Adventures in Cloth Diapers

I've been a cloth diapering momma for almost 2 months now.  The other night my husband asked me, "So, how's the cloth thing going?"  By the looks of that question, I bet you can guess that he hasn't changed a diaper yet.  But I'm okay with that!  I love snapping those cute little things on my chubby baby's bum.  And it brings me great joy to know that I'm not contributing to over filled landfills. 

I am also happy to be able to keep dangerous chemicals away from baby's delicate skin.  Did you know that your skin absorbs faster than your stomach?  Everything we put on our skin and scalp gets sucked into our bloodstream very quickly.  And there are some pretty nasty chemicals in disposable diapers.  Some which the World Health Organization and the Environmental Protection Agency say are carcinogenic!  That means they cause cancer among other things.

The amount of money that can be saved is absolutely jaw dropping!  Being a one income family of 7, it seemed a wise choice to go the cloth route.  I really don't think we would have been able to afford disposables this time around!  Check out this site which breaks down the money saving potential!  Seeing those numbers is shocking!        

Armed with all this info, I set out to find the best deals on cloth diaper and wipes I could find.  Luckily I have a blogging friend who has been cloth diapering and writing about it for a while.  She was blessed to have companies sending her different diapers to try out and review.  She also had a few great connections with online cloth diaper retailers and helped me to get a super great deal on some diapers.  I ended up spending just over $10 a diaper thanks to a buy 3 get one free deal that FuzziBunz was running, and earthy crunchy mama offering a free gift with purchase and a military discount! 

Now we had to choose wipes and of course a wetbag.   I chose Planet Wise wipes and wetbags.  I loved their wipes pouch and the bright colors of wipes.  They have the most awesome patterns for wetbags too.  I bought a wipe warmer and folded the wipes to fit nicely in there.  A little water to wet the wipes and we're set to clean the sweet bum!  We've only used water so far, but I know there are plenty of wipes solutions you can buy or even make your own.

I take my wetbag, diapers and wipes with me whenever I go out.  No excuses here, I'm gonna use the cloth everywhere I go!  It's fun seeing peoples faces when I change baby in the bathrooms.  And every now and then I run into another cloth diapering momma.   

I also love that my kids are learning to be green through us cloth diapering.  My 7 year old daughter is always happy to change baby's diaper, and she does an amazing job!  I also enjoy the help!     

I've been washing about every other day.  Right now baby is exclusively breastfed so washing is simple.  Just pull out the inserts and wash!  No rinsing prior to filling the washer.  I do run a soak in cold water, and then a rinse before I wash on the sanitary cycle.  It does take about 3 hours in total just to wash, then another 90 min to dry on low.   I spend some evenings after the kids go to bed stuffing pocket diapers and folding wipes while I watch TV. It's kind of relaxing really.

Are you thinking about cloth diapering?  I encourage you to do the research and give it a try!  There are so many choices for cloth diapering out there.  There's bound to be something perfect for you and your family.