CLOTH DIAPERING: MY EXPERIENCE

I have mentioned several times on my blog that I use cloth diapers. I mostly want to write this post to basically tell anyone who reads it how awesome and simple and also inexpensive cloth diapering can be. It seems funny to me that especially within the 'Mormon culture' more people don't use cloth diapers. When you're having kids at a young age often close together cloth diapering can prevent you from spending thousands of dollars you would have spent buying disposables. Yes, thousands. All saved on what you choose to use to catch your baby's pee and poop. So if you want to cut down on costs to take care of your baby, don't look past cloth diapering as a way to save some serious money.

First I'll tell you a little bit about what I use, and then later (in another post) I'll tell you a little more about what I know about some of the other options out there.

I use PREFOLDS AND COVERS:
Below I posted several photos of Lincoln's orange diaper cover. This cover is made from PUL (Polyurethane Laminate) which is basically a water proof fabric. The covers I use are made by Thirsties. Like other companies that make PUL covers Thirsties makes sized covers as well as two different sizable covers they call duo wraps. Size 1 for the first 6 months or so and size 2 for all time after that.  By snapping those front snaps together you can make the cover bigger or smaller to make it grow with the baby. Lincoln started wearing the size 2 cover at about 16 pounds, and I am still using the same size covers a year and a half later. Each duo wrap cover costs $12-13.

 PREFOLDS:

 Prefolds are very easy to use, super durable, and almost the most inexpensive option when it comes to the absorbent part of cloth diapering. In the lower photo I have three different sizes of prefolds that I have on hand. All of the prefolds I own are unbleached Indian prefolds made by Osocozy. Osocozy makes traditional length prefolds and also has a sizing option they call "Better Fit" which basically is just shorter so that the front part doesn't have to be folded down in order to fit inside the cover. It makes the diaper more trim when on the baby. I trifold my prefolds. It's hard to see in the picture but prefolds have seams that divide them into thirds. The center portion of the prefold is always thicker than the outer two portions. Mine are 4x8x4 meaning they have 4 layers of cotton on either side and 8 layers of  cotton in the middle. I fold it into thirds and place it inside the diaper as in the picture below.

This is what the orange cover looks like with a "Better Fit" prefold tri-folded inside of it. It's the perfect length.

 And that's it! You put the diaper on the baby almost exactly the way you would put on a disposable, by laying the baby on top of the prefold in the cover, pulling up the front between the legs, and securing either side of the Velcro on the middle Velcro tab. When you change a pee diaper you just remove the prefold, put it in the diaper pail, wipe out the cover, and reuse the same cover on the next prefold. If the diaper is poopy, the poo goes in the toilet. The cover can still be wiped out and reused if it didn't get poop on it. I change the cover if it gets poop on it or if it gets damp because the prefold was completely soaked. If a baby is exclusively breastfed until 6 months all his poopy diapers do not have to be washed in the toilet. They can go directly in the pail. It sounds crazy, but breastfed poop is more or less like yogurt in the sense that it is water soluble and will just dissolve in the first rinse. Once the baby starts solids the poop goes in the toilet. This can be as simple as a single plop to get it off, or if your baby is like mine you will be soaking the diaper in the toilet, putting on rubber gloves and rinsing it out. I didn't get lucky with this, but at the same time I don't think that disposables would even hold some of the poops Lincoln has, and I would rather clean out a nasty, but contained, diaper in the toilet than change clothes with poop on them.  More than likely you will have a plop-able pooper. I'm pretty sure dealing with Lincoln's poop is not the norm.

Let's break down the cost:

I have a total of 4 dozen prefolds. Each dozen is in a slightly different size.  Lincoln has outgrown the absorbent power of two of those dozen so they are stashed away for this next little one, and I only keep the other 2 dozen out to use and wash.

