4 hours ago
I think cloth diapering can be awfully intimidating to start out. I am committed to this now, and I still have days where it intimidates me! But I have found a lot of encouragement from ladies in the blog world who also use cloth diapers. I asked some of my cloth-diapering blog friends (who have been doing this longer than me) for some advice for newbies, and I got a lot of great tips! Here is what some of them had to say.
“Hi, I am Danielle and I am very excited that Callie asked me to give my opinions and tips on cloth diapering! I have been cloth for about 6 months, so I am no expert but I will share the main things that I have learned! First of all, don't be scared to give it a
try! I was terrified at first and everyone was against it and now, I love it! I wish I would have started sooner! One thing I learned was that you don't have to have the $30 diapers for them to work. I used Comfyrumps (comfyrumps.com) and Go Green pocket diapers (gogreenpocketdiapers.com) which are reasonably priced but work wonderfully! Two websites that I use for cloth diapering accessories because they have free shipping are sweetbottomsbaby.com and jackbenatural.com- and these both have Facebook pages where you can call out to other mamas when you need help! Such a wonderful resource! I love my diaper sprayer, and we went to Lowe's and got all the stuff we needed to make it ( the guys usually know what exactly you need, or there are videos on Youtube) and it was cheaper! My biggest piece of advice is just try it, If you don;t like it you can at least say you tried :) And don't be afraid to ask for help!”
-Danielle at This Is The Stuff
"Favorite brand of diaper? Bum Genius 4.0
What you need to get started? To start full time: at least 12 diapers, a pail and wetbag, detergent. If you want to do cloth wipes too (and you might as well!) you'll need about 20 wipes and a spray.
Why you decided to use cloth? Cost of disposables, environmental impact, chemicals in disposables. I am so glad I started cloth diapering. I love it. I love that we don't have a ton of garbage. I love that Henry has been rash free since we started (except for the teething rash we have right now). I love that we've spent about $300 on our cloth diapering supplies and not a penny more. That will be all we spend on diapers.
Helpful resources? Blogs! My Life in Transition and Mama at Home were the ones I first read before I was even pregnant. I also have a cousin and a close friend who cloth diaper so they were good resources too.
Is the laundry difficult to keep up with, and any routines/products that make it easier? No. For some reasons Cloth Diaper Laundry is fun! I look forward to doing it. I just wash every other day using Rockin' Green detergent. Sometimes I use a color safe bleach as well.
Is there anything you wish you knew before you started? No. I think I was pretty well prepared. It really is as simple as it sounds.
I read on a few blogs that it is safe to use vinegar in your rinse to help fight odors. BUT on the bum genius website it says not to, because it can wreck the PUL cover. It IS ok to use bleach once a month and that works great for me. I also came across this chart of detergents and I wanted to pass it on!”
“Favorite brand of diaper? bumGenius. There's a reason they're the #1 cloth diaper brand. They really know how to make great diapers.
Why you decided to use cloth? We decided on cloth diapers to save money, and I'm so glad we went that route! Our budget truly cannot support buying disposables.
Helpful resources? AllAboutClothDiapers.com, especially the "My Recommendations" page.
Is the laundry difficult to keep up with, and any routines/products that make it easier? I do diaper laundry every other day, so that dirty diapers aren't sitting around too long. It's not difficult because the machine does all the work. I just switch it from rinse to wash to rinse, and add some detergent.
Is there anything you wish you knew before you started? I wish I knew about those snap-on onesie extenders! I think Sophia could have worn a lot of clothes a lot longer if I could have closed them around her bulky butt! :) “
-Jenene at Prairie Girl Gone Coastal
“When you get past all the pee and the poop and the initial sticker-shock of cloth-diapering, it all comes down to one thing: The laundry.
If I had a dollar for every person that's told me, "But I just don't have time to do that much more laundry. It would never get done," I'd be rich.
Ask any cloth-diapering mama, though, and they'll tell you that's simply an excuse.
The laundry, in reality, is not that bad. In fact, my workload has not increased by more than 20 minutes a week, I'd say, when it comes to laundering diapers.
The trick, honestly, is having a routine: Wash on the same days, at the same time, every week.
For me, I do diapers every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 11 a.m. I run my four cycles (a cold rinse, a hot wash with soap, another hot rinse, followed by a cold rinse) then I throw all hemp and microfiber inserts, plus my pre-folds and fitted diapers and cloth wipes, in the dryer while laying my diaper covers, wet bags, pail liners, and pockets on a drying rack - outside if it's sunny – to dry. In the evening, right after my daughter goes to bed, I stack everything up and put it in it's respective places in her room.
