Okay, so originally I had wanted to cloth diaper Gabriel BUTTTTTTT Josh wasn't having it. Come to find out the reason he didn't want to was because he thought it was like "the olden days", where you have to safety pin a piece of cloth to the kid then put him/her in plastic pants. Well cloth diapering has come a LONG way from then. Yes, many still use that technique, although they are called prefolds, but some use this thing called a snappi instead of pins. I'm sure some still use pins, we don't. We mainly use a diaper called an AIO a.k.a. all-in-one. So let me start at the beginning....
I showed Josh on the internet some types of cloth diapers. Mainly the pockets, aio, ai2's...because they were most like a sposie (disposible diaper). I also wrote down some calculations. A 'stash' of diapers would run roughly 400-500 dollars. Yeah that seems like a lot of money, but that's the higher end of the deal. Some can be as low as 200-250 dollars to diaper your child until they are potty trained...and these days that's on the closer end of three. Boys actually average three and a half. Then I calculated how much diapers are costing us for just Gabriel until potty trained...that equalled up to around 3500 dollars (and that was birth until three-ish years!!!!! so it's actually going to cost us more since he likely won't be potty trained by then). Yeah, expensive right? So I hooked him.
Yeah, Gabriel is still using sposie's because for some reason I just can switch him over. I'm not sure why. I think in the beginning it was the whole washing the poop off the diaper because solids don't dissolve in the wash, and breastfed baby poo does. But now that Kellie is on solids, it kinda seems silly to wash her diapers and keep him in sposies. I will ponder on that some more.
Okay so back to the diapers. So my mom went a little crazy, we ended up having something like 75 diapers right before Kellie was born. A good stash you only need around 30ish. So we went a little over board, to say the least. But here is where one of the cool parts come in. What I tried and didn't like or what she grew out of, we sold. And we pretty much made our money back too. Amazing right?!?!?! Well I think so. So the ones I absolutely hated, I sold...and bought others to try and so on and so forth.
So my stash now is actually completely different from what it was like in the beginning, then again changed after a few more months. I mainly had pockets in the beginning.Pockets are a diaper you stuff with an insert. Like there is literally a pocket between the PUL (what keeps the diaper waterproof, so baby doesn't leak out of the diaper) and microfleece inside (which is a stay dry fabric and helps to pull the urine off the bum and into the insert). The inserts can be made of different types of material. Most come with a MF or microfiber insert. It's a synthetic material that is really absorbable. You can also buy them with natural fibers such as hemp, cotton, or bamboo. These are really absorbent as well, SUPER absorbent, but also on the expensive side. The top two pictures are a WAHM (work at home mom-made diaper), the second a Blueberry Mini Deluxe (MY FAVORITE NEWBORN DIAPER BY FAR), then a bumgenius pocket diaper in the last two. By the way, notice how you can coordinate your outfit around the diaper and vice versa. I love it.
Then I switched to Tots Bots, which is an all in one, meaning you don't have to add an insert...BUT I still had to stuff the tongue of the attached insert into the pocket, and it had the pocket to add absorbancy. I got tired really quick of stuff. I LOVED Tots Bots, but ehhh... I hate stuffing, it's time consuming. Baby girl rockin' the Tots Bots Easy Fit
I also tried fitteds with a cover and/or fleece soaker for a short (very short) time. A fitted is best for night time diapers, but a lot of moms use them for any time. They are great for heavy wetters, and most moms use them without a cover around the house--because they are JUST that absorbant. However, Kellie would cry when she was in them because the bulkiness would cause her not to be able to move her lower half really. So...I got rid of them pretty quickly, but I am glad I at least tried them out :) A cover is a waterproof cover you put over the fitted, which is another step I didn't like having to take. Pretty much like pockets, it's an extra step I didn't want to have to take. Because I'm just that lazy. And the fleece soakers act as a wicking agent. Meaning you put it over a diaper and it will help push the pee back into the diaper, thus less leaks. Here are some pictures of fleece soakers (with ruffles [I die!] and a fitted without and with a cover on.
Now my stash is all contained of all in ones. I also am a bit obsessive and have 3 of every color that I own. The brand that I use is Bumgenius and I use freetimes. They have two flaps attached that you can fold however you want to put the most absorbancy in the area you need it most PLUS they dry super fast. AIO's are usually a pain because the soaker is attached to the actual diaper itself, thus not having to stuff it. But since its attached it usually takes so much longer to dry (in my opinioin anyway). But the freetime dries in half the time it takes any other AIO I've tried. Here is baby girl rockin' a freetime.
I am by no means a diaper expert. I do what works for us and us only. For instance, most HATE velcro but I prefer it. It's so quick and easy to put the diaper on--not worrying about which snaps to put together and what not. Although I'm sure we will have to convert our diapers to snaps at some point as older babies tend to rip their diapers off with velcro since it's easy removal. But for now that's what we like.
Here is a little chart that shows another reason why we are cloth diapering (although its not the main reason by far, as we do still put disposibles on Gabriel)...
We also use disposibles on Kellie when we need to go out of town. It's just easier that way. We don't have to worry about what kind of water there is (hard, soft, normal--believe it or not that plays a big part), whether or not they use fabric softener in their washer and/or dryer (yes that plays a huge part too), etc. It's just easier that way. BUT Kellie hates them. She really doesn't like the feel of them on, which who really would? Plastic and scratchy absorbant material vs. soft cotton or microfleece against the bum... mmm, I would choose cloth too.
So there is my speal on the whole diaper thing. It's not for you? That's fine... it works for us. Do what works for you :)
So there is my speal on the whole diaper thing. It's not for you? That's fine... it works for us. Do what works for you :)
*By the way, I started this post last week...and it literally took me this long to put it together. Shame on me*
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