Yep.
We are going to forgo the super convenient disposable diapers and instead spray poop off cloth ones into the toilet and then wash those diapers IN OUR WASHING MACHINE.
Sounds fun huh?
The germ-a-phob in me has to go to a happy place and disassociate with the fact that I'll be washing dirty diapers (sans bleach because you can't use it) in our washing machine. :::shudders:::
I wish I could tell you that first and foremost it was a completely noble decision to go cloth. You know, because I care about polar bears and overflowing garbage dumps, I wanted a "greener" option.
But, I can't tell you that. Admittedly those were not at the top of my list in this situation (but I promise I am not evil and they are ON the list). In 10ish short weeks I will be a first time Mom. I am going to be slapped in the face with crazy love and crazy responsibility, the likes of which I've never known. With all the change that will take place in our home and lives the extra steps of cloth diapering overfreakinwhelmed me.
The decision, honestly, was a financial one.
Everyone says how expensive it is to have a baby. Everyone EXCEPT for my friends that breastfeed AND use cloth diapers. Those people say there is really no change. Plus, people are SO generous with giving you their gently used baby stuff. We've already received a spectacular bugaboo stroller, maxi cosi car seat, excersaucer, 2 bouncy seats and 3 bags of adorable baby boy clothes and blankets.
(thank you donators...seriously we are so thankful)
So, I took some deep breaths and listened with an open mind to my friends who are indeed first time moms who cloth diaper with ease. I read some articles. I watched cloth diapering parents perform the cloth diapering tasks to see how it was all done. I youtubed informative videos about it. In the end my confidence was boosted. I think I can actually do this.
I looked over our budget, talked to Drew Jones and we decided that we would give it a go.
Drew Jones' Mom ordered us our first 12 little colorful diapers. They are BumGenius 4.0, One-size, snap closure cloth diapers.
Whew.
Overtime I learned what all that racket meant.
Basically it means they have snaps (instead of velcro) and they will grow with our baby. They will last from infancy to potty training! They are like the mercedes benz of cloth diapers.
So the truth is after all the research and actually having these adorable little diapers in our possession I am actually a little bit excited about spraying poop into the toilet. More excited about saving a boatload of money...but none-the-less happy that our baby will have comfy cloth against his little booty AND the polar bears may be helped in some way.
As of now I am a cloth diaper convert. I'll let you know how it goes once our handsome little guy is here and cloth diapering is in full force.
And if you cloth diaper and have any good tips, tricks or advice feel free to leave a comment about it!
My wife and I have used cloth for our son Elijah and love it. We only use cloth in the house though. At daycare and when we travel we just go with convenience. It has saved us soooooo much money! We figured out that even using disposable as much as we do, we broke even on our investment in the cloth diapers at 4 months.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh you only have 10 weeks to go!!! Poopie talk aside, it's crazy to me how this is flying by. Can't wait to meet the little guy ;)
ReplyDeleteI hope you love it Candis. We tried it and I could not keep up with the laundry! It started smelling like a zoo over here. I just got rid of our bumgenius ones this summer. I so wish I still had them to give to you! I have friends that cloth diaper and love it. As with anything, there are perks and there are downfalls. I will keep my ear open for any good deals for you. I'm sure some girls from church are going to want to be selling them soon, and you are probably going to want to invest in more than 12.
ReplyDeleteYou are one of the most beautiful pregnant women I have ever seen. All of my best to you!
Becky
I hope we can do it too! There are some thing in life that you just HAVE to make work for you. With our budget, nursing and cloth diapering are a couple of those things. I find that when you have no other option in situations, you make things work, haha...so hopefully it will all go fine. We are going to paper diaper for the first month or two just so we can adjust to having a newborn sweetie and not have to have all the extra laundry in the first couple months. I registered for about 15 more diapers on my registry so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we get them. BUT if you hear of any good deals please let me know for sure :) !!
ReplyDeleteALSO - thanks for the compliment about being beautiful... :) it made me feel better sitting here in my big ole robe feeling the opposite of that. Haha. So seriously thanks, so sweet of you to say.
ReplyDeletesprout swap -- used cloth diaper sale @ sprout soup - february 18-20. check it out; the earlier the better. you may find some goodies! :)
ReplyDelete~kristina
you got a free bugaboo?! girl that is gold!
ReplyDeleteand yes, i so support you doing the cloth diapers- in fact, part of me would like to but husband pretty much said he's realllllly not into the whole taking care of poop that way thing. ah well. you are a better person than he!!!
I cloth diaper...and I have a few unsolicited tips (so feel free to take or leave them).
ReplyDelete1. Bring home diapers from the hospital - these will come in handy for when you are up to your eyeballs in laundry. We decided to wait until 4 weeks to dive in for our sanity.
2. Pay close attention to your baby's cues. Behr takes a break in the middle of his bowel movements. So if I change him right away, I will have to change him again in about 30 minutes. Every kiddo has cues...the faster you learn them, the easier diapering will be.
3. My hubby doesn't follow my lead. :-) He still uses disposable diapers - we have a healthy balance in our house. But I am home with the baby until I go back to work, so most of the time, it is cloth diapers.
4. Skip diaper cream. When Behr starts to get a bit red, we have naked time (well...he does!) and he usually looks just fine at the next diaper change. Plus, they shorten the life of your diapers.
5. For the non-reusable products, here are my recommendations: Seventh Generation are the best non-cloth in my opinion and Huggies wipes are really good/the best.
I'm intrigued. But our washer is old as sin...and that just won't fly around here. Plus I'd probably freak out on the baby every time they pooped..."oh great, now mama has to go spray poop again."
ReplyDeleteBut I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes. The diapers are definitely cuter cloth, I know that much.
A list of safe diaper rash creams to use with cloth diapers:
ReplyDeletehttp://allaboutclothdiapers.com/cloth-diaper-safe-diaper-rash-creams/
we use california baby and love it. it is expensive but we haven't had to use much of it