One Last Thing on Diapers

Because I had this thought today and couldn't remember what I had said before...

Cathryn (and anyone else this may apply to), I would suggest for you, since you seem to want to try cloth diapering and I get the impression Scott doesn't so much, to try the diapers Allie is using.  They're a super good price for those diapers.  The great thing about pocket diapers is you can stuff them with whatever you want.  I stuff mine with my prefolds.  They tend to hold more fluid then the inserts mine came with.  And those diapers are so much like normal diapers that Scott might even be willing to try it. I would not use what we've been using if you want Scott on board and he's not even really wanting to try.

Allie - When you've used your diaper sprayer for a while (after it comes, if it hasn't), please let me know how you like it.  I haven't been able to convince Ryan that it's worth trying one, but if I get convinced enough and show him a good price, he'll probably budge on that.

That is all.

Cloth Diapers Part II (Answering Cathryn's Questions)

Cleaning Diapers before you Wash Them
This is the gross part of cloth diapering that probably deters people the most.  As for types of diapers, there are also options here.  We do things the very gross way, which means I clean my diapers out in the toilet with my hand and then deposit them into the diaper pail.  (I would encourage rinsing out just peed diapers too, it will pretty much eliminate smells from the diaper pail, at least, it did for us.)

They also make sprayers for cleaning your diapers.

I keep wishing I could try one of those and know how well they work.  They run about $50.00, which isn't much if they are going to work well, but is a lot if it's going to be a flop.  That's why I don't use one.  

I've also seen a few other things, but I'm not sold on them making it so you hardly have to use your hands.  I could see this one working, if you get enough pressure.

The truth about this part:  You get used to it.  It's not so gross when it's your own kid anyway, but you may find you know more about their bowel movements than you ever ever cared about.A n

A note on covers

We have fewer covers than diapers.  This is how that works.  If we change her diaper and the cover is soiled, it is dirty and goes into the pail.  If we change her diaper and the cover is not soiled, we clean it with one of our wipes and leave it to dry and exchange diaper covers at the next diaper change.  The only exception to this is on washing day when I try to wash as many diapers that have been used at all as possible.

How I wash my diapers
First of all, I have washed our underwear with her diapers.  Everything gets clean.  You can think of it as washing his blow-out clothes with other clothes.  Washers are amazing!   We wash diapers twice a week.

Note:  Of course every washer is a little different, so I'll try to keep it general.  My washer is a HE front loader.  I don't know what my dryer is, someone gave it to us.  It's old and squeaky.  :)

• Cold Rinse Cycle, no soap or anything, just rinse in cold (I put everything dirty in the washer: diapers, wipes, covers, wet bags)
• Hot wash Cycle with soap and ecover fabric softener (not necessary to use fabric softener)
• Then I dry the diapers and wipes on the highest, hottest setting our dryer has and run it twice.
• I hang my diaper covers and wet bags.  Although I have dried my diaper covers with my diapers before, but I decided to try and make them last longer by following half the tag (They say to wash in cold and hang to dry.  I'm of the opinion that I can't be bothered to do too many extra things.)

A few times a year (every other month to every 3rd month, I use bleach as follows)

• Cold rinse cycle
• hot wash cycle with soap
• hang diaper covers, wet bag, and move anything that can't be bleached to dryer (fancy diapers)
• hot wash cycle with bleach
• hot wash cycle with soap (may not be necessary, but I'm paranoid about there being any bleach left on the diapers)
• 2 times through the dryer like normal

The diapers always look so bright after a bleach cleaning.  Makes me happy.

As far as utilities, we pay about $100/month for our gas + electric.  I've asked around and other people in my ward in a 2 bedroom apartment pay about the same, so I figure it has very little to no impact.

Absorbency

I wouldn't be surprised if the gel in Luke's diaper wicked the moisture away.  I think it's designed to do that to keep the baby's bottom as dry as possible.

That being said, absorbency can be a hard one and you sometimes have to experiment to figure out what works for your baby.  All babies are different.  Some wet so so much.  Some don't.  Some poop every diaper.  Some basically never do.  That being said, we have on occasion had absorbency issues, but we also have had absorbency issues with disposable.  I don't know what the deal is with this girl.  The good news though is that we fixed it.

About two months ago, it seemed like Vidalia was wetting through everything for about a week.  At first I thought, man these covers must be terrible, which really made no sense because I had been using the same covers for 8 months with no unusual problems.  I tried trying the size larger, which were way too huge, so that was not the issue.  I think she was just peeing more.  We took a flat diaper folded it up and put it inside the prefold as we put it on.  It was amazing the difference really. 

