Part Two

 

 

 

I'm pretty new to cloth diapers, as I've mentioned before. I had a couple previous attempts that were short lived. But the reason I was unsuccessful before was mainly due to making it harder on myself than I needed it to be. Being the cheap skate that I am, I started out using the flat, white cloth diapers with pins like my mother did before me. These require a diaper cover, and while I am sure there are plenty of people who use this type of cloth diaper and love it, it really just wasn't for me. I was constantly afraid to go anywhere with the baby for fear we'd have a major blow out and there would be a terrible mess at an inopportune time/place. The whole system just seems more cumbersome. I ended up putting the baby in disposable whenever we left the house or I laid her down for a nap, which led to me just putting her in disposable all the time.

 

Then I bit the bullet and invested in some pocket diapers. Hallelujah! All I can ask myself is "Seriously? What took me so long?!" I found some really affordable brands on Amazon and bought them in bundles.

 

The best brand I purchased is from Jack Jill Baby. They are made with Charcoal Bamboo Fleece, and the color inside is Dark Grey, which is terrific because no matter what anyone has ever told me, I still have trouble keeping the whites white when poo is involved. I rinse immediately with cold water, trying to scrub out the ickies, but it never fails. I have stains. They fade with a couple washings, and I tend to line dry them to let the sun bleach them out... But all that is an unnecessary worry with the dark grey lining of these diapers. I also found that I am in love with the inserts that come with these diapers. They are sturdier and thicker than the other inserts I have. These are my top choice. I got 5 diapers for $45.

 

 



 

The interior of Jack Jill Baby Pocket Diapers

 

 

A demonstration of the insert into the pocket. (I used a white insert in this picture so you can see the insert sticking out of the pocket...)

 

 

 

The thickness of the inserts. I love this extra stitching in the middle.

 

 

 

The other brand I purchased was a company called LBB (although on Amazon they are also listed as Fervent Love so maybe that's the company name?) These are also pocket diapers, and although I like these too, they rate second to the ones I mentioned just above. The interior is white and the inserts aren't sewn together quite as sturdy as the Jack Jill Baby brand.

 

 

 

This is the white inserts that come with the LBB diapers (shown here on top of a Jack Jill Baby diaper.) They are absorbable, but seem to be of cheaper quality than the inserts of Jack Jill Baby.

 

From time to time, I still use the Diaper Cover method with prefolds (those white rectangles with a thicker, more absorbent strip down the middle.) I have a tendency to use these as a last resort however, usually when my pocket diapers are all in the wash and I need to do a load. I've tossed the diaper pins altogether, so here is how I use them:

 

 

I bought these diaper covers off an Etsy sight, Mommy Soup. I really like her covers and I have used both snap and Velcro.

 

 

 

 

The Velcro has an interior square of Velcro as well, so you can attach it to itself to avoid snags in the wash.

 

 

I generally stick a prefold in like this, folding the two sides over the absorbent center section. Then I just close the snaps or attach the Velcro- no pins necessary.

 

 

I will sometimes fold them like this and layer two prefolds on top of each other for extra absorbency when it's naptime. It's a bit bulkier, so I don't do it like this if she's going to be crawling around but it works well for sleeping.

 

I did splurge on a couple Cloth Diaper Bags for when we're out and about and I need a place to stick my dirty diapers. I held off buying this at first because as I mentioned before, I'm kind of frugal, but after carrying around a plastic shopping bag I decided it was probably worth it. I bought these:

 

 

 

 

When washing my diapers, I use Molly Suds Cloth Diaper Laundry Powder because its all natural, Earth derived ingredients.

 

 

 

All in all, I've spent about $150 worth of Cloth Diapering supplies, which might seem like a lot but honestly I was spending about $60 a month at Costco buying a box of diapers and wipes so these have paid for themselves within 3 months. I will probably purchase a few more (I'm really interested in trying new brands!) so the cost will be a bit higher in the end but still no comparison to the cost of disposable. One could argue that using a wash machine and dryer does cost money, but I think the cost is pretty minimal compared to all the other added benefits of cloth diapering like keeping disposable diapers out of the landfills, less diaper rash issues, etc. I do line dry my diapers on hot, sunny days too which helps reduce resources.

 

I guess you could say that I'm a Cloth Diaper Convert. :)

 

 

 

First things first. Cloth Wipes. 

 

 Back in the days of disposable diapers, I'd use wipes and then just put them in the diaper and roll it all up and toss it in the garbage. But when I started out with cloth diapering, I was sort of at a loss as to what to do with the wipes. I mean, obviously I was going to toss them in the garbage. But now I couldn't roll them all up in the old diaper and toss the whole shebang. And there is a real art to changing diapers. After having so many children, I'd like to say I have a system down, and that system included dropping yucky wipes in a yucky diaper.

 

The other thing that kind of bugged me about using disposable wipes with cloth diapers was the fact that it seemed kind of silly to be spending money on wipes when I was trying to save money on diapers. There really is no "cents" in paying for wipes, amirite? (I can't resist the occasional bad joke...)

 

So, being the newbie that I am, I purchased this from Amazon.

 

 

It comes in a box, and inside is a bag full of little soapy bits of coconut oil glycerin soap with essential oils to inhibit bacterial growth and aide in skin protection. Once I bought these, I found a recipe for making your own wipe solution, but I haven't tried it yet. I'll have to give it a go in the near future and let you know how that works. But for now, here's how I've been using these:

 

 

The key to this is HOT water. It makes the soapy bits dissolve faster. I let them sit in there and then after a while, I stir it up and try to break down the chunks.

 

 

I don't know about you, but I usually saved these little plastic wipes containers. They are great for organizing little things around the house like Barbie clothes, hair ponies, etc. So I have a few of these lying around. (You can see in my picture that I don't have the soapy bits completely dissolved...I lose patience quickly.)

 

 

I purchased two bundles of flannel wipes from Amazon (link below) and they fit PERFECTLY in the plastic wipes containers when you fold them in half.

 

 

I push my stack down a little to start soaking up some of that water in the bottom layers.

 

 

Then I flip the stack over, and the bottom wipes will eventually soak up any remaining liquid. Then I have a stack of wet wipes for the day!

 

I find I use only one wipe for a wet diaper, and at most two for a yucky diaper. So they last throughout the day pretty easily.

 

I'm going to post some Amazon affiliate links here to show you what I bought, in case you want an easy and quick look up:

 

 

 

 



Stay tuned...tomorrow I'm reviewing my favorite cloth diapers!