Thursday, January 19, 2012

the 411 on cloth diapers

Cloth diapering has a whole lot of negative stereotyping going on. People picture rags with safety pins in them. We've come a little ways since then. It is becoming more and more popular and it should! It only makes sense. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't do it. Yeah. 

Here's a play-by-play on the cloth diapering process from a newbie...

Here are all my cloth diapers (minus the inserts). I own eleven. That's probably the least amount I would recommend. I do wash approximately every 1.5 days. People have said to me "When you calculate the cost of doing more laundry, is it really worth it?" I do a massive amount of laundry with a newborn baby anyways, what's an extra load every two days? Water costs like, $30.00 a month. So that extra load is maybe $2.50. According to wikianswers, the average person spends $1,000 per child on disposable diapers. My diapers and two wet bags cost about $115. FOR ALL MY DIAPERS. That (should, technically) last the entire diapering life of my child. I am also using cloth wipes. I am using muslin rags that my dad got us from the Operating Room. You just fill a little spray bottle with water and soap and spray each rag before use. Then you just wrap it up in the diaper like you would a disposable. No weird chemicals on baby's precious bottom.

 
Here are the inserts. We are using two per diaper (two inserts come with each diaper) right now, which is recommended for newborns. When they get a little older or in the daytime when you know you will be changing them frequently, you can use only one if you please. After we wash all the diapers we just stuff each of them so they are all ready to go!




These diapers fit from newborn to out of diapers. We didn't start using them until he was about three weeks old because he was still a little small and they would have looked ridiculous, we went through approximately twenty diapers a day, and I hadn't bought them yet. The horizontal fold in the middle of the diaper is where I snapped it together to make them smaller. When he gets older we just leave those snaps undone and it's instantly bigger! We snap to make them the smallest size right now and as he grows, we just move out! If you didn't notice, that is Dan's hand putting the diaper on. He has not even the slightest problem or grossness with cloth diapers (I have heard this is an obstacle for some willing women).


Ta da! He's adorable, I know. Yes, the diaper is a little big and it makes his pants fit a little funny. But that is the biggest downside. I think I can handle it. And he doesn't seem too concerned about it. Look at that blissful baby. He loves them. But really, disposable diapers have chemicals and all sorts of yucky stuff in them. Not to mention, a landfill is their final resting place. That's not hot for the environment. But more importantly, I want the best for my baby. The softest, the most comfortable, and the best for his skin. Cloth diapers are all of those. No diaper rash over here, sister! When he was wearing disposables he had little rashes, bumps, and blemishes. Since we have switched to cloth diapers they are completely cleared up.


Above is the "wet bag." It's made out of the same material as the diaper shell. It easily holds all the diapers I have. I bought it at the same place as my diapers. Once you have your dirty diaper, just throw it in this bag. When laundry day comes, take the diapers out, remove the inserts, and throw them all in the washer. Also, be sure everything is unsnapped. This is probably the most tedious, unenjoyable part of cloth diapering for me. But it's really not bad. If there is any solid BM on the diaper, flick it in the toilet.


The laundering process.


1. Do a hot rinse.
2. Wash like normal with a tinge of detergent. It is recommended to use something more natural, like a  homemade detergent with baking soda, borax, and soap (it's easy and cute, see for yourself).
3. Dry. Sunlight it preferred, but you can dry them in the dryer, too.

The green wet bag is my bag for home. The black one is for when I go out. I can just keep it in my purse.

I originally committed to using BumGenius All-in-one snap diapers. I did many hours of research and decided they were the best. They cost $17.50 a diaper. (That is the cheapest I found them). It was going to be an investment to purchase them all, but I knew it would pay off. I had a baby shower and my sweet, thoughtful friend Kim gave me a Simply Cloth cloth diaper from Just Simply Baby! I already had two BumGenius diapers I bought with gift cards, so I was able to compare. BumGenius are a little cuter and have better colors, but not worth the price. They are almost identical. There are small differences. The BumGenius are a tad better quality. The Simply Cloth diapers are $11.50/diaper! They are so much more reasonable so I decided to go with them. The company was started by a stay-at-home mother in Atlanta who does have them made overseas but she employs other stay-at-home moms for everything else. She has a thirty-day return policy on all diapers, used or not!


If you are considering using cloth diapers but do not want to fully commit, you can use my friend Kim's great idea... only use them at home! You can use them when you are at home with all the conveniences readily available and when you go out you can still use disposables and you will not have to worry about it. You will still save tons. I have been doing this since I received several packages of diapers as gifts and it really is nice.


Are you convinced? I am. Feel free to comment if you have any questions I would love to answer them!


*If you decide to buy cloth diapers through this company, enter the coupon code 'ARRM' and put my name, Rachael Mulder, for a reference & you will give 5% off your entire order (if you are a new customer)!

19 comments:

  1. Yay! Noel deserves the credit for finding Just Simply Baby...I just asked for her favorite. I'm glad you like them. I can't wait to try them!

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    1. Oh, I'll have to thank her!! But still.. thank YOU! :) Did you order a couple?

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  2. Hey Rachael I know I'm not having kids any time soon but I'm so interested in this! My question is, you just put all the poop in the washing machine, is that okay for your machine? And do you find it smelling when they're in the bag at all? When I have little ones I'd love to do this so thanks for the post!!

