Sunday, June 3, 2012

My Experience with Cloth Diapering (so far...)

Asher is almost 5 months old now.


When I was pregnant with him, I had the idea that I would use cloth diapers with him as soon as we brought him home from the hospital. We accumulated dozens of diapers, and I spent hours watching YouTube videos on how to fold prefolds, use a Snappi, etc. I was excited about this cloth diapering thing.

However, we got used to disposables in the hospital, and when we brought Asher home, we had so many disposable diapers which people had given us! I figured "we'll use the disposables that we have (before he grows out of them!) and then we will use the cloth."

Daddy's first diaper change!
So three weeks went by and I used mainly disposables. Finally, the day came that I thought of using my cloth diapers! I used a prefold diaper (the things which many people use as burp cloths)


and a Snappi



and a Thirsties Duo diaper cover

So cute!
However, I felt like it didn't really fit right. In retrospect, I probably should've used a few that day, rather than decide right away that it didn't look right and put him back in disposables. That's what I did, though. I decided we would try again in a few weeks and see how they fit. 

Well, a few weeks later, he was too big for them! Crazy! This kid grows like a weed. 


So we decided to keep him in disposables for probably the rest of his diaper days. Maybe we could sell the cloth ones or use them on the next baby.

However, I got my cloth diapers out a few weeks ago and decided to give them a try again. Now most of the sized ones he'd grown out of, but I have some one-sized diapers also, so I tried it - and they fit him! 


Now, they're pretty bulky which makes it hard to fit a onesie over them, and he's growing out of most of his clothes anyways, so we don't use them as often as I'd like. Mostly, it's just that disposables are a lot more convenient - I don't have to worry about laundry issues.

Speaking of laundry, it's not really that difficult to launder the diapers. There are a few things which make it more difficult for me to launder them:

  • We don't do laundry very often: This may be because I'm lazy and wait until we are out of towels or clean undies or whatever before I'll do a load of laundry, or it may be normal for small families to not have to laundry very often - or it may be both. Either way, I am accustomed to only having to do about 2-3 loads per week.
  • Ew that smell: Because I tend to wait as long as possible to do laundry, a bucket full of soiled diapers soaking in water will start to smell after a few days (which has, I'm embarrassed to admit, already happened - a few times!).
  • Inconvenient Laundry area placement: I'm not complaining here, I'm very grateful that we have our washer and dryer, but it would be so much more convenient if they were located upstairs with us, rather than down in the unfinished basement (which can be scary sometimes, especially to a girl who followed the Jon-Benet Ramsey saga several years ago!). Plus, the washer and dryer being downstairs adds an "out of sight, out of mind" aspect to it.
  • I'm afraid I'll mess the diapers up: I've read so much about cloth diapering, and there's a lot that I can mess up. I like to avoid those kinds of situations when possible. 
I'll post Thursday about my cloth diapering routine, where I'll explain how I use the diapers and wash them. Who knows? Maybe I'll get crazy and make a video about it! Probably not, though - I hate seeing or hearing myself on camera!

Linked with Miscellany Monday and WFMW

4 comments:

  1. Oooo I sooo wish I had used cloth diapers! She is almost potty trained though now... but I plan to take some to th hospital next time to use. I found out most hospitals are super okay with that. I envy your little boy for having such an awesome mommy :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, thanks!! Yeah, I think I'll try to take some to the hospital, too: it'll lessen the temptation to use disposables if I use cloth from the beginning. And way to go on the potty training!

      Delete
  2. My mom MADE me buy cloth diapers. Even though I mostly used them as burp rags, I did use them a few times in an emergency when I had run out of disposables. I always buy a package for any new mom I know. Whether they use them as diapers or burp rags, they still come in super handy! (Visiting from lowercase letters.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. We use cloth most of the time. Did you know that you don't have to soak them? Most people these days use the method call 'dry pailing' which avoids the stinky water. My WFMW was about what we do http://a-bug-in-a-rug.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/mcn-update.html

    We love love love cloth and have one-sized ones like in your photo. Even if you only use a few cloth nappies a day, the environmental impact over 2 - 3 years is huge. That's 700 less diapers in landfill, even if you only use one cloth diaper a day.

    Good luck :)

    ReplyDelete