Before Lydia was even born (in fact, before I was even pregnant) I started doing a bunch of research into cloth diapering. My favorite blog personalities at Young House Love cloth diapered their little girl and love it. Plus, the more research I did - the more I found that cloth diapering is actually a fairly common practice and is completely different than it used to be. I figured that if I could do one more thing to help our budget to allow me to stay home with my babies - maybe I would try cloth diapering out. I talked with David about it and played around with it in my head for a while - but didn't act on anything because we didn't own a washer and dryer in our apartment. After Lydia was born we still went to David's parents house to do our laundry, and so there wasn't much action on my part to cloth diaper. I had enough poopy clothes that were sitting in a basket, I wasn't going to deal with poopy diapers.
I was still doing some research occasionally. You know... keeping the option open. Reading an article here, or talking to a friend there. Turns out I have several friends that cloth diaper their little ones. One of my best friends, Ashley, was cloth diapering her Elsie-girl (same age as Lydia) and I talked to her about it frequently. One day she mentioned that her favorite diaper company, OhKaty, was having a closing-their-doors sale and all their diapers were 50% off. (FYI they ended up not going out of business.) I talked to David and we decided that even though we couldn't start immediately - it was something that we did want to try in the future and so we bought ourselves a stash of diapers. I was so excited and they were so pretty as they sat on the table in Lydia's nursery.
However, It wasn't until months later and we finally moved into our new house (with our beautiful brand new washer and drier) that we actually started using cloth diapers. I've had several people ask me why I started, what my routine is like, and what my thoughts are concerning cloth diapers. (Similar to this awesome post by my friend, Janette). Plus - I haven't really blogged about this aspect of our lives and it's been on my list of things to do.
Why?
Some people scoff at the idea of cloth diapers. But after doing my research and learning about the effect disposable diapers have on the environment, the way cloth diapers have changed, and especially the money that we could save using cloth diapers - I decided that it was definitely worth a shot. Besides... did you know that you are supposed to remove the solids from disposable diapers as well? So, seriously, cloth diapers are not that different. Honestly, our main motivation isn't environmental and it's not how cute the diapers are (many cloth-diapering parents will tout how darling the diapers are). Those are nice bonus features but for us it is strictly monetary. It will save us money - and so it's worth the effort.
I decided to go with the OhKaty diapers because A- Ashley is an amazing cloth diapering mom and she loved them, B-They are a pocket diaper and basically function exactly the same way as a regular diaper. All you have to do is put the inserts in place after they are washed and they are ready to go. I didn't want to have to deal with prefolds, plastic covers, or anything else that wasn't incredibly similar to a disposable diaper. C- They are pretty but don't have patterns. I like the plain colors. D- They were on sale. and E- They are one size diapers that snap down for babies and expand for toddlers. I didn't want to have to buy different diapers for different stages. We bought eleven diapers (enough for 2-3 days which is as long as you want to go before you wash them anyway) and paid $125. (Each diaper was $10.50 and shipping was $10.)
We knew going into this that it was just going to be an experiment. I thought that I might really love it, but I knew that it was possible that I wouldn't end up liking it. We calculated it out and figured that we just had to use them for 3-4 months to make up for the cost of purchasing them. And so after we moved into our new house: the experiment began.
Process
As I mentioned before, cloth diapers are very similar to disposable diapers. They are the same shape and it's the same idea. You lay it flat, lay your baby down with their bum in the center, bring the front up and snap the sides together. The only difference is that after you change the diaper you shake the solids off into the toilet and then put the diaper into a bin to be washed. Lydia goes through about 3-5 diapers a day. I found that I have to change her more often than I do with a disposable or else she leaks out, but knowing that each diaper change isn't costing me anything more than a wash cycle - it's no big deal. I think that parents (myself included) don't change diapers as much as they probably should so it's good to have the motivation to take two extra minutes to change her a couple of extra times to keep her fresh. Also, I should note - I don't put Lydia in cloth overnight. She sleeps for 11 hours and I hate the thought of her leaking out of her diaper during the night. I put her in a disposable at night time. (You can buy overnight cloth diapers, but I don't have any and am pretty happy just using a disposable at night.)
