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:

• Cloth Diapers by JenLovesKev
• The Much Requested Cloth Diaper Post by YoungHouseLove
• Cloth Diapering 101 by dearbaby
• Cloth Diapering 102 by dearbaby
• All About Cloth Diapers
• Cloth Diapering Tips, Tricks and Myths by Lara the Farmer's Wife
• Cloth Diapering by Kristel at Glowing Light
• Lots of Links! at the Simple Mom
• Do Cloth Diapers Save Money? at Handmade- Adelaide Baby.com

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