Cloth Diapering: Day 1

Today is the first official day of cloth diapering.

Stash: We have 8 flip covers, 4 bumkins covers, 1 govia cover, 2 bumgenius 4.0, 12 infant prefolds, 18 flip stay dry inserts.

LO has been in a flip cover with stay dry inserts since around ten this morning. So far so good. No leaks. No explosions. All is well. I'm not finding cloth diapering anymore difficult than using disposables. We will still use disposables when we go out and when he goes to bed for the night (at least for the time being). I'm too chicken to dive in head first.

Interestingly, the only difficulty I'm running into is where to put the disposable wipes. When using a disposable diaper, I would just put them in the soiled diaper as I used them and throw them out together. Now, without the disposable diaper, I need to find another solution. Clearly this is why many people who cloth diaper use cloth wipes as well because then they all just go into the same bag.

So, far I'm not sure how many diapers I'm going to go through in a day. I've been trying to change him about every 2 hours. (Now, he's throwing me for a loop with this spontaneous nap so, we'll see what happens.) I've planned for approximately 12 diapers a day.

We are going to use the rock n green detergent for the diapers for the time being. Namely because I know it won't ruin the diapers. As time goes on I'll look for more economical detergent. I was just having too much trouble sifting through all of the information out there.

Why am I trying to cloth diaper? 

The first reason is it will save money in the long run. The side effect is that we will be making less trash. I don't like the way the natural diapers feel. It is kind of like wrapping him in a paper towel. So, this is better for the environment as well. The diaper covers and pocket diapers are so cute! I love the patterns and colors! (They are much more fun than the disposables.)

Where did I get my information? 

FRIENDS! (Yes, I have several friends who CD.)
http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a16235/cloth_diapering
http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html
http://pinstripesandpolkadots.com/diaperrashcreams.htm
http://thecrunchywife.com/2012/06/how-to-cloth-diaper-prefolds.html

Where did I get my cloth diapering supplies? 

www.cottonbabies.com
www.nickisdiapers.com
www.diapers.com


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8 comments:

  1. Good luck, I hope it keeps going well! I'm planning on cloth diapering with Bebe #2 when she gets here. :)

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  2. I have cloth diapered 2 little ones, my youngest is daytrained now so we just need them for naps and night time. I guess I need to think about selling some of my massive stash! In anycase knce you get the hang of it, it is easy. As for the wipes, if they go through the wash no biggy. They will come out in the same form, just dry. In anycase, I just used baby wash cloths for wipes. I never used a wipes solution, just plain old water! We had a variety, prefolds and fitteds for the tiny stage then bumgenius 3.0. I used some best bottoms and grovia with my second. Grovia's do run small and will not get you to potty training most likely but they are so absorbant!

    Goodluck, I loved cloth diapering.

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  3. I've been cloth diapering for about 5 months now. We use a combo of cloth wipes/baby wash cloths and disposable wipes. You can just hang a plastic grocery bag somewhere near your changing table for the trash if you want. Right now we only use the disposable wipes for the poop, so I just sorta pick them up with a cloth wipe and take them to our kitchen trash. Not a perfect system, but works for now. As for detergent, if you have an HE washer, Rockin' Green is actually pretty economical. Good luck!

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  4. I've cloth diapered all 4 of our little ones! Still using the same diapers so it's saved us a lot of money over the years :) I'm a new follower of your blog and looking forward to reading more!

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  5. We cloth diaper and absolutely love it! Feel free to ask if you have any questions. I wrote a post about how we cloth diapered Lucia the first few months just so you can see how we did it (every family does it a little different!): http://catholicnewlywed.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-we-cloth-diaper-our-newborn.html

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  6. Cloth diapering is definitely work, but SO worth it! I'm so glad you linked up to the Mommy-Brain Mixer! I hope to see you again this Thursday! :)

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  7. Have fun with it, and remember it's all trial and error. My son has gone through several different growth spurts and I've had to "change up" my stash a few times because certain diapers worked better on him at different times. At almost 2, we use a lot of what you have in your stash. We use Flips and Bumgenius 4.0s for daycare, and on the weekends I tend to use prefolds with Capri covers. As for wipes, when we use disposable wipes, I toss them in the dirty cloth diaper and put it all in the pail. When I go to do laundry, as I'm un-stuffing the diapers, I throw the disposable wipes in the trash all at once and take it out immediately. It won't hurt to let them sit in the cloth until washing time. And it won't hurt if they get washed, either!

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  8. We started cloth diapering when my daughter was 2 months old, and haven't looked back! It's been so much cheaper than disposables would be. We use cloth wipes too, which we just throw into the laundry with the diapers. It took us a little while to find a diaper that fit my daughter well - her legs were so skinny (I guess) that we kept having leaks around her legs, but then we found a diaper that worked for her, and we haven't had that problem since! Good luck! And be stubborn - sometimes finding a good fitting diaper, or developing a good washing routine (which can also seriously affect leaking) can be a hassle, but don't give up!

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