In addition, every 6 weeks, over the weekend, I strip my diapers - using several hot soaks and rinses and white vinegar - to make sure the diapers don't get any ammonia build-up.
To keep myself accountable, I pencil it all into my planner, and I set timers so I remember to go back and turn on the next rinse cycle on my washing machine.
Honest to goodness, it takes me no time at all. And, truth be told, I do not have a huge stash of diapers. I'd say I have a moderate amount, but most mamas I know run with way more. And, yet, I've never gotten to the point where my child was wearing her absolute last clean diaper on her butt while all the other cloth diapers were racing against the clock in the washer and dryer. With a schedule, you just don't get to that point, no matter how few diapers you have.
The key is to have a routine and stick to it. My child hasn't worn disposable diapers since her first week of life, and if I have my way, she never will. There's really no need. It's cheaper and, thanks to my laundry schedule, easier for me to cloth-diaper.”
-Brittany at Living In The Moment
Stay tuned for more tips next week!
P.S. I tried to get in contact with every blog friend or follower of mine who I knew used cloth diapers, but if you are a blog friend/follower of mine and I missed you, and you have some tips you are just itching to share, you can e-mail me at throughcloudedglass@gmail.com.
I got this idea from Krystle and Claire, and I had to do it myself!
I think this is appropriate thing to post the day before Thanksgiving, because I am very thankful to live where I do, and very thankful for the upbringing I had.
I am so thankful the Lord has allowed me to be a wife and mother.
I’m thankful to share this life with a man as amazing as Derek.
I’m thankful for my sweet and happy son, and the chance to give my children a blessed childhood like I had.
I truly am eternally grateful that “Jesus loves me” and “family will forever be there”.
I'm thankful that this is where I come from, and that He's not done with my story yet.
I can never thank Him enough for all He has done for me.
---------------------------------------------
The Place I Come From . . .
I am from feather pillows and teddy bears, from Sleepytime tea and reading with Mom in the middle of the night.
I am from the mountain ranch, wild and free and grand, the smell of fresh-cut hay on the wind.
I am from the quaking aspen trees, fields of dandelions, and rushing rivers, the tall grass, the bright irises, new air and deep sky.
I am from Christmas shopping trips with Dad, riding horses under the summer sun, and hazel eyes, from Daybreak and Rock and Messenger.
I am from the patriotic and the loyal.
From “Jesus loves you” and “family will forever be there”.
I am from streams of mercy and amazing grace. I am from filthy rags, washed snow white in nothing but the blood of Him who turned the water to wine.
I'm from high altitude and thin air, and the old German country, from salted nut rolls and sweet potatoes and choke cherries.
From the boy who split logs for a penny each, the girl from the city who came to this place and could never leave, and the twins who made the growing years better.
I am from the baby box in the closet, the albums resting on the bookshelf in the corner of a crowded basement, the frames on the walls – all the visible remnants of memories and of a heritage that will forever dwell in hearts. The places my new memories and the heritage I leave will go as life marches on.
-----------------------------------
Thank you Lord that this is my history! Thank you for the ultimate gift of taking me from filthy rags to white as snow by Your grace. Thank you for where You have me now, and thank you, Lord, for all the places You have yet to take me.
Happy Thanksgiving to each one of you as you give Him thanks for what He has done and for what He will do!
P.S. If you want to write your own "Where I'm From" poem, check out the template here.
Welcome to the Salvation Stories link-up! Our salvation is the greatest gift we have ever been given, and it's important to tell others about what the Lord has done for us!
If you want to read about why I decided to do this link-up you can see the post "Have You Shared Your Story?". If you decide to join us, just write a post about how you came to know the Lord and link it up below! See the post "Details (On The Link-Up)" for more information.
I'm so excited to hear everyone's testimonies! I'm going to start the ball rolling by sharing my own.
---------------------------------------
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian household. I don't remember a time when I didn't know about Jesus - my mom told me and my brother and sister, about Him as soon as we had the ability to understand her (actually even before we had the ability to understand her).
To be completely honest, I don't remember everything that went through my mind when I made the decision to follow Jesus, but I know I had alot of questions for my mom about Heaven, and Jesus, and when He was coming back. My mom wrote them down because she was amazed at how hard some of my questions were.
When I was almost four years old, I remember riding in the car with my mom on the way home from grocery shopping. My brother and sister were sleeping in the back seat. It must have been on my mind that day, because as we pulled in the driveway I remember asking her if we could pray so that I could ask Jesus into my heart.
