The year in cloth

Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement on the last post.  I got some baby Advil for Sofia, and we had better nights Monday and Tuesday.  But last night, I made the mistake of taking the dog for a walk after dinner, when I usually give her a bath after dinner and then put her in bed.  It was such a pretty night and I hadn't walked the dog yet, so I put her in her pjs and put her in the Ergo, thinking she'd fall asleep.  Ha.  Once again, she went down fairly easily but it took two hours to get her back to sleep the second time.


When will I learn not to mess with The Schedule?  Routine rules all, you guys.


At any rate, we're doing better and I thought I'd do a follow-up post to my original one on cloth diapers.  Sofia will be 13 months tomorrow (*sniffsniff sigh*) and we've been using cloth diapers since she was about three months old.  We'd been gifted about three months worth of newborn diapers and it took me that long to work up the nerve to make the switch.  Then, I used disposables at night for about four months because it took me that long to work up the nerve to use cloth at night.  I had nightmares of changing a soaking baby in the middle of the night and never getting her back to sleep.


But now that I've gotten over my fears and I'm using cloth pretty much exclusively, I thought I'd come back and give an update.

Plus, it gives me an excuse to show you my cute hippie baby.

I bought my diapers brand new from Cotton Babies.  Obviously, it's 'greener' to buy them used and that way no additional resources are being used to produce them, or make them yourself which would be cheaper than buying new.  However, I suck at sewing and I couldn't get past the idea of buying used 'underwear.'  I tried, I really did.

 At the time, Cotton Babies was running a buy 5, get one 1 free deal and I bought three sets.  Those 18 diapers have served me well and they have remained like new - I'm oddly proud of my diapers.  Some of the inserts have light stains on them, but I couldn't get them to show up on camera, so I gave up.  

But here's why I love Cotton Babies:  One of my diapers had one defective snap.  I thought I could live with it, but every time I pulled that diaper out and every time the snap wouldn't hold, it annoyed me.  Finally, I called Cotton Babies and asked them what I could do.  I spoke to a live person, she showed me what to do on the website, and I sent them my diaper.  A few days later, I got an email that said 'We received your return.'  A few days after that, I got another email that said 'We are processing your request.'  A few more days and 'Your order is on its way, here's your tracking number.'

I was so impressed!  I hate being that guy that has to call and be like 'did you get my request?  Are you processing it?  When can I expect my exchange?'  And I hate not talking to a live person.  That alone was worth the expense of buying new and what's more, a couple months after that, I sent in another diaper that had pilled up more than I liked and they replaced it, no problem!  The way to my heart is good customer service, y'all!

Of the five moms in my playgroup, three of us use cloth and when one of them offered me some free BumGenius diapers, I accepted.  They were from a friend of hers, she didn't use them and I was trying to get over my whole 'used underwear' thing.  That's when I found out I was a diaper snob.

Guess which one is my diaper.

This was taken with my phone and no flash.

My diapers really are that white and

the donor diapers really are that gray.

What in the world have these poor diapers been through?

I only took pictures because I was shocked that diapers could look like this.  Now, I am no washing genius.  I use Rock in Green soap and Borax in the soap part of the washer and a little bit of white vinegar in the fabric softener part every now and then for stinks.  That's it!  What's more, I made it even easier on myself!  Remember my ultra fancy washing system?

I used to soak my diapers overnight in a little Borax water and wash them the next day.

I don't even do that anymore!  Now, I put them in the washer straight from the bag and put it on a hot cycle with no detergent and no spin.  That gets them good and soaked.  Then I wash them on sanitary and now, everything goes in the dryer.

No more extra step!

For a minute, I was getting leaks out tha ass.  See what I did there?  I'm so punny.  I was just about done with cloth diapers because it was violating my rule:  It must be easy.  Changing her clothes three times a day because of diaper leaks was NOT easy and it was getting on my nerves.  One day, I had done the wash but couldn't line dry them because we had a showing so I threw everything in the dryer.  That round, I had no leaks and her inserts would be sopping wet so I knew she was peeing.  I dried everything a couple more times and I stopped getting leaks!  I've done nothing else differently so it had to be that.  And really, who cares what it was because my diapers don't leak anymore!  Not even at night!  I was a skeptic but hemp inserts are the bomb - buy some now.  Even if you don't have kids in diapers.  They're that good.

I love how they used fake flowers to make them look purty.

I naively thought that all diapers looked like mine.  So when I opened the bag of free diapers I was in shock and immediately went for my camera.  I was in awe - the elastic was shot, the velcro barely hanging on, the inserts were yellowish-gray and flat and sad.  How many kids got diapered in these things?

And PS, if you buy cloth diapers DO NOT ever in your life get velcro.  I know they made them with velcro to more closely mimic disposables and while the idea is good, in practice it's silly.  Velcro is not compatible with multiple use and once you can't get your diaper to stay on, you're done with that diaper.

I accepted the free diapers with the hope that I could get over my used underwear hangup but sadly, I'm a diaper snob.  So now I have five BumGenius velcro diapers that I have no idea what do with.  Can they be salvaged for parts?  Do I put them on DiaperSwappers and see if someone without my dumb hangup will take them?

The point of this post was to say that cloth diapers really is not that big a deal.  Sometimes I go to the Arboretum with my mom friends for picnics and one of the moms gets an absolute kick out the fact that I use cloth.  Like, she watches me change Sofia's diaper and  slaps her knee and is all, "Well how 'bout that!"  Every time.  It cracks me up because I'm the one who does a double take at disposables.  I still use them at night every now and then if my hemps are still damp.  They are so crazy absorbent that I line dry them after I've taken them out of the dryer and when I pull out a disposable, the thin paper-y-ness throws me.  And it's funny to see her tiny butt in them because I'm used to her bubble.

She was five months here and hadn't really grown into them.

She has yet to grow into Daddy's hat.

Anyway, cloth diapering is really so easy there's no reason you shouldn't do it.  You save money, you save the Earth, and you can match them to your baby's outfit.  And let's be honest, that's all that really matters.

If you have questions, fire away.  I actually really like talking about cloth diapers.  Who knew?