Since it was Earth Day on Friday, I’ll start off talking about this goal. This will probably be way more information than most of you want to know, so if you don’t care to know then skip this post and conclude to yourself that we've turned into a bunch of hippies. If you are interested though here it is…
We actually didn’t start cloth diapers because we wanted to be more environmentally friendly, though that is an added benefit, basically we’re just poor. I've thought a little bit about using cloth diapers before but my biggest hang-ups were not knowing anyone that used them (aside from parents and grandparents), not wanting to turn our washing machine into a poop can, and they seemed hard to use and time consuming, not to mention gross. Around the time Lauren was born my older sister started using them, then I started to find out about other friends or neighbors that used them. I wrote a couple of websites down but didn't really have the time to do much research. The first month after Rachel was born diapers for both girls got kind of expensive. Doing the math, we would save over $1000 a year by switching to cloth diapers. Money, in this
case, turned out to be a good motivator, so I started researching. In two and half months of researching and trying different things out, I feel like I've learned a lot and we are starting to get into a pretty good groove. After starting a stopping with Lauren a couple times, we've now had her in cloth diapers for about three weeks. Yay
If you care to know, here are a few things I’ve learned and a few links to get more information
that I found to be really helpful:
First of all if you are handy with a sewing machine you may consider making your own cloth diapers, cloth wipes and wet bags. I know a few people that have done that and say it is much cheaper than buying them, plus you can customize them to whatever works best for your kid. Since I don’t have a sewing machine, nor am I handy with one, we bought ours. Our budget is structured in a way that I only have a certain amount allotted for baby stuff each month, so I have built up what we have over the course of a few months. It has been kind of nice to do it this way because I've been able to hit a lot more sales and try a few different things.
While looking up cloth diapers the variety is pretty overwhelming. It’s difficult to know what will work. A lot of it is really just a preference issue, if you want something really fast and easy (similar to a disposable) or if you don’t mind having to fold a cloth and then wrap it around your baby’s bum, or if you want something in between. It also depend on what works for your kid. Regardless of what kind you get though, they will be more bulky than disposables; that’s just the nature of them. We use several different kinds and they have all worked pretty well on Lauren. They are all "One-size" which means they have adjustable snaps so the diaper can get bigger as your child gets bigger. The only problem I have found with these is that Rachel still doesn't fit into them very well yet, granted she is pretty small and skinny. So depending on how big your newborns typically are you may want to get some newborn cloth diapers. There are several newborn options that that will fit babies from around 5 lbs. up to 10 or 15 lbs. By the time they are 10 to 15 lbs. they should fit into the "one-size" diapers pretty well.
The websites I've been on recommend 20-24 cloth diapers for newborns (if you wash them every other day), and then you can get by with less as your child gets older. Lauren, for instance only goes through about 5-6 a day, and I wash diapers about every other day. I've got about 26 “one- size” diapers though because both Lauren and Rachel will be using them.
Since we are now to the point that I haven’t had to buy disposables in a couple months, I’m actually really glad that we switched to cloth diapers. Call me crazy but I get a lot of satisfaction out of throwing a load of diapers into the washing machine and using them again, as opposed to paying around $100 bucks for disposables that are all going to be thrown away. I think it has been a pretty good investment and that it will now start paying off. We've spent around $250 total on everything we have (cloth diapers, cloth wipes, wet bags, detergent) and I feel like we have plenty for both girls.
Here are the websites I've used and found to be really helpful. Most of them also have really good general information on types of cloth diapers and how to use them. There are also reviews on products which I found incredibly helpful. All of these websites sell several kinds of diapers, wipes and other diapering accessories:
www.clothdiaperclearance.com Has various items on clearance, overstock, and seconds
www.cottonbabies.com This company manufactures BumGenius, Flip, and Econobum and has free shipping to anywhere in the US
www.simplewondersdiapers.com
www.jilliansdrawers.com Sells various new and gently used diapers (Gently used have been used for 21 days or less)
www.kellyscloset.com Always has some kind of sale or coupon (Check under the coupon tab near the top of the screen). Sometimes has gently used diapers for sale.
If you have some money to put into it, Jillian's Drawers and Kelly's Closet (the bottom two websites) have sample packages that let you try several kinds of diapers for a few weeks and then return any you don't like for a full refund. Used is also a really good way to go if you want to try several different kinds and don’t have a lot of money up front. The websites all have pretty good return policies but be sure and read them closely.