She took me right in the house, and we knelt next to my parents bed. I wasn't sure what to say, and wanted my mom to pray for me at first, but she explained that I needed to talk to Jesus myself. She helped me, and I said the first real prayer I can remember - in that moment I became a follower of Jesus.
In the years that followed we continued going to Sunday school, church, and Bible studies. When I was nine years old my parent's started homeschooling us, and I think that decision on my mom and dad's part had important ramifications for my spiritual growth. During the years that I went to public school I was so concerned with what the other kids thought, but as we started homeschooling I remember becoming more conscious of what God thought, and I started wanting to please Him. I was baptized when I was about eight years old in a horse tank at our church, as a public declaration that I wanted to serve the Lord.
When I was ten years old I used my own money to buy my first devotional book, and I started doing daily devotions, which was a huge step in making my walk with the Lord a part of my daily life. My parents also sent us to a Christian camp every summer, and not only did it give me some great memories, but it was always a great spiritual "growth spurt" for me - I think it served to strengthen my resolve to make sure that my personal walk with the Lord remained strong the rest of the year. When I was twelve years old I renewed my commitment to follow the Lord for the rest of my life.
The high school years are often a time when you might expect that a person would rebel or turn their back on their faith for a while, or make some decisions that would affect their relationship with God. But nothing like that ever happened to me. Not that I didn't have my doubts at times, especially as I dug deeper into the Bible and different doctrines, but every time I had doubts or struggled with something I read, I went to the Lord with my doubts - and He always helped me find the answers, or at least gave me peace about the things I didn't understand.
Nothing dramatic happened after high school either. I spent a summer as a counselor at the same Christian camp I went to as a girl - that was definitely a summer of refining and spiritual growth for me as well, the same as when I went there as a camper only amplified.
I started college, met Derek. We got married. My next major trial was when we started trying for a baby, and had trouble. I asked the Lord so many "Why?" questions during that time, and I had some pretty dark days. But I never felt abandoned or forsaken. If anything the Lord used that trial to help me cling to Him more, which I think He does often with trials. And I just knew even on the worst days that He was there, helping me through. He gave me a peace about it when I didn't know what was going to happen, and eventually we were blessed with our sweet baby boy. That brings us to now. The Lord continues to guide me and show me little things about Himself. He continues to reveal my sin to me, and helps me to improve in those areas. I'm looking forward to a lifetime of learning and growing with Him, and doing my best to serve Him where He leads me. And then there's an eternity with my Savior after that, which will be so much better than I can imagine. That's really what it's all about.
I used to struggle with thinking my testimony was so boring. It's much more interesting and very powerful to hear stories of God calling people out of deep sin or desperate situations.
But I realize now that those thoughts of thinking my testimony was boring were nothing less than a spiritual attack. My sin is no less serious, and my spiritual condition no less desperate than anyone else's.
I need a Savior just as much as every other person on the planet.
The story of how I came to know the Lord is not boring to Him. The angels still rejoiced over that lost little girl asking Jesus to come into her heart. This story is no less worthy of being told than the most dramatic salvation story you can think of, because it is still a story of how the Lord saved someone who was terribly lost.
For some reason, the Lord chose to place me in a Christian family and to draw me to Himself at a young age. I never had to walk through life without Him - I don't even remember the time before I knew Him. Accepting Him as my Savior is (as far as I can tell) my earliest memory. And through my whole life I've felt His presence and His hand guiding me.
The older I get, the more I realize what a blessing it is that I have the story that I do. The Lord spared me from the pain of experiencing the things the world has to offer before coming to know Him, He protected my heart and kept me close to His side, and we've had all these years of sweet fellowship together.
Sure, I have my times "in the valley", and I struggle with sin. But He has always been there to correct me when I'm wrong and keep me on the "narrow path".
As I look back on my life up to now, I wouldn't trade my personal story of redemption for a more dramatic or exciting testimony. It's been a gift, a most precious gift, to have Him leading me through everything I've had to walk through this far, and I know He'll continue with me through whatever trials or blessings life has in store for me.
I couldn't change that for the world.
--------------------------------------------
If you are interested in learning more about Jesus or having a personal relationship with Him too, or if you have any questions for me, please e-mail me! I will do my best to answer any questions you have, or I'll do my best to find the answers if I don't know. You can also check out the "What I Believe" tab above for more information.
