So we’ve done it. Yesterday we switched to cloth for what i like to call the experiment. I say experiment because if my wife doesn’t like it or if her mom doesn’t buy into it – if i cant make it easy for everyone, i dont think it will work. We haven’t transitioned to cloth wipes yet which i am realizing probably wont hold out too much longer because carrying around a plastic bag to throw away the disposable wipes doesn’t really make sense.
My thoughts so far
- I don’t have enough diapers.
- Mainly because, I don’t like the prefolds ( i got a variety of options to try out)
- LJ looks damn cute in them (see pic below)
- It isn’t as messy as i thought.
- No blowouts, only two leaks which I think is because we didnt put them on right.
- Heinous Diaper rash which LJ has had for almost 2 weeks (from the antibiotic-induced yucky poop) was gone within two diapers.
Our collection
In an effort to figure out what works best on her body and for us we have a collection of items i started with some used and some new in a variety of types.
- Prefolds with covers – which are just huge, poor thing cant close her legs… I’m not certain we are doing it right we are going to experiment a bit more.
- AIO and Pockets – Blue.berry, Swaddle.bee, Bum.Genius, Happy Hei.ny.
- and A bumbleebee homemade diaper - thats right folks I made a diaper… There is a fabulous fabric store in town and she offers a cloth diaper class as well as sells all of the materials. So over the past two weeks I took it and made a diaper and the darn thing worked!
I am sitting down in a few minutes to work on the second one by myself…See it is what I call a Richmond Blizzard outside. We have about 6 or 7 inches of snow which shuts down the city. I love snow – I just don’t like playing in it so I volunteered to stay home with LJ while my wife and our friends go sledding. Everyone is happy. Happy snow day east coast.
10 Comments
March 2, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Oh my gosh she just keep getting cuter! I am a cloth diaper virgin, so what is the diff between prefold and the other? Clearly I have a lot to learn before I pop out a kid!?!?!?!
March 2, 2009 at 2:47 pm
You are right, she does look damn cute in them! We’re enjoying our snow day, too.
March 2, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Soooo cute in them.. you are right. I’m enjoying my snow day too!!
March 3, 2009 at 11:07 am
We use prefolds and really love cloth diapering. Since we wash our own diapers, we also use cloth wipes. Once you start you won’t want to go back because it’s so much easier to get that little bottom nice and clean. With our first baby, we just pre-rinsed them in the toilet. Now we have a little sprayer (Ama zon calls it a bidet but I’d hate to use it like that – cold and too hard a spray) which is awesome.
March 4, 2009 at 2:16 pm
We use disposable wipes when out and about, but cloth at home. We just stick them in the wetbag with the diaper. You can actually wash the disposable wipes – they are made sturdily enough (paper, cloth, what? I don’t know) that they do not come apart in your wash and then you can throw them out and know you aren’t adding any human waste to the landfill.
Give prefolds a chance – they are so inexpensive and quite easy. It’s a great way to expand your diaper stash for a limited investment. You don’t need to snappi or pin them – just fold them in thirds and lay them in the cover, then put the cover on like a disposable. We tend to use PFs at home and save the fancier diapers for outings, babysitters or grandparents.
Have fun!
March 5, 2009 at 8:22 am
Glad to see the baby healthy now
. First baby sickness is the hardest.
A question about cloth diapers. How do you wash them? Do you pre rinse them or you just throw them in the wash as is? Always wondered about that
.
March 5, 2009 at 10:33 am
Hi. I’m responding to your question over here because I think it’s easier to get notifications of your own comments than the ones on another blog. I hope that makes sense. I’ll respond on mine as well.
It sounds like you may be using the wrong size pre-folds. We are now on the 2nd size of prefolds. We used to think that the stitching colors were uniform so that you could always know it was time for the green stitch or blue stitch but alas. It is not so. The newborn ones are pretty small and still hard to fit.
I take the prefold and fold it in 3rds (along the folds), then lay that through the middle of the diaper. I line up the back edge with the back edge of the cover but fold over the front edge. There shouldn’t be any sticking out anywhere (especially between the legs).
I don’t know if that makes sense or not. Let me know.
March 5, 2009 at 5:42 pm
woo hooo! so glad the cloth diapers are working out well!!! i wish we could do it, but i really don’t think it would work for our fam. i admire you guys though!!! and, you’re right, she is pretty darn cute in that cloth diaper!
March 10, 2009 at 10:27 am
What a cutie! I love cloth diapers…so much in fact that with my last baby I went crazy with them and opened a diaper store. They are so addicting!
And I agree, there’s nothing to love about prefolds except that they’re cheap.
April 8, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Hi. I don’t know how I got to your blog but I wanted to ring in my love of the cloth. We use it almost exclusively for peanut. I go back and forth on my feelings for prefolds. They are sometimes super easy (like in the middle of the night when he is sleepy. But they are other times, hell on wheels! I like that i can use cream on the but in a prefold. Also, we only have about 10 bum.gen.ius. and about 3 fb pockets, and one cow…i think by a company that has a dolphin as the logo…anyway, not enough on the high pee poo days. I do laundry every other day so that my SAHM partner has the diapers she needs.
My main issue is that they get stinky after a while. And need stripping…also that when Peanut poos, i really have to get close and personal with it.
J, my partner made all his wipes, except the first dozen we bought, out of clearance flannel receiving blankets that she cut into small squares zig zag stitched to prevent edge unraveling. Made it cheap for us. We made out own wipe solution too.
post of my blog if you want any advice, though you sound pretty set….i mean, you made your OWN diaper! that’s so cool.
SR