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Monday, April 15, 2013

Cloth Diaper Update...

We have to fold and stuff all of these mama?!

Do we still love cloth diapering?  We give it a resounding YES!  We made it through the newborn black yucky diapers.  We cruised through the easy diapers of an exclusively breastfed little girl.  And now we’re sticking it out through the introduction of solids to our little girl’s diet.  It’s not always easy, sometimes I near the end of our diaper stash and think, “Ugh, time to wash the diapers again.”  But honestly, not once have I thought of going back, of buying a cheater box of disposables, or wishing I hadn’t been so crazy to have started this journey.
 
Some updates on the diapers we chose.  Because our wee girl started her CD journey at a mere four and a half pounds the Kissaluvs fit her quite perfectly, as did the Thirsties for quite a few months.   Hannah was about 6 months old (approx 12 lbs) when the Kissaluvs became unusable for overnights as she would wet right through them and would be soggy through the entire diaper.  The Thirsties did well for overnights until just recently (around 9 or 10 months (15 lbs)).  At about 8 months or so we had to kiss the Kissaluvs goodbye altogether as they just weren’t very productive in the absorption department anymore, even with frequent daytime changes. 

The Thirsties are still more than adequate for daytime use as well as our One Size Bum Genius that we use for morning, noon, and night.  At first I loved the Velcro straps on the Bum Genius as it gave the opportunity for infinite adjustments to fit our wee bitty girl, but now that she is bigger and the snaps fit her just fine, I’ve found that I like the durability and non-“everything sticks to Velcro” benefits of the snaps.  I am also noticing that I will likely need to give some reinforcement stitching to our Velcro tabs.

Our CD journey so far as taken us through four Kissaluvs, half a dozen Thirsties, half a dozen Thirsties covers, nine Bum Genius one size, four G Diapers (we use these as backups and/or when traveling as we can swap out the liners without swapping out the entire diaper), and a pile of pre-folds  (that I use infrequently).  We do plan on acquiring another half dozen or so of Bum Genius diapers to carry us through the rest of our journey as we’ve had to stop using the Kissaluvs.  

As for laundering, I do diaper laundry about every other day.  Occasionally, if we’ve been super busy (err, lazy) and I haven’t done laundry on time, I end up using pre-folds with a Snappi and a Thirsties cover.  As for the “old fashioned” pre-fold diapers, they are quite easy to use, especially with the Snappi strap as opposed to pins, but my hubby would not be on board with cloth diapering if we were using pre-folds exclusively.   He has actually been great about cloth diapering and I’m so thankful that he agreed to give it a go and is now fully on board.  He especially likes the fact that we haven’t had to buy diapers in 9 months! 

To date, our CD costs, including the flannel I bought to make re-usable wipes, and a few creams and washes, has come to approximately $300.00.  We are projecting another $50-$100 to procure a few more Bum Genius diapers in the next month or two in order to alleviate the frequency of diaper laundering.   Eventually our growing little princess with outgrow the Thirsties diapers, but with the Bum Genius diapers we will be set to take her straight through potty training. 

Cost wise, cloth diapering is definitely a win as we will be spending much less than $500.00 to diaper one child regardless of what age she potty trains.  Even with the time spent and cost of laundering, cloth diapering does not come close to the thousands of dollars (depending on brand of diapers and length of time until baby is potty trained) that disposable diapers and wipes cost.   In regards to the cost on the environment and the products we want/don’t want on our baby’s bottom it’s a no-brainer as to the benefits of cloth. (What's in your diapers?)