------------------------------------------------
Now it's your turn! Please make sure that the url you include is the direct link to your post, and don't forget to grab the button or include a link back here so others can join in!
(Highlight the text and press CTRL-C to copy.)
Note: I reserve the right to remove any links that do not fit into the theme of this link-up, or that use innapropriate language, etc. I really don't anticipate that I'll have to, but I have to say that just in case I get a link-spammer or something.
(Highlight the text and press CTRL-C to copy.)
Note: I reserve the right to remove any links that do not fit into the theme of this link-up, or that use innapropriate language, etc. I really don't anticipate that I'll have to, but I have to say that just in case I get a link-spammer or something.
Okay, the post for which you've all been waiting with bated breath! (I kid, I kid.) The cost analysis breakdown for cloth diapers vs. disposables!
Now most cost analysis posts assume that you are just paying one flat fee for cloth diapers, and you'll never have to pay another dime. But unless you would buy cloth-diaper friendly diaper cream and cloth-diaper-friendly cleaning supplies even if you were using disposables, that is not the case.
Unfortunately, cloth diapers do require you to buy special products for washing and to treat rashes, and these products do cost more than the type Derek and I would normally buy.
So my cloth vs. disposable cost analysis is not focusing on the amount spent on the diapers themselves, but the amount spent on each option at the end of the year. I haven't really seen another website compare costs in this way, so I did the math myself.
I'm just going to say right now that I did, in fact, skew my numbers a bit. I figured up the absolute least I would spend on disposable diapers, and I factored a very realistic or over-estimate of the amount I would spend on cloth. I'm one of those worst-case-scenario types. I wanted to know the least amount of money I would save. Just know that most likely we'd save more than the amount I listed.
Other Things To Keep In Mind
These are approximate costs only! I am not claiming complete accuracy on prices or ultimate costs - this is just to give me (and you) an idea of how much would be spent on each option.
This is not the amount that Derek and I are paying for cloth right now. Since I have a limited stash at the moment, I'm washing more often and I'm paying more in laundry costs than I normally would. These numbers are based on what I estimate we will spend once we are cloth diapering full-time.
This is based on the assumption that I'll be doing a load of laundry every other day. That may be an over-estimate.
I did factor in the fact that newborns go through more diapers, and that you get more diapers for your money in smaller sizes for disposables. The laundry numbers for cloth diapers didn't change, because I'm still assuming that laundry is done every other day.
The total number of diapers for each year is an under-estimate. I really couldn't remember our average diaper usage in the early days, so I just guessed, and the numbers always vary alot from day to day.
The first-year numbers are a projection of what we would have spent or saved if all factors had been the same from when Wyatt was born. For example, if we had used the same brand of disposables, got the current discounts on disposables, or started cloth with the same detergent for his entire first year. Obviously this is not what really happened, I'm just estimating.
These numbers are based on the estimated average frequency of use and cost of diapers and other products that Derek and I would use. Obviously this will be different for each family, so if you really want to know your own personal costs, you have to do the math yourself.
Note: Derek and I have a well, so we do not pay for our water usage. If you do have to pay for your water, you have to factor that in to your end-of-year costs for cloth diapering.
Also, we will obviously need to spend more in special situations, for example, if Wyatt gets a really bad rash and we need more heavy-duty diaper cream. I'm not taking into account these situations.
And finally, there are a million different products, and a million different ways to do cloth diaper laundry. This cost estimate is just based on one set of products, and couple of many ways to do cloth diaper laundry. My numbers may be way off for your family because you don't do laundry the way I listed. I would appreciate any tips on how you save money further, but keep in mind that I'm just going off of the general recommendations I found, and once again, it's just an estimate.
The Products
-CJ's Butter diaper cream - $12.25/12 oz.
-Bac-out - $35.99/gallon
-Rockin' Green Hard Rock formula (we have hard water)- $15/90 loads
-Pampers disposable diapers - prices varied, I took the standard prices on Amazon when buying in bulk for the first set of numbers and the best deal I could find for the second set.
-Petroleum jelly (which is what we use for diaper cream with our disposables) - $2.28/ 13 oz.
-Munchkin/Arm and Hammer diaper pail liners - $6/10 liners
The first three items are not actually what we are using right now to wash our diapers, but these are the products we plan on using in the future. I did research after the fact, and the above products seemed most cost-effective for us.
For example, at the moment I'm using water softeners in addition to detergent since we have hard water, which is costing me more. The Rockin' Green hard water formula will eliminate some of the cost for me in the future.
