Cloth Diapering Preparation

As previously mentioned, I plan on using cloth diapers for Israel once he is parasite- free (it's pretty common for institutionalized children to carry a few "parting gift" bugs home with them). Some people (my sisters) have called me crazy, but Will and I made this decision for a few reasons.


 1. It is cost-efficient. Aside from the initial start-up costs, the only other cost is from washing the diapers (which we'll be doing about every other day). For us, my mother-in-law found about 15 of our cloth diapers at Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, AL for $2-3 each. Yes, you read that right. A steal! Will and I only bought around 4 diapers when they were on sale via Zulily - so we spent around $40 total on diapers and we have around 22 diapers (recommended to have 12-18- so we're set!). Our diapers are "one size" diapers with inserts. These diapers are designed so that you can adjust them as your baby grows, so they work for newborns to when your kid is ready to be potty trained (and supposedly cloth diapered kids potty train faster)! So basically, our $40 investment + laundry is all that we will pay for Israel's diapering needs until he is potty trained.



2. Look + Feel.  Cloth diapers are super cute! The colors are adorable and I'm sure this summer there will be many days that he wears a t-shirt and his diaper and that's it :). We've heard that cloth diapers can feel a lot better on baby bums. They are absorbent but also softer than disposable diapers. Rumor has it that kids have less diaper rash in cloth diapers. Another thing, is that the diapers we chose (pocket diapers) have snaps that are super easy and work just like a disposable diaper does- no safety pins or difficult process in getting them on. These are not the cloth diapers our parents used!



3. Waste. We are probably not the most "green" couple ever, but we do recycle and try to keep our waste efforts somewhat low. Knowing that there will be less diapers in a trash dump makes me a little happy. :) With that said, if/when we ever bring Israel to the church nursery, I'll send him in disposables. We'll use disposables when we travel, too. But since I'm an avid couponer, I've bought what diapers we need for that already! Speaking of waste, we have a fancy diaper sprayer that we will use to spray the solid waste into the toilet - so we don't have to soak the diapers or touch poop (aside from what would happen when you change any kids diaper).
We have a good number of diapers right now, and they are in various colors/ brands. We have several Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius, Kawaii Baby, and other off-brand diapers. We are using the ones with inserts in them.

We decided to do cloth diapers several years ago, with the condition that we'd only do it if I was able to stay at home with our child. Cloth diapering does add on time with washing/prepping the diapers, and I knew that time would be a precious commodity if I was still working. We certainly are not judging anyone for NOT doing cloth- but we feel like with our current family situation (financially, me staying at home, etc) and knowing that we want more kiddos in the future, cloth diapers are a good investment for our family.

Here are some more blog posts about cloth diapering, if you are interested in reading:

I promise to post an update when Israel is using them!

Comments

  1. Whoa, I so needed this education! I've thought about cloth diapers but had no idea how they work, pluses and minuses, and how the heck do they go from newborn to toddler? Amazing! Definitely NOT the cloth diapers of our parents' day.

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  2. Yay!! Another CD'ing mama :) My family thinks I'm nuts. So far we have 10 Meg-a-roos Prefolds and I just ordered 6 fitteds off of Hyena Cart (great website for CD's and other natural stuff!) I'm knitting wool covers and we registered for some pockets as well. I'm not planning on waiting for the parasites to be gone though... CD's are wayy better at keeping stuff in and I do NOT want a giardia blow out. Just saying!

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  3. Thanks for this post, i had always wondered about using cloth diapers. This may be something to think about when we have our next child!

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  4. I thought I was the only person wanting to use cloth diapers these days. I haven't heard of anyone else in my area. The main reason I'm interested is due to the cost of desposable. We're pregnant with our first and saving for adoption. Thank you for the encouragement. The diapers you have are soooo cute! I need some cute covers and am grateful for the links and info above.

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  5. so excited you're doing this! I remember many conversations about this topic and us going back and forth. I'm super excited to see how it works out and an update post once you get into the swing of things!

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  6. We have cloth diapered our 2 homegrown kiddos and plan to do the same when our Ugandan kiddos are parasite-free as well. Good-luck!

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  7. Hi there, I've been reading your blog via a friend's blog for several months (we are on the waiting list to adopt from Ethiopia) and it feels weird to be delurking for this, but a word of advice from a fellow cloth diapering mama... We use fuzzibunz and Charlie's soap to wash and discovered the hard way that most laundry soaps say to use much more soap than you need in a CD load. The result was buildup on our diapers which caused a nasty rash for our daughter. We had to do several no-soap washes to get all the built-up soap out and now use just a tablespoon of the powdered Charlie's soap (in general, you just need about a third of the recommended amount of whatever soap you use) AND we do an extra hot rinse with each load to be sure they are good and soap-free. Just thought I'd share our experience so hopefully Israel's bottom will stay rash free! We love our fuzzibunz (we also do the one-size) and have had great luck with them. Although I would say that the way to be successful with CD is to not be a crazy person about it-flex on road trips or long days out and about or if he is sick. They are just a bit more of a hassle and having a box of disposables on hand for another option can keep you sane some days! Good luck! And I'd be happy to share my experience should you run into and hiccups! :)

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  8. They are cute! Praying for few parting gifts.

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  9. Yay! Thanks for linking my blog. I think you'll love cloth just as much as we do. :-)

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  10. Pinning this for future use :). They are just adorable.

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  11. you will be SO happy for this decision. i am now exclusively using cloth diapers during the day for my two girls but disposables at night. we have saved a TON of money. i have all Bum Genius and mostly we bought the diapers on the "seconds" sales, which are about $11-$12 for the pocket diaper with a new insert too. basically its a diaper that they think has some 'defect'. i can never find it! but its brand new. you can buy these thru the website www.cottonbabies.com , and they have great phone customer service too. and its WONDERFUL to feel like you can change your baby's diaper however many times in a day that you need to (ie. what? i just changed your diaper and then you have an explosive poop FIVE MINUTES later?? no problem!) and you arent costing yourself any more $$. i am going to give you a link to a products i LOVE that i wish i knew about 2 yrs ago in case it helps. i'm a friend of jennas which is how i found this blog. love the name israel too!!!
    http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?products_id=2140
    this is the planet wise diaper pail liner. the shipping is free on the cotton babies website. i LOVE Them. you just throw the liner right in the wash with the diapers! buy two for each diaper pail you have.
    and my cousin said i should be using reusable wipes too while i'm at it, its no more work. i havent found a good one i really like yet to recommend but i am doing that too.

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  12. If you need more diapers check out http://thelittlebeeco.com. For each diaper purchased they donate one to an orphanage.

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  13. Sorry the website address is http://thelittlebeeco.com/

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  14. We cloth diaper and I love it! Those are a lot of diapers for such a small price! Praise the Lord!

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  15. We cloth diaper and I love it! Those are a lot of diapers for such a small price! Praise the Lord!

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  16. The biggest motivator for us in choosing cloth diapering is cost savings. Those all colour is really too good. I do currently use cloth diapers. I impressed by that.

    Cloth Diapers

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