Starting Cloth Diapers

We took the plunge this week and started cloth diapering. I really bought this stash of diapers for my bun-in-the-oven due June but thought this would be a good time to figure things out with Isaac as my guinea pig. Being a sizable kid, he will out grow them before he's gotten much use out of them. According to the manufacturer these diapers will fit 8lbs up to 36lbs. Isaac is already over 30lbs and while not a fat kid by any means has a little junk in his trunk. Wonder where he gets that from? Not.

I have a few requirements for this endeavor. 1. I cannot be having any rooms in my house smell like dirty diaper. 2. I have no interest in “grubbing” in dirty diapers (a quick swish through some water is OK but that is it). 3. It needs to be relatively economical (If I can use Pampers for less it is somewhat defeating the point) 4. They must be as easy to put on as a disposable.

Anyway, I bought my diapers from theluvyourbaby.com and for ~$6 each including shipping it seemed like a good deal. I chose a gender neutral pastel yellow. I wish they had plain white. Basically, they go on like a typical disposable diaper. There is no wrestling 12 layers of diapers and apparatuses together onto your kicking screaming child. There are insert pads that slide in so you can adjust absorbency. The system is entirely intuitive: Pull apart, wash dry, stuff back together and it sits waiting on you just like a regular disposable.

Day one of Isaac and the cloth diapers: He of course would decide to challenge the system by pooing no less than 5 times. 1-2 is normal. 3 is a busy day. Amazingly his hiney has held up to the challenge as have the diapers. Poo has stayed where it belongs. I did have the foresight to make my own liners using polar fleece. Supposedly the fabric that the diapers are made out of rinses clean quite easily but not wanting to test that just yet I picked up a yard of fleece from Hobby Lobby. So for about $0.17 each and a few minutes of cutting time, I have washable liners that I won't cry if it gets ruined. Plus they rinse easier than having to rinse the whole diaper. I have not bought a diaper sprayer yet but the fleece rinsed back to white with just a quick swish.

Day two: Isaac seems to actually like the softness diapers. He has been throwing the clean stack across the room like little yellow bombs. After 2 more AM poos I was starting to wonder if we would have a repeat of yesterday. Thankfully, that was it. Alyssa, Isaac's potty-training-cousin-in-progress was over tonight. After she went to the potty, Isaac insisted that he needed to pee pee in the potty as well. So, to humor him we tried. Low and behold he went. Who said peer pressure is bad? It may never happen again (and I doubt it will for a while) but it is always comforting to know what your kid CAN do if they WANT to.

By the end of day two I was actually surprised that the diaper pail does not stink. I did sprinkle some baking soda in here and there just in case. Tomorrow he will spend half the day at Grandma's in disposables so I'm going to go ahead and wash what is dirty. Otherwise I would wait another day but I don't want to run the risk of mold growing on our pretty new diapers. So far I must say that I am entirely satisfied with my purchase.