My Cloth Diaper Routine

I've been wanting to share a little about cloth diapering lately. This is something I've become increasingly excited about since I bought my first cloth diaper almost a year ago. Cloth diapering is not only a great option for the environment, it's also a wonderful option for your pocket book. I think there are some misconceptions about it, so hopefully I can shed some light on the subject and maybe even offer a few tips along the way.

Cloth diapering does require more time and energy. If I were still working full time, I definitely would not be able to do this. I probably do an extra two to three loads of laundry per week. Since I work at home, I don't mind this. I make time for it and even try to find some joy in it along the way.

Some people I've talked with think that cloth diapering is gross. My opinion is that it's no more gross than regular diapering. In either case, there are going to be times when you get your hands dirty, and stink up your bathroom. I've learned a few tricks that have helped keep the gross factor at a minimum.

This roll of wonderful-ness is my first trick. They're called "nappy-liners" and they are marvelous. They look similar to a roll of fabric softeners. I use these to line my diapers, so when my child poops, it catches everything and can be neatly thrown into the toilet and flushed. These work about 90% of the time to catch everything. I've heard that they can be washed and re-used (considering your child only peed and did not poop in them), but since they are only about $5 or $6 for a roll, I just dispose of them each time. I buy mine on Amazon.

I purchased a sturdy, stainless steel garbage pail to keep the dirty diapers in. (Of course I had to decorate mine, especially after I visited a friend's house and saw how cute hers was!) It works pretty well at keeping odors in. A friend of mine even puts drops of tea tree oil in hers, and swears the oil smell overpowers any odor from the diapers.

I line the inside of my trash pail with a special liner for cloth diapers. I also purchased this on Amazon.

I have sort of a love-hate relationship with this little gadget. It loves me and I hate it. Mostly. Remember when I told you the nappy-liners take care of the job about 90% of the time? I use this little contraption the 10% of the time the liners don't get the job done. It's a diaper sprayer and it hooks up to your toilet to spray mess into it. The only problem is that the trigger is way sensitive and I usually end up spraying poopy water onto my bathroom floor. Grrr. I didn't say cloth diapering was perfect, people. ;)


Finally, this is the wonderful, all-natural detergent I use to clean my diapers. It works with HE washers and really gets everything squeaky clean. Have you had experience with cloth diapers? I'd love to hear about it, both good and bad!

Cloth Diapering- It Isn't Just for Hippies Anymore!

So, I'm new to the cloth diaper game. I've always been interested in it, but until I recently became a stay at home and lovin' it mom, I just didn't have the time or patience. We've been using cloth diapers for about 3 months now, and I have to say I am really liking it. It's not perfect, but it is definitely working for our family.
Starting out cloth diapering can be a little overwhelming. There are so many different types of cloth diapers, and so many brands! Where does one go to get unbiased info? I wanted to offer a post that takes into account all the pros and cons that I have encountered so far.
Before we begin, I feel that I should mention that we do not strictly use cloth diapers. At night, Gibson sleeps in a disposable. The kid pees. A lot. Maybe a cloth diaper would last him the whole night, but I'm not brave enough to test this yet. Also, when we travel or have a day out and about, I use disposables. You can use cloth diapers while traveling, but I just don't want to impose on anyone by washing my kid's dirty diapers in their washing machine. Lastly, I've only tested two brands thus far. We use Dream Eze and Sunbaby. Both brands work fine. The Dream Eze are my favs, but they are more expensive than the very cheap Sunbaby brand.
So, here we go...

Pros:
*We are saving money! (Woop Woop!)
*We are helping save the environment. (I couldn't get a solid number, but it may take hundreds of years for a disposable diaper to decompose in a landfill.)
*They make my son's tush look sooo cute! (Well, it's already pretty cute on its own, but cloth diapers come in the cutest colors and patterns.)

Cons:
*They can be expensive on the front end (unless you register for them and your peeps hook you up!) Most cloth diapers are going to run you around $15- $20 each. However, you can find some deals on Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon.com.
*They are time consuming. (I do an extra 3 loads of laundry per week, on average.)
*Washing poop off the diaper in the toilet can be pretty gross.

Tips:
*We invested in Nappy Liners. They look like dryer sheets, but they are little liners for the diaper. Your kid poops. You peel the liner and poop off of the diaper and flush. Pretty simple.
*We also invested in a diaper sprayer that hooks up to your toilet. It was a little tricky to use at first, and we did spray poopy water all over the bathroom floor initially. But we got used to it, and can now spray poop off a diaper with the best of them.

Okay, so my review ended up being a little biased. Obviously, I'm enjoying cloth diapering. But hopefully I'm not one of those annoying, pushy cloth diaper moms who makes you feel like it is the only way to go. Because it's not. It just works for us.