Now on to our new endevor, we're cloth diapering (CD) TC and are ready to CD #2. It's something I've always been interested in doing. As a teenager I told my step mother that I wanted to do it when I had kids and she told me I would never keep up with it, so a big "suck it" to her. When we moved into this house the washing machine was pretty ancient so I decided we would go with disposables. The washer broke and was replaced several months ago so it's been in the back of my mind but now that #2 is coming it just makes sense.
I'm not fanatical about it, I'm not going to freak out if she's spotted in a disposable diaper and I'm not going to start looking down on non CD families, I know it's not for everyone. (Remember that South Park episode when they talk about Prius owners loving the smells of their own farts? Well I feel like there are a lot of CD moms like that and I'm not going to be one.) She is still wearing disposables at night and I've already decided that she'll wear them when we drive from WA to AZ and for as long as it takes for us to get a washer and dryer purchased and install in out house on post. #2 will wear newborn disposables as well, there is no telling how fast s/he will grow so I'm not wasting money on cloth since this is my last baby.
I decided to finally make the change for a few reasons, the first two are very selfish reasons. I want her to potty train faster - it's said that CD babies do this because they can feel the moisture in her diapers) and it's cheaper over the long run. Other major reasons are her poor bum! She has been having some bad diaper rash and no matter what we do it comes back. I know with CD she doesn't have to deal with the chemicals resting on her skin 24/7, I have no way of knowing if it's a coincidence or not but the rash has gone and it's only been 3 days. Of course there's the environmental reason too, but I'm not going to lie and pretend that was the motivating factor.
We decided to go with Kawaii Baby Diapers because a friend recommended them and they are $6.99 a piece and not $22.00. Sold! They seem to be holding up well and hopefully will continue. They are adjustable so should fit from 10lbs to 30ish. I am open to trying other brands if anyone wants to send them to me for free (kidding, unless you really want).
I was wondering what you meant when you commented about C using the potty probably being connected to the cloth diapers. I was confused because with the pocket diapers she can't feel any moisture. The inserts absorb all the moisture and the part that touches her skin stays dry. I can touch it and it's dry even if the inserts are soaked. Are T's not like that? I know with prefolds they can feel the moisture....Anyway, I'm excited you made the switch. I had never thought of doing it until I met some friends out here who convinced me and now I'm all about it. Although, like you, I'm not going to be obnoxious about it. I get excited when a friend or family member is interested in doing it, but I would never look down on someone who doesn't. That would be really dumb to think differently of someone over something that their kid shits in! lol...Oh and good idea about disposables while traveling. We packed all her cloth diapers and brought them home on our last trip (and will again next week), but we definitely bought a pack of disposables for the two days of flying. I wasn't about to have 8+ hours worth of wet/dirty diapers shoved in my wet bag each way. I can't imagine driving all that way or CD'ing without a washer or dryer. Anyway, I'm sure you'll be really happy with them. When we have our next baby, I"m just buying some newborn prefolds and about 6 Bummis diaper covers. It should be under $100 and will get us by until he/she can fit into C's diapers. Just an idea if you hadn't thought of it yet since it's just as cheap as buying disposables (well depending on how long the baby would fit in any kind of newborn diaper, so I guess it's hard to tell).
ReplyDeleteWow. Didn't mean for that to be so long, sorry! Probably should have just messaged you...
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of friends that cloth diaper their kids. The ones who have more than one kid, and didn't cloth diaper their first (or second, whatever) have also said potty training was easier with the cloth diapering than the disposables.
ReplyDeleteI have every intention of cloth diapering my child when I have one, once they are out of the newborn stage, because there's simply way too many diaper chances and accidents, not to mention they grow like weeds at that stage of life.
Oh, the things I wish I'd known when my daughter was littler..cloth diapers, making my own baby food, etc.
ReplyDelete@Doc's Girl (Noel): I didn't start cloth diapering my daughter until she was 9 months old, but everyone I know who has done it from the beginning says that cloth diapers are excellent at containing the "blowouts" and they never had leaks or accidents like with disposables. My daughter used to blow out her diapers just about every day no matter what size or brand she was wearing. I hope this is true and we don't have to deal with that with the next baby. Nothing like getting pooped all over in the pediatrician's waiting room! LOL
ReplyDeleteE I haven't thought to touch her wet diapers to see the difference, net time.
ReplyDeleteIf #2 has a lot of blowouts in disposables we may try cloth but if I remember correctly most of hers were once we switched to size 1/2 diapers. That was a nightmare!
We did cloth since my son was like 6 days old because of all the leaking/blow outs with disposables. I now know it was mostly just pampers but with those we had a huge mess every time. We did mostly prefolds and covers for the newborn stage and just trifolded the prefolds because I have never gotten the hang of doing fancy folding. We do disposables at night, on trips and when our washer broke.
ReplyDeleteWe LOVE them! I don't look down on people that don't but I wish people had a more open mind about them since obviously it wouldn't work for everyone (a washer and dryer is a must) but it's a great way to save money that a lot of people over look. My biggest annoyance is how many people tried to talk me out of using them. However it just made me more stubborn to make them work. We have two Kawaiis and I love them although ours are velcro and it's not as strong as other brands. Good luck! Sorry for going on and on but cloth diapers have turned into a weird hobby.