Cloth Diapering

By no means am I an expert on cloth diapering, in fact, we only recently began cloth diapers on Quinn due to the vast number of disposables we received as gifts that I was so extremely grateful to receive, and we still have several boxes in larger sizes left as well, but I've had a few people ask me how I do it and what brand I use, and I've had a few people ask me why in the world would I chose to cloth diaper. My main answer to that question is the cost. If I had done all my research prior to Aidan's birth, he would have been cloth diapered as well. The cost of disposable diapers is about $72 a month, or between $1,600 to $2,300 by the time your child is potty-trained. The cost of cloth diaper is about $19 a month, or between $800 to $1,600 by the time your child is potty-trained. Huge difference.

Another answer to that question is because I started purchasing them when Aidan was a toddler in hopes of using them on Levi. Josh and I received several of them as gifts the Christmas I was pregnant with Levi, so I figure I might as well use them since I own them.

Aidan was about 18 months old, and I was just barely pregnant with Levi (no one but family knew I was pregnant at the time) when I was first introduced to cloth diapering. My view of cloth diapering at the time was this:

Cloth diapers have changed quite a bit since then. The diapers I was shown that evening were the bumGenius brand.

This is an All In One type diaper that has a lining that you simply remove after wearing. Both the lining and diaper are washed, the lining re-inserted, and then worn again. I also like this diaper because the front has snaps that allow you to change the diaper to 3 different sizes. That was easier for me because I didn't and don't have to worry about buying different size of diapers. At the time, I knew Aidan had at least another year in diapers and I would be buying for an infant, so I like the idea of both of them being able to wear the same diapers. While I have the Velcro closers, I've noticed that bumGenius now offers diapers with snap closers as well. Snaps may hold up better than Velcro, but I haven't had any problems with the Velcro yet, and free replacement Velcro is available if it ever does wear out.

I still have Quinn's diapers on the smallest setting, so you can't see the snaps available on the front, but these diapers can be worn starting at 8 lbs at the smallest setting to 35 lbs. at the largest setting. I have no experience with any other brand of diaper, so others may be just as good. In fact, please tell me of any other brands you like because I'm more than willing to try them out as we're finding we may need a few more diapers for Quinn.

The same Christmas we received diapers, we were also given this sprayer.

I would highly recommend it. It beats the dunking the diapers into the toilet water method. It connects to the water line on your toilet and hang on the side of your toilet. There's also an on/off switch by the bottom of the toilet, so your preschooler can't start spraying water across the bathroom. It's also a great tool for potty training as we learned with our experience with Aidan. I keep a hanging wet/dry bag on the back of the bathroom door. Ours is a Planet Wise bag. I also have a smaller one that I keep in the diaper bag.

I roll up all the dirty diapers and place them in the bag until it's time to wash them. I like keeping this in the bathroom because spraying the diapers off does make them drip with water, so then I can turn around and place it in the bag rather than trying to carry it across the house.

As far as washing the diapers, I tend to do a small load every other day. I first rinse the diapers in cold water. Then I wash them in hot water with 1/4 of the amount of detergent that is recommended. Currently, I'm using All Free & Clear detergent, but I am open to suggestions for what others like to use. I would get some build-up in the diapers while Aidan was wearing them, so I'd love to know what others use to avoid build-up. There is a method for stripping diapers if they do this, so it's not the end of the world if you notice your diapers are no longer as absorbent as they once were. After washing, I do a final rinse in cold water. The rinsing is the most important to make sure you wash out any extra detergent. That's what causes the build-up. I then throw the liners in the dryer on high heat and hang dry the covers.

I have not yet gotten around to purchasing reusable wipes, and I'm not sure that I want to, but part of me thinks if I'm using cloth diapers, it can't be too much extra work to wash off the wipes also.

That's about it. It's really a lot simpler than I imagined it would be.

Edited to add: Since writing this post, I have started using Country Save Laundry Detergent. It leaves no build-up in the diapers and I have been very pleased with it. Also, I now prefer the snap closures on the diapers rather than the Velcro. My Velcro tabs are now showing wear and no longer stick to the laundry tabs in the wash. They still work perfectly well, I just have a diaper chain when I pull them out of the washing machine.