I don't use cloth diapers exclusively. I did for the first couple of months in order to make back our money. But now I feel like the diapers have paid for themselves and I mostly just use the diapers if I know that I'm going to be home for a couple of days in a row. It's very rare now for me to use them for a straight two weeks at a time. I use the cloth diapers to supplement my disposable diaper habits. Every time I do, I pat myself on the back and put a drop of awesome in my bucket for saving myself money and for doing something to help support my family.
Supplies
When we bought the diapers, we didn't buy any other supplies. I wasn't sure what we needed and so I decided to just wait and see exactly what we needed. For a while we just kept the soiled diapers in the sink of my laundry room - but that didn't last long before I told David that we needed a diaper pail. We bought the Diaper Champ and it's worked well for us. I like that you don't have to buy special bags for it and that it keeps all the odors inside. My old ward had a diaper champ in the mothers lounge and it must have been an older model because I couldn't find the exact same thing. I liked that one slightly better- but the one we bought works fine. You can buy wet bags for when you are out and about - but I just use plastic Walmart sacks. I stick the messy diaper in a bag, tie off the top, then when I get home I shake off the solids, put the diaper in the pail, and throw the bag away. There are a bunch of different cloth diapering accessories that you can buy, but because our motivation for using cloth diapers is to save money - it doesn't make any sense to buy all of the extra accessories. $10 here and there add up and make the $$ difference between cloth and disposable smaller. However, I recently discovered the ScrubADoozy and think that it's pretty nifty. I was able to snag one for free - and I just got it in the mail. I'm looking forward to trying it out and seeing if it helps with removing the solids. It seems super easy to install and I really think that it will help get the job done.
The one thing that I do wish we had was a diaper sprayer. It's like a little sink sprayer that you hook up to your toilet and you can spray the solids off so you don't have to touch them. When we first started CD - Lydia's solids weren't too bad. (Who knew that I wish I could go back to her baby poop?) They were fairly solid and didn't smell terrible and they shook off into the toilet easily - especially if I changed her diaper immediately after a bowel movement. However, we have reached a point where we solids are much messier. In fact, I've stopped using cloth diapers on a regular basis because if I'm going to continue - I really think that I need a diaper sprayer. We are to that point right now. I did read a comment from a fellow CD-er that mentioned using a peri-bottle instead and so I am going to try that this week - but otherwise I'm asking for a diaper sprayer for my birthday.
Wash Routine
There are a hundred different specialty cloth diaper detergents out there that you can buy. However, we use tide. There are a lot of reasons - but again reason #1 is that we are doing cloth diapering because of the monetary savings. I don't want to have to buy specialty soaps that may or may not be HE compatible and therefore even able to be used in our washer. This article (recommended to me by the wonderful Ashley Cooper) is my main justification: Cloth that Counts. It talks about how other detergents might not get the diapers clean enough (it's a common thought to just use less detergent to prevent buildup, or to use natural detergents that don't get the diapers as clean) and how Tide is recommended by lots of CDers.
I wash every 2-3 days. 3 days max - even if I haven't used all of my diapers. Usually I start her off in a cloth diaper on morning #1, use cloth all of day #2, start her out with cloth on morning #3 and wash sometime that day. It kind of depends on how many diapers I have left- because I try to wash them all at the same time. Sometimes I put her in her last clean cloth diaper during her first nap on morning #3, then wash the diapers while she is sleeping. Sometimes I have enough to last through day #3 and wash them that night. My wash cycle is as follows: pre-wash cold with detergent, wash hot with detergent, freshwater rinse, tumble dry low. My washer has a setting for a pre-wash so I can just start it and let it go. However, sometimes after the cold wash I decide to throw some other clothes into the washer so I'll just do a normal wash-cold-with detergent, then add whatever other items need washing, then do the wash hot-with detergent, followed by the freshwater rinse. Some people have a problem washing their clothes with poopy diapers, but honestly I don't worry about poop getting on clothes because it's a washer. It washes clothes. Besides, when Lydia was a baby there wasn't a single load of laundry that we did that didn't have some item of clothing with poop on it. It's no big deal. Plus, remember - we are talking about saving money here. If I can throw a couple of extra things in with my diapers so I don't have to do a separate laundry load - that saves money so I like it. The one thing to watch out for is to make sure that your clothes don't have anything on them (oils, finishes, or sheddy fabrics) that will damage your diapers. Once I washed a red curtain with my diapers and all the inserts came out with red fuzz on them. Not my brightest washing day. Oh well.
