Our little girl is 10 weeks old and we started cloth diapering about a week after she came home.  My friend Amy sold me on the idea in her guest post – you can read it HERE.  I also have several other friends that swear by cloth diapering.

(I personally enjoy Bum Genius of the brands I have tried)

Faithful readers know we were in NICU just shy of a month.  They of course don’t let you cloth diaper in the NICU…..to be honest – I am cloth diapering more for cost effectiveness than to be environmentally friendly.  I mean, it does make me feel better that my ‘carbon footprint’ is a little smaller, but it is the money saving that sold me.  In NICU your insurance pays for your diapers…..so it didn’t really pain me to use disposables (or ‘sposies’ as my friend calls them ) while we were there.

But once we got home I was determined to make Baby C’s upbringing even more cost effective than the first two.  I must admit I was afraid of cloth diapering, but I just had to give it a try.

“Those things are so expensive!” Says skeptics everywhere.

“Not on Ebay.” Says me.  Yes – the best brands of cloth diapers are like $20 – $30 each (WHAT?!) Most of those diapers you can use from birth until they outgrow diapers (and pull ups) so you are totally gonna get $20 worth out of them.  But I wasn’t gonna ‘give it a try’ with $20 a piece diapers only to find out it wasn’t my bag.  So I went to Ebay (you can also try Craigslist, Diaperswappers.com, or natural baby stores sometimes have ‘cloth diaper resale’ days)

I bought a set of 8 diapers with pocket inserts.  With shipping they were less than $80.  Here’s the thing – when I am done with them, I am fairly confident I will sell them back for close to the same amount I paid (if not more!).

I found out quickly that 8 was not enough – but had two friends who are inbetween babies that let me borrow theirs.  (totally free – so I guess my amount I spent is not exactly realistic – although I know lots of people have been able to take advantage of hand me downs)

I bought some fancy ‘cloth diapering’ soap that will supposedly last 90 loads for $17.

And for $100 (some of which I will get back) I have pretty much diapered my kiddo and I will continue to use them for the next couple years.  *side note* She is only 10 weeks old, but I am fairly confident she is a genius and will probably pick up that potty training thing very early… *fingers crossed*

*another side note* – she is still in a stage where she gets up in the middle of the night and needs changing.  In an effort of full disclosure, I must admit we use ‘Sposies’ at night time and also if we are going out for more than a quick errand…..Daddy had the pleasure of changing and packing into a ‘wet bag’ a very soiled cloth diaper at church a few weeks back…..we weren’t ready for that.  I bought two jumbo packs of size one diapers before she came home.  We still have half a pack.  Those of you that have had newborns know that they go through one of those boxes in less than a week usually.

“It wastes so much water!” Says the same skeptics.

“Nu-Uh” Says Me.

We have an energy efficient washer.  I do one load of diapers every 2 -3 days.  We got our water bill from last month.  No difference.  It goes up and down by a few dollars every month anyway and this was nothing out of the ordinary.  We hang dry the diapers and the inserts go in the dryer for about 30 minutes with other laundry.  If you have an energy efficient washer or live in an apartment or condo with shared water you should totally do it!  If not, it might be a little more expensive, but probably not much – it is only a couple more washes a week!

“But it is so gross!” Continues the skeptics.

*sigh* Me.

For reals, I would rather wash cloth diapers than clean the cat box (which many of my skeptics do and don’t think anything of.)

The diapering process is essentially the same.  When it is used you put it in the Diaper Champ/Genie/Pail.

The only difference is you then wash them……

Here is the process – you open the diaper champ – dump the diapers into the open washing machine and then shut the door and let the miracle of the washing machine do it’s job.  I still use a plastic bag liner (I know my die hard cloth diaper-ers out there shudder at the idea of using a plastic bag.) Here’s the thing – I am not going to spend $20 plus shipping on a giant ‘wet bag’ for diapers.  I can use a bag that I got for 2 pennies and throw it out.  I will have to use A LOT of plastic bags before it is fiscally a better decision to use a cloth bag.  This is very likely our last diaper wearing child.  My apologies to the environment.  My thoughts are, my cheapness has inadvertently saved many diapers from ending up in landfills – so they are gonna have to handle the bag that would have been part of that deal anyway.  I am on the lookout for a free/cheap used large wetbag – but until then, plastic bags it is.

I know some people complain about leakage or blowouts.  Um, raise your hand if you disposable diapered child never had a blow out or leak.  So far *knock on wood* we have had no blowouts and only a minor leak in cloth.  I wish I could say the same for disposables with our other two (ew).  There is a learning curve for sure – but I just really think it is worth it.

If anyone is thinking about it I just wanted to give my stamp of approval.  I would research how to do it inexpensively – I highly suggest buying/borrowing them gently used (that is even ‘greener’ ) and much less expensive.  I think everyone has different experiences, but I am very happy with my choice to cloth diaper.

Enjoy ~ Kate