My Cloth Diapers

Kevin and I are very aware of how we spend our money (a.k.a. cheap). So far, Lily has made very little to no change on our monthly budget (except for the whole me quitting my job thing.) I have been fortunate enough to be able to breastfeed for this long and am still going strong. Besides formula, diapers can be another huge expense for Baby. I did a little bit of research and talked to a few friends and decided I was going to do cloth diapers. Kevin took a little bit of convincing but ultimately told me it would be my decision since I would be the one washing them. I would have loved to have a diaper service, but again, our main reason for doing cloth was the cost, not the environment (sorry). While I was working, we did a combo of cloth and paper, and still found it helped out tremendously with the cost of diapers. Now, we are cloth most of the time.

I found a few new cloth diapers on ebay but they came directly from China. I was a little hesitant as to the quality. So I began looking at some name brands and where they were manufactured; China. So ebay it was. I bought 3 at first to try out to see if I liked them. I loved them. I ended up with 18; buying them one or 2 at a time as I bid on them. Total cost, around $100. I went with an adjustable diaper that will grow and change with Lily. I chose snaps because I had read that the velcro tends to wear out and collect lint. I also chose a pocket diaper as oppossed to a complete all in one. This allows me to use one inset during the day and 2 inserts for her 12 hours of sleep each night. I have had pee leaks as the cloth can only absorb so much. But the leaks have typically been because I didn't do a double at night, or forgot to change her before her nap. I have never had a poop leak which I often did in paper diapers. I use just as many cloth a day as I do paper.

Here is one of the inerts and diapers all opened up. The liner is basically a couple of layers of terry cloth (it's difficult to see in the picture.) We have 2 girly diapers, the rest are neutral so we can use them for multiple children (again, cheap-cheap.) But even if I had to buy another set, the cost is worth it. The diaper adjusts both in width and length. We still use paper when we go out or if someone else is watching her. In my defense though, they aren't difficult at all. We have gone out in cloth and it that hard to bring the wet ones home. I wash three times a week. When it isn't too cold, I hang the diapers out on the line (as I do with a lot of my laundry). You shouldn't dry the covers anyway because of the vinyl covering. Did you know that poop stains fade, and often disapear) in the sun? Someone told me that years ago, but I didn't beleive it until I tried it myself.

Here she is at around 8 weeks in a cloth diaper. We used paper for the first couple of months because she was so small and newborns poop ALL the time.

Here she is more recently. Clothes do fit differently over cloth, but it isn't inconvenient. She hardly wears denium though; it just doesn't stretch the same.

Cloth isn't for the faint of heart. I find myself breathing through my mouth to avoid the smell when I start a load of diapers. And yes, you might get a little pee on your hands as you pull the insert out to be washed, but you should wash your hands after starting any load of laundry. You do find that your own kid's poop and pee is different, though. I would never wash your kid's poopy diapers.