I did not include the cost of diaper pail deodorizers in this analysis - I'm planning on just using baking soda to start with, and since that's what I use for disposables anyway I didn't add it into the cost.
The Basis For The Numbers
Okay, now for the actual numbers! I calculated how much I thought we would spend per year on each of the above products based on an estimate of our average usage (like I said, this isn't completely accurate, it's just an estimate for our family).
I'm including four sets of numbers.
1. What we would spend on disposables at retail value if buying in bulk (which we actually haven't been until recently, so our actual costs are more than this, but this is just an estimate).
Includes price of diapers, liners, and petroluem jelly for diaper cream.
2. What we spend on disposables at the moment. I discovered an incredible deal for diapers with Amazon Mom and the "Subscribe and Save" option - so we pay 15 cents per diaper for Pampers right now. Which is incredible. Normal retail value for these diapers bought in this quantity is at least 21 cents per diaper, and more if you don't buy in bulk. I wish I had signed up for this sooner, but se la vie.
We have paid much more than this up to this point, but I'm projecting how much it would cost if we were able to get the "subscribe and save" deal throughout the diapering years. The price even with the deal is always changing, but I wanted to see if we would still save money with cloth. This deal is a big reason why I broke all the finances down this way in the first place.
Includes price of diapers, liners, and petroleum jelly for diaper cream.
3. Cost of cleaning cloth diapers when spraying Bac-out on every diaper. Some people recommend using a spray of Bac-out on each diaper after each use, and some people recommend just putting a few squirts in your first rinse when doing laundry. Which method you choose makes a big difference in how much you spend.
Includes cost of Rockin' Green Laundry detergent, Cj's Butter, Bac-out.
4. Cost of cleaning cloth diapers when you use 3 squirts of Bac-out per wash. This is assuming you use it this way every time you wash your cloth diapers, which I hear may not be necessary.
Includes cost of Rockin' Green Laundry detergent, Cj's Butter, Bac-out.
Costs Per Year
1st Year (Estimated 2257 diapers)
1. Disposables at retail value when buying in bulk: $583.56/year
2. Disposables with great deal: $423.07/year
3. Cloth when using Bac-out on each diaper: $228.56/year
4. Cloth when using 3 squirts Bac-out per wash: $89.40/year
2nd Year (Estimated 1825 diapers)
1. Disposables at retail value: $532.18/year
2. Disposables with great deal: $423.72/year
3. Cloth when using Bac-out on each diaper: $194.00/year
4. Cloth when using 3 squirts Bac-out per wash: $89.40/year
Now, you have to add to these numbers the start up costs for diapering. This would be 35-40 bucks added to the disposables for the diaper pail, but I'm not adding that because our diaper pail was a gift.
My estimates as of right now (I'll probably post how much I actually spent when I feel I have enough diapers to go full-time) are to add $300 in start-up costs for cloth diapers to go full-time. This estimate includes 2 large wet bags, 1 small wet bag, diaper sprayer, and 15 cloth diapers averaging at $15 each.
If you are cloth diapering a newborn you'll probably need more diapers, and if you have two in diapers you will obviously need more. I will probably need to add more diapers to this stash in order to cloth diaper my next child.
I'm being optimistic here, it may cost more than $300. If you want to see some good estimates on how much it would cost to go full-time with different types of cloth diapers, you can check out this blog post at Musings Of A Homemaker.
Costs For First Year (Includes Start-Up Costs)
Okay, I'll add $35 dollars to the disposables for the diaper pail, just to be fair.
1. Disposables at retail value: $618.56/year
2. Disposables with great deal: $458.07/year
3. Cloth with Bac-out on every diaper: $528.56/year
4. Cloth with Bac-out only when washing: $389.40/year
Conclusions
The first year is the most expensive when you are doing cloth diapers. You may not be saving anything depending on how much you would spend on disposables, and how often you use Bac-out.
You have to approach cloth diaper laundering with a strategy, or you may not save as much money. Obviously we will be going with the 3 squirts/wash Bac-out method.
The good thing? Even though the first year you may not actually be saving anything, for each subsequent year, and with each subsequent child, you do save significantly with cloth diapers.
I'm estimating that we will save about $1,170.30 (as a minimum) if we were to have two more kids and they were each in diapers for only two years. This is assuming we would continue to buy disposables in bulk with the discount if we weren't cloth diapering. And that is accounting for the money I'm losing in start-up costs the first year, and the approximate cost of another 15-ish diapers should I need that many (about $500 total in cloth diapers).
Are the savings as drastic as some claim? Not when you take into account laundry costs.