How often do I change diapers

4-6 times a day.  Usually 4.  Without any problems.  This will change depending on how absorbent you make the diapers and age and such.

The Nylon Pants I Use

First of all, these are not the best diaper covers available.  I pay $4/2 pairs.  They're about the best you can get for that price.  I think the next step up is going to run you at least $10/pair.  That's why I use these nylon ones.  And I haven't had leaking problems through the nylon.  Leaks usually occur at a leg hole or the waist line, but I don't usually have leaks.  (I did more when she was younger though.  Cloth diapering seems to be an adaptive process, changing with age and sizes.)

My dislikes of my diaper covers 

• You can't adjust how the waist fits
• You can't adjust how the legs fit (I'm actually not sure if this is a pro or con.)

Possible solutions

• buy better covers
• wool - I've recently become very curious about wool, but all the covers I found online run $30/cover, it seems.  So I will probably never try wool covers, but if anyone ever does, let me know what you think.
• Make your own better covers.  I don't think it would be too hard.
• Don't use prefolds with diaper covers.  Try a different kind of cloth diaper altogether.
• Etc. Because there are more, but this is all I thought of just now.

Night Diapers

We do not currently do anything different for night diapers.  She lasts 12+ hours at night with no leaks easy.  

Before we were putting flat diaper linings in all her diapers, we were putting them in for night only.

What sold Ryan

 Well, lets just say any of the following phrases sell Ryan on things.

• Less expensive
• Eco friendly and about the same price
• Eco friendly and less expensive (this super sells Ryan)
• Save money
• spend less money
• etc.

Good luck trying to sell Scott on the idea.  It wasn't hard for us here.

One-Time Costs

• We have 3 sizes of diapers.  24 of each size (you can get away with fewer).  For the life of a baby, you may want to add 2 more sizes, one bigger than what I have and 1 smaller. Buying 12 diapers at a time cost me just under $30. (You can get the small size of prefolds from Mandalay, where I got my flat diapers, for cheaper.  They're not quite as nice, but about the same as far as absorbency is concerned.  They only have the one size though.)  Total = $300
• lots of flat diapers, lets just say 24 @ $0.75/diaper = $18 (I actually didn't buy any of these though, they were a gift.)  Total = $18
• We have 8 of 5 different sizes of covers (NB, small, medium, large, toddler) and we're currently using medium.  40 covers @ $4/2.  Total = $80
• Wipes = cut up old things Total = $0
• Snappis 1 pack of 3 Total = $7.40 (I'm guessing here, but that price came up online.  I think you may need more if you use these for several kids.  They're bound to fail eventually.  We've been using ours for about 1 year so far and they are still fine.)
• Diaper Pail, depends on your choice Total = $10
• 1 bought babysitter diaper + 1 made Total = $25 (over estimating on the one I made)
• Micro fleece (it wicks moisture from the bottom.  I use it sometimes with rashes.  I can't believe I forgot to mention it before now)  Bought it at the fabric store and cut it into insert-size strips and then did not sew it.  It doesn't shred the edges like other materials.  I used maybe a quarter yard. Total = $5 (max)
• A washer ours cost $450
• A dryer, ours was free

Total One-Time Costs = $445.40

Total with washer = $895.40

Recurring costs

I will overestimate what I think I use and what I think the costs are.

• Baby soap, 2-3/year $2/bottle? Total = $6 (I use this same soap to wash her, so that's not just to diapers)
• Baby oil, 1-2/year $2/bottle? Total = $4
• Extra Laundry soap, I have no clue, maybe I use one container for diapers? (I don't even think that much)  Total = $10
• Lanolin (I use it instead of desitin because desitin will ruin cloth diapers) 1-2/year $10/tube Total = $20 (there are cheaper off brands, but I haven't tried them yet.  And by cheaper I mean you could get the same amount for $5 or less, I think)
• Baby Powder (1 that we got from our baby shower and are still using) less than 1/year $2/bottle? Total = $2 (don't worry, I know what they say about baby powder.  We don't use it often.)
• Utility cost, no clue, no different than other people's so I'll say Total = $0 (or in other words, negligible)
• Ecover fabric softener I use 32 oz./2-3 months A case of 6 bottles on Amazon/$20.  (Free shipping with subscribe and save) About 1 case/year Total = $20 (You can cut this cost, I choose not to.  How much you use will also depend on your washer though.)

Total Recurring Costs = $62 (I think you can easily make this less.  I haven't gotten to working on that much yet.)

Sorry about the forever long post.  I think I hit on all of the questions you asked.  Feel free to ask more if you have them.

