Cloth Diapers

When Joe and I got pregnant with BabyV, we started thinking about the costs of having a baby. Turns out it's wicked expensive. One of the most expensive things is diapers! They range in price, quality, and size. We did some calculations and decided that our baby was gonna have to be potty trained by the time we brought it home from the hospital! So, after my little freak out, I started doing some research on cloth diapering.

I've continued that research with Little Miss. I spoke with friends who use cloth, joined a couple of forums, and constantly Googled brands and comparisons. I found myself slightly overwhelmed, but very determined to dig through and come out with a brand! I finally did after about 7 months of searching. Let me go into the little bit that I learned about cloth diapering and then into the brand I chose.

There many options for cloth diapering. There are prefolds and covers, fitted with covers, pocket diapers, all in ones (AIO), and all in two or hybrids. Prefolds are the old school diapers. You actually take the cloth diaper and fold it into the shape of a diaper and attach using diaper pins or a Snappi. Then you place a waterproof cover over the diaper to hold everything in. Fitted diapers already come shaped like a diaper and have snaps or Velcro to keep them closed. After you place the diaper on the baby, you put a waterproof cover over top to keep everything in. Pocket diapers have a pocket in the waterproof cover that you stuff the absorbent diaper into. AIO are pretty self explanatory. They whole diapering system is in one diaper. There is no folding, taking off cover, or stuffing. It's all in one. All in twos are similar to AIO, but the absorbent part is removable, which means the cover can be used again for multiple changes.  Then there are a lot of accessories to consider, like cloth wipes, sprayer, wet bags. I mean the list goes on.

Very overwhelming indeed. I found that once I started researching, it wasn't so overwhelming once I figured out all the lingo and needs. The beauty of cloth diapering is you can mix and match your needs. One consensus was if you are going to cloth diaper you need to make sure you have a complete set before baby comes. Some people recommend trying a few brands out then choosing, but most recommend picking a brand a head of time. That way there is no confusion, you have everything you need, and you can get used to the system with baby on hand.

I decided on the brand Softbums. They come in pocket and all in two. I went with the Echo all-in-two system. The outer shell can be reused multiple times before washing, and the inserts are easy to transport. I had many conversations with a friend and this is her brand of choice, so I feel confident about my choice :). Softbums offers two options for their inserts - fleece and bamboo. I chose bamboo because it is 60% more absorbent and has antibacterial properties. Bamboo was a bit more pricey, but I figured since they are going to be used over and over I should get what I want :).

Softbums offers packages or individual diapers. I chose their good-to-go package. I got 9 shells and 36 inserts in the package. I added a few other shells and inserts to make sure I would have enough. I really like that Softbums gave an unbiased breakdown of the types of cloth diapers - they go over the cost of each type and how many you would need based on washing preferences. From their calculations, Joe and I should only be washing about every 3 days and then once a week when Little Miss gets older.

I've heard a lot of skepticism from people when I tell them my choice. Things like "that's going to be a ton of work! You're going to be doing a ton of laundry so you really wont be saving money. Cloth diapers are so expensive. You'll never be able to take your baby anywhere." The comments went on and on. I just polity smiled and nodded and stayed confident in my choice.

The price we paid for the entire set of diapers is roughly the cost of three months worth of disposable, and we won't be adding to the insane amount of diapers that are added to landfills each year, which can take an estimated 200-500 years to decompose! My inner hippie screamed when she read that stat! We will have a diapering system for all our babies, should we choose to have more than one. Joe is set on making sure we like the first one before we decide on having more :).

Our diapers arrived last night, thanks to the generous donation of my mom :). Aren't Nanas the best??!! I was super stoked about this arrival, and realized that my life is already changing in ways I never thought it would. I mean, I literally got excited about the device that is going to hold my child's waste. I do have to say that cloth diapers are super cute, so that was part of the excitement :)

Happy Diapering, Folks!

Good to Go Pack 

Cutest diapers ever!!!