Another recommendation is to never wash your diapers with any fabric softener, bleach, or any other additive that might effect the absorbency of the diapers. Some people add in vinegar or other additives to assist in the washing process - but I never have. Cloth diapering needs to be simple for me or I'd just stop doing it.
Like I said above - I dry my diapers in the dryer. This kind of goes against my "save money at all costs" philosophy... but I don't have a great place to hang dry them. I might start laying them out on my counter to let them air dry, or maybe I'll finally follow through with the idea to string a drying line above my dryer to clip them to. But at this point I just don't.
Obstacles
I can say over and over how using cloth diapers isn't really any different than using disposables - but it's not completely true. We've had a few obstacles that have had me running to my disposables and begging them to take me back. I want to be clear - overall I'm definitely pro cloth diapering, but for the sake of being honest and upfront about all aspects... here are some of the cloth diapering obstacles we've faced:
Finding cheaper diapers: I've been very open about the fact that we use cloth to save money. Articles like this one at Awesome Beginnings, list out that the average cost of disposable diapers for ONE CHILD from birth to potty training is $2444.70. The average cost of cloth diapers for ONE FAMILY from birth to potty training is $566.00 and includes laundering. Those numbers seem staggering. Until you sit down and do the math for yourself and realize that most websites that calculate those numbers assuming that a 12-24 month old is still using 6-8 diapers a day. (Lydia uses about 4 disposable diapers on an average day including her night time diaper.) They also calculate those numbers using Huggies or Pampers - however, we've found that Target diapers are am.a.zing. They are super absorbent, much cuter than the disney branded diapers (why are we paying for mickey mouse to be on our diapers?), and SO much less expensive. A Pampesr size 3 diaper might cost you 40 cents per diaper, but a Target brand diaper (bought in bulk) will only run you about 15 cents each. That seriously cuts into the cost/savings of cloth diapers, especially when you consider how many other products the cloth diapering industry has that cost so much money. Liners, sprayers, bags, wipes, diaper creams, etc... Those amounts start to add up and the disposables start to look much more appealing. (Here's another article that mentions the giant list of things they bought with their cloth diapers and how after 4 months, disposables are winning the cost contest @$437 while cloth are $744. However, it points out that they won't have to spend any money again until she potty trains as opposed to disposables that you would have to continue to buy. We've only spent $125 on diapers, and have purchased no accessories so their $744 is a crazy number. It just goes to show how many accessories you can add on.)
Awesome grandparents who give us diapers: I can't say that this an obstacle. Really it's a blessing from heaven above. But David's mom gets coupons for Huggies diapers (which we do love), and because she loves us so much (and she knows that we won't spend the money on Huggies diapers), she will occasionally drop us by a couple of packages of diapers. It's a huge blessing to us. But as far as cloth diapering goes, whenever we get a fresh supply of diapers my cloth diapering motivation goes out the window.
Leaking diapers: This is the biggest obstacle. I don't know if Lydia is a heavy wetter, or if the diapers just don't fit her as well as they could, or if I'm personally doing something wrong - but it's not uncommon for Lydia to leak out of her diaper. The solids stay safely contained, but her pee tends to soak through the diaper around the edges leaving her pants soggy as well. I started changing her cloth diaper much more frequently than before, and that certainly helped. But she still frequently leaks out a little before I can catch her to change her. It can get frustrating. I've read a lot of things and most of them point to the possibility that the diapers just aren't a good fit for her. They shouldn't leak like that. Most websites recommend trying a different brand of diaper to try and see if that fixes the problem. But I don't want to buy any more diapers. I just want the ones that I have to work. Recently I added a second insert (OhKaty diapers come with two inserts) and that seems to help - although it makes the diaper a little bit more bulky than I'd like. I keep hoping that maybe as Lydia gets a bit bigger they will fit her better and will stop the problem.