Cloth Diapers

Disclaimer: I don't really think cloth diapers will save you any money if you don't have a washer and dryer.  They may actually cost you more if you have to use a laundromat.

We started using cloth diapers when Vidalia was 1 or 2 months old.  It wasn't a complete cold-turkey transition, so I don't remember.  It's really not hard to do, but I do think if you're really going to, you have to commit yourself to doing it (at least until it's habit).

Why People Use Cloth Diapers
There's lots of reasons to use cloth diapers.  Obviously one is to save money or I wouldn't be writing this in the first place.  It's said to be more environmentally friendly.  May or may not be true.  I suspect it is.  Some people have to because of allergies to disposable diapers.  Some people do it as a hobby.  And about a billion other reasons.  I'm sure you can find several.  A lot of the stuff I read when trying to decide what we were going to do was written by people who are very (read overly) passionate about cloth diapering.

Why I use Cloth Diapers
When Vidalia was born we had some nursing issues, actually strike that, we had almost no nursing issues, but I had milk production issues.  This was quite unexpected and landed on top of us a monthly formula bill we were not planning on.  We hadn't really considered cloth diapers, but had a few that were given to us as a gift, at my mother's request, to be what she called "food storage diapers".  I was curious and started looking into it.  It didn't take me long to decide that we could cut some baby costs out here, so we tried it.  Unfortunately, the money saved by cloth diapers was not equal to or greater than the money lost to formula.  At least, I don't think so.  I don't actually know because I never purchased disposable diapers.

Pros of Cloth Diapering

• ability to custom fit to your baby (both size and how absorbent)
• lower cost over time (if you have a washer and dryer)
• fewer blow-outs (this was definitely the case for us)
• decrease of diaper rash (I've heard this.  I haven't had much experience to really compare though.)
• baby doesn't destroy wipes or diapers by playing with them
• cute designs (I just use white stuff, but I've heard this listed as a pro before.  People really get into it.)

Cons of Cloth Diapering

• you have to rinse them out and wash them
• more expensive up front
• way way way too many choices (at least, this can be a little frustrating when you are trying to figure it all out)
• more bulky

Why I'm Completely Sold on Cloth Diapering Now
When I went to visit family in Utah last July, my Dad really didn't want me to use cloth diapers at his house.  (They did them when we were young and he apparently was disgusted and hated it so so much.)  So, they bought me a big box of pampers.  I think Vidalia may have been allergic to them because she had a terrible rash.  And that would be my only experience to compare rashes with the different types of cloth diapers.  Anyhow, it seemed like every time I changed her diaper, I was changing her clothes.  I know she is a baby, but she was 7 months old.  She was past the constant blow-out stage.  Pee is not so annoying, just wash the clothes, but poo blow-outs are super annoying.  Washing out clothes and often soaking them trying to get the stains out (by-the-way oxi-clean is amazing).  You may think, but what about the actual cloth diapers?  Well, mine are stained, but noone ever sees the diaper.  It's really not an issue.  And they are not as stained as you would think.  I occasionally wash them with bleach and that pulls out a lot.  So that's why I'm completely sold on cloth diapers.  I've had more blow-outs with disposable diapers, which we've used for a maximum of 3 months out of her whole life, than with the cloth, which account for her other 10+ months of life.  That's a big deal to me.

Ryan is 100% with me on the cloth diapering.  I don't know if I would do it otherwise.  Or at least, I wouldn't solely do it.

What I Use
Note: Not all of these things are necessary.  Feel free to ask me about any of these things.

I tried to think of every last thing we use.  Let me know if you have questions about any of these.

• Green Earth Prefold Diapers (I bought mine from a local baby boutique for $2.50/diaper.  There are different sizes.  No such thing as one prefold fit every baby for life, but I wish.  I've tried some other brands of prefolds and this one comes highly recommended by me.)Snappi Diaper Fasteners (Instead of safety pins.  These things are amazing.  Bought them from the same local boutique for who knows how much.  We have been using the same pack the whole time.)

• Dappi Nylon Diaper Pants (Bought online through this link.  They are a little more expensive than vinyl diaper pants, but they don't shred into pieces if you accidentally put them through the dryer (or on purpose, I did a lot of experimenting at first).  Totally worth the extra $1 or whatever it is.  You need different sizes.  We have 8 for each size.  I think you can get away with 4 pretty easily though.  I just like to be overstocked.)