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    1. I have noticed a smell at all. The only time they smelled was when I used too much detergent and I guess it gets built up on the diapers, but I did this rinse thing and it fixed it. Since my baby is eating strictly breastmilk, his poop really doesn't smell very much. And it's so liquidy I guess it just goes out of the washer where the water goes. Just picture mud or anything you would wash. I don't know the details about it but I guess it's okay. :) And thank you for that link to Katie Jensen's blog... that helped me a lot!

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    2. I meant to put I haveN'T noticed a smell at all!

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  3. Thanks for sharing this! I've thought about trying this when I have kids, but it sounded like too much work. Hearing about the diaper rash going away makes it seem like it's worth it.

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  4. I think we're convinced! I've been deliberating for several weeks, but $11.50/ diaper is amazing! Thanks!

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    1. It really is worth it's weight in gold! I'm soo excited for you two to have a little boy!!! Boys are the BEST!! Not that I'm biased or anything...

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  5. I am so glad you are doing cloth! We love it too! And those diapers are darling. Woa! That youtube was crazy! What good advice. James will NOT let us swaddle him, but if we rock him and do the shhhing, he does great! I sure hope you are doing well with your little boy. He is darling! My sister thinks he has the cutest little face! LOVE YOU!

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  6. LOVE.
    It makes me want to buy cloth diapers, but Mckay would most likely take issue with that. I am 90% sure cloth will be my route whenever those babes come. You are the cutest! I love you (& J & D). Guess what? Frist day of my 2nd semester of Nursing school today. Thought of you. & Shanna. Remember when she practiced caths on a... box was it? So funny. We did caths today & I was loving the memories. XO

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  7. So do you dump the poops before you put it in the wet bag? To save from the tedious unsnapping before laundry can you take the diapers apart when you go to out them in the wet bag so you just have to dump it in the wash? Do you use a certain detergent? I thought about doing it with Wesley but couldn't convince myself! You make it seem easy

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    1. Hey! He still just has has liquid poop that sticks to the diaper so there is nothing to dump, but I would assume you would dump it before or it would be gross in there! I could take the diapers apart each time, I just choose to do it all at once. Last time I put on our cleaning gloves and that way I was able to do it fast and didn't have to be all careful. I am going to use that recipe I put in the blog post but last time I went to the store they didn't have what I needed so I'm still using normal detergent, only a couple drops. But I don't like to use it because it made them smell because I used too much. You should do it next time! It's great. :)

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  8. That's pretty awesome. Not sure why I never got into that. It really does make more sense. Did you know you can start potty training at 6 months? You just start by putting them on the potty to get them used to it. And they can be potty trained by 18 months! Just started Jovie on it and she already goes pee in the potty every time I put her on it. Diaper Free Before 3 is the book I learned it from. Wish I had heard about it sooner.

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    1. Woo! That's awesome! It will be so nice when he's potty trained! I will have to do that. Thanks for sharing! :) Please keep sharing useful advice like that, I appreciate it!

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  9. Hey Rachael! I LOVE JSB dipes! I hope you don't mind but I was just going to mention a couple things to answer some of the questions i see on here :) (I get SOOOOO excited to talk cd's!)

    Exclussively breastfed baby diapers can go straight into the wash... the poop just washes out... once you start solids or formula you have to do some dumping in the toilet... you can use disposable liners for that if you want, or put a cloth wipe as one and just shake that off by itself.

    also, as long as you're washing every other day or 2-3 days there really isn't a smell... but when you wait a bit longer (especially as they get older) it does seem to smell if you wait too long. We wash on wednesdays and sundays... it's just how it works out in our laundry schedule...so with the rinses and such it comes out to like 4-6 wash cycles per week... not much water at all...

    also Rachael, there are some different inserts you can get that are slimmer. JSB carries bamboo and hemp... and they're more absorbent than the microfiber. and we just now started stuffing with 2 for day time (we always used 2 for night time) and then they don't seem so awkward on the little bums :)


    OH and some serious prints! we have 2 jean prints (a-DOR-able!) spiderman, and one of my favorites is the white minky with blue circles all over it... so awesomely sweet!

    thanks for sharing so many cute pictures of that beautiful baby!

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  10. Thank you Noel! You are much more knowledgable about it than I am so I appreciate your input! You will have to be my go-to-girl for questions. So that's what those other inserts are for! I wish I would have known that when I ordered. I guess I could exchange them... I bought one hemp just for the heck of it but didn't know its purpose so I guess I will put that one in by itself. Maybe he'd be ok with just one microfiber since we change him so much,, what do you think? I have you to thank for finding these diapers so thank you!! :)

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  11. Wow, I never would have considered cloth diapers before but what an interesting post!

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  12. We have loved cloth diapering... Until last week... Two and a half year old poop is too grown up... Potty training time. We have gotten by with only eight diapers.... But I do a load of laundry every day between the six of is anyway... I just got cite little pink ones though... Can't wait. There is a spray... Biokleen bac out that helps so much with the smells and keeps bacteria from growing if you go more than a day without washing... It smells so good too. Our favorite laundry detergent for cloth diapering is rockin something... The watermelon scent. Love it

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  13. I really appreciate your diaper talks and am almost 100% sure this is what we're going to do also. Are there any negative aspects that you've encountered that haven't been addressed already? Mr. Jude is such a cute little guy and I love your blog Rachael!

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