Cloth Diapering, the basics.

 *Caution*

Some of this post may involve washing "yuckies" from diapers.

There are no pictures though, I promise.

The above, being modeled by my beautiful girl, is a Cloth Diaper.  That's right people, I wash her dirty diapers. In my washing machine.  At home.  With really hot water.  We made the decision to cloth diaper pretty early on, mostly based on the money it saves.  The average child from birth to potty training can go through any where between $1,000-$1500 in diapers.  We spent maybe $400 on her "stash" of 30 pink, green, yellow orange and white bumgenius 3.0's, and they grow with her.  Fitting babies from 5-35 pounds, if we take care of them the right way, they should last us until she potty trains.  Unless she doesn't potty train until she's 5.  But, I really think we would have bigger issues at that point.  When I started researching it more, I realized a few other reasons to cloth diaper; less chemicals sitting on your sweet little baby's bottom, less diapers filling up land fills ( each child using disposable diapers can fill up land fills with a ton of diapers that take almost 100 years to biodegrade.), and honestly, just an easier way of doing things.

My friend was asking me the other day why she should use cloth diapers, and I realized, not too many people realize the amazing freedom they can bring your family.  I don't have to run out and buy diapers because we're almost out.  I don't have to take out the trash every time she makes a stinky ( sorry, is there a better way to bring that point up?)  I just put them in my washing machine. I do a cold rinse, a warm wash with an extra rinse using no soap, then, a sanitizing cycle with two scoops of Rockin' Green that involves a presoak, and an extra rinse at the end. The process takes a couple of hours, but honestly, all I have to do is press the buttons. Then, I put them in my dryer, take them out, stuff the liners in, and put them away.  Easy as pie!

I am no expert.  I found BG3.0's and decided they were the easiest, cheapest way to cloth diaper for our family.  Others use all sorts of different kinds.  Pre-folds and covers are one that I don't know too much about, but I have heard of people using them with love! This blog, here has the different types of cloth diapers, and is a great general how-to.  There are videos on you-tube to help explain all of the steps, which can seem a little scary if you think about it too hard.

But you can't let it scare you.



Here's what we did and do.

Purchased 30 bum genius All In One's.  Enough to last two days.  A lot of people recommend using a place like Jillian's Drawers to test out different kinds of cloth diapers to figure out what you like best and what works best for your family.

We ordered this diaper sprayer, that way all of the yucky goes into the toilet, and you don't have to have any contact.  ( Fact: Breastmilk is water soluble and does not actually have to be rinsed before the wash.  I couldn't do the whole yuck in my washer thing.  So we used this often.)

We wash and use a TON of Rockin' Green products.   We use their Detergent for all of our clothes.  ( I did a soak on some of Red's PT gear and cammies one day, holy dirt colored water.  Thanks, tide.  Not only are they the number one rated Cloth diaper detergent, they are really user friendly, a mom is the creator, and they only use natural stuff.  The scents are amazing too! Smashing Watermelon's is a favorite of ours.  Also, the shipping is great and if you follow their Facebook page you can find some good info and deals.

We try to take care of them!  Make sure to put the velcro straps on the wash tags before washing, that way they don't pull and pill.  It's been one year for us and all 30 of our diapers are still in tact. 

We got 2 huge wet bags for the diaper pail, and two small wet bags for going out.  This helps to keeps any icky smell and or leakage in that bag. 

Recently, we added on cloth wipes.  I was going to make them myself, and my wonderful friend Erica, got wind of my lack of sewing machine, and sent me a ton made out of receiving blankets!! She cut them, hemmed them and I fold them together and mix up some water, baby oil, baby wash and maybe a bit of diaper cream for the solution.  This way I don't have to keep a trash can just for wipes.  Might as well wash them all, right?!

So, I am just a basic cloth diaper-er.  I do it for my baby, my wallet, and the planet.  I really do love it.  I love knowing I am doing some thing good, and it is so easy.  I love taking care of my sweet baby, and seeing that fluffy bottom!