Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Cloth Diapers - Day 1

I have been talking about using cloth diapers since before I was even pregnant.  Every time I took the diaper trash out for the past 3 months I have been thinking about the fact that those diapers sit in a landfill for ages - and if I could make a small difference by using cloth in our family, at least it would be a small step in the right direction.  I knew that I wasn't going to be up for it immediately after Colin was born so put it off until just after his 3 month birthday (another post on that later).  Luckily, there is a store in town, The Giggling Green Bean, that has a "trial pack" of sorts.  You put a deposit of $50 down for approximately $100 worth of diapers and then after two weeks of using them, you take back the ones that didn't work for you and keep what did, pick out some more, and pay the difference.

We opted for two different kinds of pocket diapers and prefolds with covers.  We didn't use any sized diapers because one size seems to make the most economic sense.  The store also offers a very good cloth diaper class but I failed to go while I was on maternity leave and since it's only offered on the weekends and I work the weekends, I won't be able to go for a while.  So I went in with just the knowledge from research I had done on my own and from talking to friends who had been CDing (yes, it has its own acronym).

Colin had a dirty diaper right before his morning nap so I decided now was as good a time as any to jump in with both feet.  I didn't want to my mother in law to have to do it while I was at work this weekend and really I wanted to be there to see how they worked.  Then yesterday I was at a meeting half the day so I put it off again...  but today was the day.

We started with a Rumparooz One Size Pocket diaper.  Because I know my little man is quite the pee-er, I opted for two liners from the start.  I put the diaper on him sometime around 10:30 and changed it just after 3:00 with no leaks whatsoever.  As I learned from my friend Amy, the gussets on the leg of the Rumparooz make all the difference.

Next I went to the Sweet Pea One Size Pocket diaper.  I don't know if I didn't have the size chosen correctly or if the liners got messed up, but he had peed through the Sweet Pea pocket in just over 2 hours, I think.  So based on the fact that I got so long out of the Rumparooz, I definitely need to figure out if there is something I did wrong with this one or what.

Finally today we used the Sweet Pea prefold.  Of all the diapers I brought home with me last week, I was most apprehensive about this one.  I wondered how a piece of cloth wrapped around a baby could work that well to keep them dry.  I looked at the different folds available from the literature I brought home with me last week and chose to use the angel fold.  I then used a Sweet Pea One Size diaper cover since the prefold itself is not waterproof.  I really liked this one as well and was able to keep it on him from when he leaked through the other one around 6:00 until he changed in to his pajamas at 9:45 or so (waaaay past his bedtime in case you're wondering).  I do wonder, however, how it feels for him since it's cotton and just holding the moisture against his skin.  He didn't seem to mind, but the pocket diapers have a fleece layer right next to his skin that wicks the moisture away.

No matter what we ultimately choose to go with, I'm excited to be trying out many different kinds and seeing what works for us.  He is in a disposable right now since I'm not quite ready to venture in to cloth for overnight (he is very well known - from his first week here - to leak at night).  And I think tomorrow evening will be our first attempt at washing dirty diapers... so I'll keep you updated!  And of course I'll have a cute cloth diaper picture to share but he wasn't up for being photographed too much today.  I do think my mother in law got a picture of the cute Rumparooz pattern he had on, though, so I will try to get that uploaded soon.

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow! You are awesome! I've thought about those before and always chicken out...maybe one of these days I will have to follow your good example and give them a shot! I will look forward to hearing how they go!!

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