No diaper sprayer: I've already mentioned wanting a diaper sprayer. Shaking the solids into the toilet was no big deal for a while - but we are well into the toddler poop stage and it's much stickier (haha remember my warning at the top of the post? I'm sorry if that's TMI) and harder to shake. Most of the time a little bit of toilet paper is enough to scrape it off - but it's getting worse. If I don't get a diaper sprayer soon, I'll probably stop altogether. But the problem is that diaper sprayers cost money and I don't know if I want to invest any more money into something that I'm not 100% committed to. It's a catch-22.
Was the Experiment a success or a failure?
Honestly, I don't know. We are still experimenting. Like I said above, I don't use cloth exclusively anymore. I like the idea that cloth diapering doesn't have to be all or nothing. I like that any time I use our cloth diapers, we save money. I also like that any time I want to use a disposable, I can. I still love the idea of using cloth diapers. In fact, I'm a little surprised at myself that I'm not 100% gung-ho about the whole idea. I really thought that I would be. But our little system works for us.
At one point we talked about being able to sell our cloth diapers if we decided that it wasn't going to work for us, but I think that no matter what we will keep them in our emergency supply. You never know when there will be a national diaper shortage, or won't be able to get to the store, or have some other emergency where cloth diapers would be nice to have.
I recently was asked by a friend if I liked cloth diapering and if I would recommend it. Even as I sit here now - I don't know if I have a straight answer. But if I had to say, I would say yes. I do like it and I would recommend it. There are hundreds of people out there who love cloth diapering and there are others who just don't like it. I think it's totally a personal thing. It's the same thing as living by a train (which we do). Some people can do it and some people can't. It doesn't bother us at all, but it wouldn't be manageable for someone else. I think that is very similar to cloth diapering. There are a ton of wonderful things about CD. It does save money. That is indisputable (especially if you are careful and don't get sucked into all of the accessories). It is better for the environment, better for the health of your baby, and better for your pocketbook. However, it does take an extra effort. Not a ton of extra effort, but it does take some effort.
I would recommend purchasing a diaper variety pack instead of jumping in both feet first like I did. I hate the idea of then owning some diapers that you don't use, but it's better than buying a whole bunch that you end up not liking - or missing out on a type/brand that you absolutely love.
In the end, I like where we are at. I like being able to use our CD occasionally but still using disposables when we are out and about and during the night. This post probably wasn't the most entertaining (and several times as I was writing I found myself hoping that if Lydia reads this when she grows up she doesn't hate me for posting the details of her bowel movements online - but rather she gets a glimpse of just how much I love her) but the post wasn't written to be entertaining - it was written so I will be able to remember and so that I can refer my friends to this post when they ask me about cloth diapering.
My friend Janette - she is so much more eloquent than I am: http://mikeandjanette.blogspot.com/2013/05/cloth-diapering-part-1.html
http://www.abbyslane.com/Cloth-101_ep_42-1.html
http://awesomebeginnings4children.com/cloth-vs-disposable-diapers-cost/
http://www.modernalternativemama.com/blog/2012/10/26/5-myths-about-cloth-diapers/#
http://www.mint.com/blog/saving/cloth-diapers-vs-disposables-the-4-month-mark-062012/
http://www.ohkaty.com/
http://www.whyclothdiaper.com/2011/05/23/cloth-vs-disposables-health-benefits/
My cousin just started cloth diapering and when I told her how I got my diapers for 50% off - I expected her to be enthusiastic about my "great deal" of diapers for $10 each. But then she told me that she got hers for around $5 each from a company in Roy. The website is http://www.getbacktobasics.net/Cloth-Diapers_c_7.html and they have lots of different diaper options. If I buy more diapers. It will be from here.
Happy Diapering!
