diapering different from disposables?
In short - it's more time consuming.
Long answer:
As an infant, we changed Addy's diaper more often, as cloth are not as absorbant as disposable, and some kids are uncomfortable wearing a dirty/wet diaper (Addy never seems to mind much). The difference now is more about cleaning. We have to wash off her poos in the toilet (there are other disposal methods, but that is what we use), and then we wash all of her diapers every 2-3 days. It takes 2-3 rinse cycles and then a dry cycle. I wish I had time to hang dry her diapers, but it's always too late at night and we don't get a lot of sunshine in our backyard. Because we use pocket diapers I have to stuff the inserts back into the diaper after they're done drying. I don't find this to be a big deal, though some people act like it would be.
Isn't washing poop off a diaper gross?
Sometimes. Mostly no, because you're going to see that poop when you're wiping her off and changing diapers anyway. It can be disgusting, but people are lying if they tell you motherhood is glamorous. It doesn't bother me and I've only gagged once. :) Also, there are some options to make this less messy, but I find them to be too much work to do regularly. (I'll hit on this when I talk about traveling with cloth diapers.)
Are there benefits to cloth diapers?
Absolutely! Addy has never had a diaper rash when in her cloth diapers (with the exception of the past few weeks at daycare, where arguably, they keep putting her in disposables because of it, and we had her for 7 months without a single diaper rash). Many people claim that their children have less or no diaper rash with cloth.
For girls - you don't have to worry about bloomers! Those worthless piece of mock underwear to pretend like your baby isn't wearing a diaper. With cloth, you don't have to be embarrassed by your diaper - it's cute!
Are there drawbacks?
I think it's a bit more to think about when traveling, but it does become second nature. Also, we find that Addy needs at least 1 size bigger bottoms than she does tops, because of the added bulk. We love dresses for this very reason.
How do you travel with cloth diapers?
It's a lot to take along on long trips, but I think it's worth it. We take all her diapers, her "wet bag," detergent, disposable liners, and all the other good stuff other people take. The disposable liners (you could also use paper towels) are just a thin meshy material that lays on top of the diaper. It is easy to remove and keeps most/all of the poop from getting on the diaper, since you won't have your sprayer on the road. There are a variety of other options for poop disposal on the road, but that has worked for us. We do use more disposable on the road, but I'm trying not to.
What is stripping a diaper?
Sometimes detergent can build up on diapers and you have to "strip" the diapers to whip them back into shape. All this means is washing them without detergent until your water no longer suds. Once I had to do this about 8 washes. Yikes! I think I adjusted my detergent amounts after that. It really doesn't take much detergent to clean the diapers. You can also clean the diapers using vinegar in the rinse cycle. I've only done this once, but it's suppose to help with the eventual urine smell that will happen over time. I need to do a deep clean of the diapers, so I'll post about that sometime down the road.
Do you save money or do you spend more?
I feel like we save money, though I have no way of knowing what our diapers add to our utility bill. We started cloth the same time we moved into our new home, so we have always cloth diapered here. I would love to get an energy efficient washer and dryer to help with this and I'd also like to make an effort to sun dry the diapers on the weekends. It takes too long inside, since they are so absorbent (duh!).
Other questions? Your thoughts?
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