• Flat Diapers (I use the ones from Mandalay International.  $0.75/diaper.  I've cut some up and used them as wipes.  Sometimes I use them as a changing pad when I forget mine.  We currently use them as extra absorbency in her diapers.  We didn't always, but it became necessary.  There are stores in Ogden, Provo, and China or you can order them by phone (I don't think online.)  I used these ones because I used to work for these people and they are super cheap.)
• Ecover Fabric Softener (completely unnecessary.  I use it because the diapers were getting rough and it bothered me, but the baby didn't seem to care and it wasn't making her body raw.  It was simply to appease my conscience.  Oh and p.s. never use ordinary fabric softener on your diapers.  It apparently destroys them.  I didn't even experiment with this one, it seemed like I would be super upset with myself if I did.)

• Wet Bag (a wet bag is good to go in the diaper bag.  You put your dirty diapers in it, zip it up or pull the drawstring closed, and you don't smell hardly a thing and there are no leaks.  This things are awesome.  They say not to dry them in the dryer.  Believe them.  You can make them out of PUL fabric and cotton fabric.  It would be super simple.  It's just a bag.  Note on making things with PUL fabric though.  I suggest running them through the dryer at least once to ensure no leaking.  I know I just said don't, but I have an untested theory that if you leave the bag zipped up, you won't have delamination occurring, which is what will ruin your bag.  This are kind of pricey, in my opinion, but totally worth it if you don't want to make one.)
• Small Garbage with lid  (I think ours came from target.  It was the cheapest small garbage with a lid they had.  It is plastic.  It works great.  In hind-sight I would get the same garbage; it is super easy to clean out.)

• FuzziBunz One Size Pocket Diaper (I was (and still am convinced) that I signed up for cloth diapers and babysitters did not.  As part of figuring out cloth diapering, we tried to figure this out too.  They have a pocket and you stuff it with your whatever you want.  These things are pricey $20/diaper new.  Used you can probably find much cheaper.  I have 2.  The one in the picture with the snaps and one I made out of PUL fabric and velcro.  The velcro is so much better, p.s.  This diaper is good because it is basically like using a disposable.  It's much easier.  I still think they are more prone to blow-outs than prefolds though (since you wrap that diaper around your individual babies little bottom).  If you want to use cloth diapers and husband isn't into it, this may still work.  People call these kind of diapers husband-friendly.  I'm telling you though, if you can make your own, you will save yourself probably $19/diaper.  Not exaggerating.  I stuff mine with prefold diapers.  They come with their own stuff, but I find it less absorbent.  I've never had a babysitter need more diapers, so the 2 have worked great.  I still think it would be wise to have more, just in case.)
• Old cotton clothes that were going to be disposed of.  (We cut them into squares and use them as wipes.  Cost us nothing.  I wouldn't suggest buying clothe wipes.  They are made from things like microfiber and although very soft, will not have much grip, if you can imagine what I'm saying.)
• Water + baby soap + baby oil = wipe solution!  (You actually don't even need to add the baby soap and baby oil.  I know people who don't.  Or you could add one or the other.  I use all three because I like to think I'm actually washing the baby's bottom and the baby oil is so nice to their skin.  I haven't always used the baby oil, but I will never go back now that I have.  You can also buy wipe solution.  I'm guessing at least $10/bottle.  My suggestion is don't.)

I like to have 24 diapers and 8 diaper covers of each size.  It's more than you need for one baby.  I don't know how many flat diapers I have, but way way more than I need and they only come in one size, as far as I'm aware.

Some (but not all) other options
I never tried most of these other options because I am cheap and they are not as cheap as me.

• fitted diapers (most similar to disposable diapers.  They come in sizes the same too.  NB, 1, 2, etc.)
• all in one diapers (as it sounds, all in one piece.  You don't need to add absorbent cloth.  They can be fitted or one-size fits all, I believe.  I would discourage these because I think you would have to dry them a billion times to get them dry.)
• all in two diapers (also as it sounds, has two pieces. similar to a pocket diaper, but you generally snap the absorbent stuff into it instead of stuff a pocket.  I think pocket diapers are better because you can stuff them with whatever you want rather then having to get another insert that snaps and fits your snap if you were to ever need to replace it.)
• so many other kinds of diapers and things.  If you are interested we can talk more or you can do some of your own searching.

P.S. If you decide to use cloth diapers, please talk to me.  Then you can take some of the things I've learned (dos and don'ts, because there are many) and not have to take forever learning what I've already learned.  And sorry...so many words.

P.P.S. I think it is unwise to invest in a lot of stuff upfront.  Figure out what works for you first, then invest in that.  You would hate to spend $100 on fancy diapers that don't fit your baby well and thus you hate them and never use them.  You could have figured that out for less.