Cloth Diapers Update

I said I would update on how things were going and I'm happy to report that I am a fan of cloth diapers.  I have even gotten my mom to feel somewhat comfortable with them, too.  We have tried a number of different brands in a couple of different types.  Of what I have gotten, I'm pretty happy with all of them, but in general anything with a double gusset is best for us.

I was weary to try cloth at night because I thought that disposables would have the best absorbency but as Colin continued to leak through everything I could throw at him, including a disposable with a cloth liner included, I took the leap and put him in a Rumparooz over night recently (upon the suggestion of a friend who said she has had great luck with them at night).  When I left for work the next morning around 6:30 he still had not leaked and when I checked in with my mom, he had officially made it overnight without a leak!  And seriously - isn't this the cutest thing you've seen lately?  (I'll get a picture of the fire truck one, too; that one takes the cake in cuteness.)  You almost don't need pants when they are in a diaper and it's warm outside.  Actually, I think the only time Colin put on pants this day was to go to dinner because it was getting cooler.

When it comes to prefolds, I'm liking them, too.  Originally, I wasn't all that excited about them because unlike the pocket diapers, he sat in wetness because there was no fleece lining.  I went to my favorite nursing store, Sweet Beginnings, where they happen to sell cloth diapers, too, and she pointed out fleece liners that go between the prefolds and the baby's bottom.  While it doesn't take away all the wetness using the fold I use, it makes a huge difference.  That said, Colin seems indifferent to being wet or dry so I don't know if it makes him feel better but it definitely makes me feel better.  I haven't bought more of the actual prefolds because we have some in storage that I'll have Mike get to me but I did get another Sweet Pea cover because they are my favorite.  As an aside, I have one of their pocket diapers, too, but am not the hugest fan of them because there are no inner gussets.  We put him in one overnight last night and he made it through the night until 6 AM with just a small leak but I definitely had to change him then; he wouldn't have made it until he was up for the day at 8:30 or so.

The laundry isn't too bad now.  I have been warned though that as soon as he starts eating solids, I may change my opinion.  I do diaper laundry every other day or so and as long as it's sunny, I can dry them outside.  The worst part is the smell of the actual bag that we hold the diapers in until it's time to do laundry.  When you open it up to add a diaper, you definitely get a good whiff of ammonia.  I guess it could be something we just get used to, we'll see.

Overall, I really do like using the cloth diapers.  One downside is that you need bigger sized clothes for a cloth diaper butt (see above...) but for me that's actually a plus.  Colin hasn't been able to fit in to any of this 3-6 month clothes that I got him for summer so now I have a way to get him in to his clothes!  I know that it's not something we'll always use 100% of the time, but getting over the hurdle of changing from disposable to cloth has gone well as far as I'm concerned.  I also know it will get more complex as he starts eating solids but for now, I'm just going to get used to the general idea of cloth and go from there.

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.