4 dozen prefolds: $139 
10 Thirsties covers: $130

Total: $260 to not only diaper Lincoln for a year and a half, but what I currently have will probably last us another year with me probably only needing to replace 2-3 covers. I also have more than I absolutely would need. I could definitely get by on probably 6 covers and also a few less prefolds. I would just have to wash more often. I only wash every 4 days but a lot of cloth diapering mamas wash every other day. 
From what I understand the average person spends about $40 a month on disposible diapers. That's $720 for 18 months of disposables. I've already avoided spending $500 and my savings is only increasing the older Lincoln gets. The savings gets even better when you consider that I am only planning to spend another $30 for another dozen prefolds to use on this next little boy. I will need to replace most covers since they get worn more quickly, but that $140 on prefolds was well spent. I bet I could get use for at least 2 more kids on this same batch of prefolds. That's how well they hold up.

NIGHT-TIME DIAPER:
For the first year of cloth diapering I still used a disposable diaper at night. Disposables have a better stay dry effect than cloth, and I was worried about Lincoln feeling wet for too long at night if I put him in cloth. Towards the end of last year, however, he started peeing waaay less at night and I decided I was tired of spending money on extra disposables because I knew there had to be a way for me to make cloth work. I just didn't know what it was. After doing some research I decided to make some cloth 'doublers' out of some flannel fabric I had on hand. I just sewed 4 layers of flannel together in the measurements of one third of the prefold so that I could easily wrap the prefold around it. Then I cut up fleece fabric in the exact same measurement and laid it on top of the tri-folded prefold. (imagine the picture above but with a strip of fleece fabric sitting on top of the prefold). Fleece has an amazing stay-dry effect. When used on top of a prefold the baby will pee and the wetness will go right through the fleece and be absorbed into the prefold. The baby's bum feels perfectly dry and the prefold is still wet like normal. After the first night I was amazed at how dry the fleece still felt even though the prefold was pretty wet. I haven't looked back to disposables since then, and up went my savings.


WASH ROUTINE:
Diaper companies will tell you that you need to use 'cloth diaper safe' detergent. From all of the research I've done that is mostly based off of reading real life mom experiences as well as from my own experience I can definitely say that this is completely unnecessary. You need good detergent to make your diapers come out clean every time. Mild, 'safe' detergent isn't always going to get the job done. Especially when you factor in different water types as well as different climates. In Utah I always used my homemade detergent (borax, washing soda, and soap). This hasn't worked quite as well in Florida. I think it has something to do with the humidity because even our clothes don't seem as fresh for as long. Now I switched to using the Target version of Gain with a lavender scent. It works great. Tide is also awesome. Any detergent you like to clean your clothes will work great. However, you cannot use detergent with fabric softener, or any added fabric softener because it will prevent the diaper from being able to absorb pee.
To wash I first do a quick cold rinse before I start the normal cycle. This just gets off any extra poo  and also gets the pee out before I add detergent. Then I do a hot/cold cycle with detergent. I hang the covers to dry (important) and put all the cloth in the dryer on high. It's really no different than a normal load of clothes.

I personally really like the Thirsties brand for covers because they have double leg gussets to hold in poo and they also come in simple colors. Many brands make covers with lot of different prints that are really cute. It's just too much for me to keep track of, plus I feel like it would bug me if Lincoln's shirt didn't match his diaper. Yeah, I don't need that kind of stress! :) But some people LOVE all the cute prints, which is awesome. Anyways, other brands that sell one-size PUL covers are Flips, Blueberry, Bummis, Diaper Safari, Imagine, Assunta, and Kawaii to name a few. All of these brands are priced differently and have slightly different styles. PUL covers can also have snap closure as opposed to Velcro. Snaps hold up better in the long run. I like Velcro because I feel like it's just a little easier to put on (especially for Sean) and it also helps me get the perfect fit on Lincoln's waist. It's really just a matter of preference.

Overall I LOVE cloth diapering. Probably a little too much. Compared to disposables cloth diapers are bulkier and they also have to be changed more often, but there are so many lesser known benefits besides just saving money: less garbage, fewer chemicals touching your baby's skin, no blow-outs! (cloth diapers hold in explosive poo waaaay better than disposables), and just a soft, cute and colorful diaper on my baby's bum.