Cloth diapers?!? What? Why would you do that? Actually, it has been easier than I thought it would be.
Where do I find these ideas? I owe it to my days of being a research tech. When you have to get up and change tubes every 10 minutes (minus tube changing, storage and walking time) you do what every good tech does...internet research. I came upon a whole internet world of cloth diapering. These aren't your mom's or your grandma's cloth diapers...
There are prefolds, contours, fitted, pockets, and all-in-ones. In addition, there are a zillion different types of wraps to go outside the prefolds, contours, and fitted. You can buy the gross plastic pants, but there are much nicer ones out there now. Pockets and all in ones are most similar to disposable diapers. They all have silly names like Bummis, Happy Heiny's and Thirsties. I tried all the different basic types in a sampler pack. In the cloth diaper world, everyone has their favorites and opinions. I sure have mine now, too.
The hospital where Elena was born uses cloth diapers which helped us get the ball rolling. In the beginning, we used good ole prefolds (the rectangles most people use for burp cloths) with a prowrap.
Here's a newborn prowrap (outer cover) with the umbilical scoop. Eventually, we decided on using the BumGenius one size pocket diapers.
The Fuzzibunz pockets came in a close second, but the BumGenius have snaps to change sizes as baby grows where as the FuzziBunz come in S, M, L and you would have to buy more as baby grows. The BumGenius are a little more bulky in the smaller sizes because of this, but it is more economical.
This picture is of the newly remodeled FuzziBunz which look nice. I have an older version without topstitching. I'm glad to see they added the topstitching. It makes a big difference. Eric also liked the Velcro on the BumGenius over the snaps. Pocket diapers go on like a disposable. The only difference is first you stuff the pocket with an absorptive insert. The fleece that touches the baby's skin stays dry and allows the liquid to wick to the inside. The BumGenius has a suede-like microfleece which works really well. All pockets have colorful waterproof outers to keep everything else dry.
The Dirty Factor:
Dirty diapers are thrown into a diaper pail (foot operated garbage can) lined with a washable waterproof liner. With these pockets, you do have to pull the liner first then throw both parts in can. When I get low on diapers (roughly 48-56 hours) I simply invert the bag into washer and press play. (The LG has a play/pause button I find so much more enjoyable that the old pull start button.) Currently, I use The Cheddar Haus's Front Loading LG Tromm HE washer. It does a great job with a prewash to get the dirties off and an extra rinse to make sure the soap is rinsed clean. Occasionally, if a little stain is left I simply lay the stained part in full sun and miraculously the stains go away. It's free no chemical bleach...
The Green Factor:
They say disposable diapering costs about 17 cents a diaper from newborn to potty training. That's roughly $2000 total (depending on how diligent you are at changing them). 18 BumGenius are roughly $300 plus $30 cloth wipes (It's easier to just wash the wipes with the diapers than to throw them out.) You do have to factor in water, electricity and laundry soap costs but even thats got to be $200 total max. My new washer should pay for itself. Timewise, it is maybe 10 extra minutes a day.
The Other Green Factor:
Eric and I consider ourselves reasonable environmentalists. I'm not going to strap myself to a tree to avoid it from being bulldozed, but I'll plant another one to replace it. #1. They say cloth diapering even when you add the additional water used for washing and electricity for drying (you could always put them outside to air dry but that would require a clothesline...) still uses less water than the manufacturing of disposables. #2. Human waste ends up in the septic or sewer where it belongs rather than in a garbage dump. (You are suppose to dump the solids out of disposables into the toilet, but that sounds messy.) #3. It leaves room in the garbage dump for the other thousands of pounds of trash we produce.
The set up:
Other than the diaper pail, the only other thing different is the wipes. I c-fold the cloth wipes and put them in a Prince Lionheart wipe warmer with 2 cups of distilled water mixed with a healthy squirt of aloe and 2-3 drops of tea tree and lavender essential oil. I have a Wahmies wet bag with a waterproof liner for diaper changes on the go. If we are going for more than 2 days then I usually bring along some disposables. (I'm not that crazy). Although lately I have been having a hard time with her blowing out the back of the disposables diapers. Doh! But that also has reinfored my preference for the cloth. I also use regular disposable wipes when I'm away from home.
The results:
Good. I actually prefer the cloths now. I feel like I'm investing with every diaper change rather than than spending. Here's a picture of Elena modeling a BumGenius diaper.