Do you still save money? Yes. In our case, we will still save quite a bit.
Is it worth the hassle? That's something each person has to decide themselves. For me, I think it is, because I am saving money in the long run, and I actually am finding the whole cloth diaper thing kind of fun.
There is some value to the cuteness factor too, after all.
P.S. I would just like to say a big thank you to Leanna at Thoughts And Whatnots for talking me down off the edge of the cloth diapering bandwagon. When I thought about all the extra costs I was about ready to jump off, but she was very encouraging and gave me some good information! It helped me stick with it long enough to do the math and realize it wasn't so bad.
First of all, I just want to say that this post is not going to be a “how to” post. I’m not going to do reviews of all the different products we’ve used so far.
We still use cloth diapers very part-time. Mostly because I don’t have a big enough stash built up to do them more than that. My plan is to add a diaper or two to my stash every paycheck. In another month or two I might have enough, but for now, we only use cloth on the days that I’m home. I’m not an expert on this subject, and I don’t feel like I qualify to do any sort of informative post until I’m doing this nearly full-time.
This post is mostly about my first impressions of cloth diapering.
On The Diapers Themselves
They are cute. Cute, Cute, Cute.
Right now, I like pocket diapers best. They’re easy to prepare, you put them on just like disposables. They seem to have about the same absorbency as disposables. They do leak occasionally if I wait too long between changes, but so do disposables, so they are pretty comparable in my opinion.
I haven’t tried any fitted diapers, I’ve just done the one-size-fits-all kind. I haven’t had any trouble with these. I can see how they might not fit a younger baby very well, but they work really well on Wyatt.
On The Laundering Process
The part that is the most hassle is finding a brand of detergent. You can’t use normal detergent on cloth diapers, so you have to buy a special kind. This is slightly annoying, but I suspect it’ll become less annoying as I continue with this.
It’s also annoying that you can’t use normal diaper cream. I like my petroleum jelly, because it’s cheap. The diaper cream that works with cloth diapers is no where near as cheap as good ‘ole Vaseline.
Other than those two annoying factors, doing cloth diaper laundry isn’t too big a deal. I just throw the diapers in there, pre-rinse, then wash a normal cycle with a second rinse using the fancy detergent. Then I hang up the diapers and throw the inserts in the dryer. I haven’t had any problems with them taking a long time to dry or anything. It’s really like any other load of laundry, except for the extra rinse at the beginning.
On Detergents
The detergent I’m using right now has “enzymes” that help break things down and kill bacteria. I really like this detergent because of that, but I’m thinking I might have to switch in the future because we have hard water.
If you have hard water you need to use some sort of water softener when you wash, so I’m using separate water softeners right now, and it just isn’t cost effective. I’ll have to switch to a different detergent that has water softeners but no enzymes, meaning I’ll have to get Bac-out or some such product to get the enzyme benefits.
I think it will still be more cost effective to use the other detergent and a separate enzyme product though than to use this detergent with separate softeners, just because of the price. It’s hard to know how much I’ll save until I can know for sure how long each type will last me, and I won’t know that until I’ve been doing this longer.
Just my thoughts on detergent.
On Dirty Diapers
Wet ones are easy, it’s the dirty ones that are more difficult. I’ve only done a couple dirty diapers using cloth, and I really wish I had a diaper sprayer. I’ve been using a water bottle to “squirt” water on the diapers to clean them off. It works alright for now, but I think a diaper sprayer would make this whole process way easier.
The dreaded dirty diapers are what most people fear most about cloth diapering (me included). It’s easy with disposables – you just take the diaper off, throw it in the trash, and never think about it again. If you have any kind of fear of dealing directly with dirty diapers, I wouldn’t recommend you start cloth diapering without a diaper sprayer.
Thankfully, I’m pretty comfortable with “the dirty work” and I always have been, so it hasn’t been much of an issue for me. After that first diaper it was no big deal.
On The Whole Process
My biggest issue is the “special” brands of detergent and diaper cream you have to buy to use with cloth diapers. I did a whole cost analysis of cloth diapers that takes this into account, and that will be up next week, so keep an eye out for it.
Other than that, I’m finding this whole thing kind of fun! Wyatt looks really cute in the diapers, and I really don’t mind taking care of the washing and such. I’m really looking forward to trying out more brands of diapers as well, and I get kind of excited when my cloth diapers come in the mail.
Will I stick with this? You know, I think I will.
Stay tuned for more on cloth diapers over the next couple weeks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
