When Amelia was a baby, I met my sister's friend who used fuzzi bunz cloth diapers. I thought, "Wow, those aren't like the kind my mother used on her babies. How great!" Then she told me how much she spent on them and I almost had an aneurysm.
Fast forward to a few months ago. My friend Kristyn who I met while in college blogged about how she had made the switch to BumGenius cloth diapers from disposables. I decided to email her to get some of my questions answered. Once they were answered and I felt comfortable enough with the process and how it all works, I looked into prices of diapers. Lets just say, they were expensive. Since I have two in diapers, I would need double what they recommend. Double whammy with the cost. So I did what any penny pinching mother would do. I went onto ebay and looked for a comparable diaper for less than BumGenius or Fuzzi Bunz.
I emailed Kristyn and had her look at the listing to see what the differences were between what I was considering and what she was using. From the description the only minor difference were the direction of the snaps. So I bought some "buy it now" Sunbaby cloth diapers from China.
They came beginning of November and we have been loving them! One of my favorite thing about the cloth is how cute the little bums look in them!
Take a look:
-Taken back in November-
Adorable, right?!Here are some pictures of Miles and Brodrick wearing the same All In One (AIO) cloth diaper that fits 7lbs to 35lbs. Notice the difference in the size is in the snaps.
-Taken in December-
So I am a super cloth diaper advocate now. Many people have asked me about it, and even friends of friends have come to me for information. So, here is the latest message that I sent to a friend of a friend who came to me with concerns about it being too messy and wanting to know what kind of diapers I use."Its really is not a lot of work, nor is it messy. I have a diaper pail in my bathroom by the kids' room. When the diaper is wet, I take it right to the diaper pail, in goes the diaper and flannel wipe. If it is poopy, and its really smeared in the diaper I use my diaper sprayer and it makes it easier to get the poop off, and if its not I just dump out the poop into the toilet (my two year old) and put the diaper and wipe in the pail. My almost 6 month old who is strictly breast fed I don't always rinse out, if its not a big poopy diaper it goes right into the pail. If it IS a big one, (would have been a blowout with disposables) then I take my diaper sprayer and spray anything that looks like it can be sprayed off. I know many people who don't rinse their breast fed baby's diapers and just do an extra rinse in the washing machine which you can do, and I do, since I don't rinse all of mine.
-- on a diaper sprayer, I got my off of ebay for like $25 dollars. I didn't think it was worth it in the beginning, but now having it, it was totally worth it! No swishing the diaper in the toilet and you can use those tank cleaners for your toilet bowl still cause the water from the sprayer comes right from the water line not the toilet.
Ok since I have two in diapers, I do laundry every day and a half to two days, and have 35 diapers. When I take my diaper pail liner (waterproof PUL fabric just like the pocket diaper like $10 on amazon) full of diapers down to the washing machine, and do a COLD rinse. Next, I put in a scoop (sometimes two if its a big load) of diaper safe soap and HOT water. Then, you can just dump the diapers in and walk away. The inserts should unstuff if you have a great washing machine. I choose topull the inserts out of all of the Sunbaby diapers. The Applecheeks diapers unstuff themselves- they are designed differently than the FB/BG/Sunbaby. When I don't, about two diapers every load still have the insert stuck in, wadded at the closed end of the diapers. Since I don't want to have to rewash those diapers, its just easier for me to unstuff. And, it really isn't that bad. Its just like changing a diaper, and you just wash your hands afterward, like you do with a diaper change. But you don't have to, like I said, most of them unstuff themselves, and should if you have a good washing machine.
I had get used to having just a diaper bag and not everything in one purse Its just tons easier and simplifies things. Same thing when out and about, but I keep a water bottle to wet my wipes. When I'm done with the diaper change *wet* I put it in to a PUL bag. (I sewed some myself or you can get them on amazon or etsy.) If its poopy and there is a toilet- like at church, I dump it then before I put it in the bag. If there is no toilet, I but it in the bag and dump it out when I get to a toilet.
When the washing machine stops I put all inserts and wipes into the dryer and line dry the covers, which right now is laying them out on a desk in the office. :) Then, when everything is dry, I re- stuff them so they are right at hand when I go to change a baby. The AIO diapers take longer to dry but just over night, so I can do a load before bed, lay out the liners and have them dry by the time I go to stuff them the next day.
I've heard that Bum Genius and Fuzzi Bunz are amazing. They have pocket all in one (AIO) diapers. They were too expensive for us at the time we bought ours so I went onto ebay and bought a knock off brand called Sunbaby. I did have a problem with them leaking for my older son and on my little one if I'm not on top of changing them. I asked my friend who uses bum genius about it and she said that her's have a no leak guarantee. The fact that mine leak some times would almost make the price difference worth paying out for name brand cloth diapers, but I just couldn't pay the extra at the time. To make my current diapers work for the time being, I bought some hemp inserts off Amazon, they are twice as absorbent as the microfiber inserts. I use those for at night.
That being the case, the Sunbaby diapers are great. Its nice because I already know I have broken even cost wise using cloth, even with the extra hemp inserts. I was able to get a lot of Sunbaby diapers for a reasonable price and see that I like cloth diapering. I do and as my Sunbaby diapers wear out (I'm planning on using them for quite a few babies, so it will be awhile) I'll probably invest in some "nicer" diapers.
The AIO diapers FB/BG go up to 35lbs but are a bit snug on my 38lb, 2.5 year old son who's in the 95th percentile, though they still fit him. Its nice to be able to use the same diaper on Brodrick (almost 6 months) and Miles (2.5 yrs). Since they were a bit snug on Miles I bought 5 Applecheeks diapers (they are not AIO, but have two different sizes), for him at night so I can stuff more inserts into them. They happen to be my favorite. The size two says they go up to 40 lbs and I believe they would go up even more, for my kids and how they are built.
The main difference in the name brand and knock off diapers is the quality of PUL fabric used, which you can't find out from reading a description online, it will just say PUL fabric.
Anyway, lots of information. I love it and am so glad I made the switch!!! Seriously. Hit me up with more questions! "
After I made the switch and was doing some research, I learned that you are supposed to rinse out disposable diapers before you put them in the trash, because its illegal to put fecal matter into landfills. Look on a any box of diapers, they all say the same thing in the directions of how to use them, rinse it out before putting it in the trash. So, if we are supposed to rinse out ANY diaper anyway, why now use a diaper that can be used more than once? I saves a lot of money to use cloth.
Ever thought about cloth? Now with all this information, would you consider making the switch?
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