The Verdict on Cloth Diapers

While we were at the hospital with Adler, he wore the disposable diapers the nursery gave us. When we got home, we continued with the disposables because of his umbilical cord and circumcision. We didn’t want to rush the cloth diapers, even though we had the newborn ones we had rented. I wasn’t sure how long we would stay in disposables, but I wanted to start when it felt right.It felt right less than 48 hours after we got home. Those disposable diapers did not hold in anything they were supposed to, and by Saturday night, I was tired of it. So Sunday morning, we started the cloth diapers. I LOVE them! We have had very few leaks and blowouts, and it was actually better on the circumcision wound.

Cloth diaper laundry is also less complicated than I anticipated. I wash them every other day. I start in the morning during Adler-Daddy Morning Time (a daily event I made up very soon after we came home). The diapers are outside drying on the line by 10 or 11, and back in the dresser by the afternoon. It always seems to work out that he wears his last clean diaper just as the clean ones get re-stocked.

I love hanging the diapers out to dry. Occasionally, even after being washed, there are stains on them. But when I hang them outside, they are bleached by the sun and come in good as new! I usually throw them in the dryer for just a few minutes to give them that fluffy clean feel, as opposed to the stiff, scratchy feeling of purely air-dried clothes.

I have found that the most economical cloth diaper is simply a prefold (old school cloth diapers like your mother or grandmother used) with a waterproof cover. You don’t have to pin the diaper because the way the covers are designed these days, they hold the diaper in place. The covers are PUL material, meaning they are waterproof and breathable, unlike the old plastic pants they put over the diapers. Plus, they strap on just like a disposable diaper, so they’re convenient, and they dry quickly, so you can use each one multiple times a day. You can get away with doing laundry every other day if you have 24 prefolds and 4 covers (total cost roughly $90). So prefolds and covers are by far the cheapest route (and therefore our preferred route).

So we are pretty happy with our cloth diapers. I know it gets…umm…messier once the baby starts eating real food, but we don’t know what that’s like yet and we’re pretty happy to stay in our ignorance until it’s time for that!

Of diapers and such

First, my sister finished my rocker and I would be remiss if I did not show you how beautiful it is.

I am so thankful to Hannah and my dad for working to make this rocker so special and beautiful! I can’t wait to use it.Now, onto my true purpose for this post…cloth diapers!  We found a really great deal for a newborn cloth diaper rental, and my rental package came in this week!  I am so excited-I love it.The reason we rented newborn diapers is because, although you can buy cloth diapers that are “one size fits all,” they really don’t fit well (aka hold in the nasty) until the baby is 9 or 10 pounds.  So for the first few weeks, you would have to use disposable.  I really wanted to start with cloth as soon as possible, because I feel like I will be better motivated to stick to it if I don’t get a good taste of life with disposables.  But I didn’t want to have to buy newborn cloth diapers we won’t use for long-that is not economically smart.  So one day I was looking up cloth diapering websites, and found Itsy Bitsy Bums.  And fell in love.Itsy Bitsy Bums is an online cloth diapering website that is both a store and a haven of cloth diapering information.  If you have any questions about cloth diapering, click on the link to the website or look the fan page on Facebook.  The website has a “Help!” section with tons of advice, and if you write on the Facebook page, the owner, Abby Flores, is quick to respond.  In addition to selling diapers and making cloth diapering super simple, Abby offers a few diaper rental packages. One is a 3-week trial for those looking to get into cloth diapering, so they can explore the different types of diapers.  The other is a 12 week newborn rental, which offers newborn-sized diapers for use until the baby fits into normal diapers.  The cost is very reasonable, and you don’t have to invest in a separate stash of diapers that you will then have to store somewhere if you plan on having more kids, or try to sell for a lower cost than you paid.  Plus, 12 weeks gives the baby plenty of time to grow into bigger diapers, and gives you the chance to explore what works best for you without making a financial commitment.

The rental package contains 25 fitted diapers and 4 waterproof covers.  A fitted diaper is basically like a disposable diaper-it has elastic around the leg openings and wraps around the baby and snaps in front.  However, it is not waterproof, so it requires a separate cover.  That is the downside to a fitted diaper, but the good thing is that the covers can be re-used practically all day because they stay clean and are easy to wash and air dry when dirty.  So 25 diapers and 4 covers is, in theory, enough to get through 2 days without doing laundry.  Any longer than that, and you have a pretty stinky mess on your hands!

Here is a photo of the pretty covers I rented, plus a couple of the fitted diapers:

And here is the overflowing drawer of all the fitteds:

I have also purchased some prefolds, which are basically “old fashioned” diapers, and probably the most economical way to cloth diaper.  Because of this reason I have a feeling it will be my favorite method.  You just fold one into a cover, and bam, you’re good to go.  Much simpler than pinning it on the baby and pulling plastic pants over them.  My “fancy” diapers are the several Bum Genius diapers that I purchased from Cragslist (I HIGHLY recommend this-you can find them for about half the price and the vast majority of people selling them on Craigslist have taken care to ensure their diapers maintain high quality). They are pocket diapers, which means you have a diaper insert you put into a cover.

So we have plenty of diapers to last us once the rental package has been returned.  I’m not sure what will be my favored method, but like I said, I think prefolds will be our go-to because they are the cheapest way to go, that I’ve found.  It is easy to get sucked into the “cuteness” of diapers (there are a million prints and colors) and want to buy all the different kinds, etc.  But our goal when we started this was to save money, and that’s what I’m trying my best to do.

Right now we have spent approximately $210 on all the diapers we own.  The rental package is $50 (for “pre-loved,” aka used, diapers), plus a refundable deposit of $145.  So, provided we get our full deposit back, we have spent $260 on diapers for our child, which in theory will last until potty training.  Now, I’m sure we will have some diapers break or wear out, and I’m sure I will buy more in the future since I almost get giddy over them.  But for a start, $260 is pretty cheap, considering the cost of diapering in disposables can be up to $800 for the first year.  The challenge will be to keep the cloth diapering spending to a minimum, while still finding the diaper that works best for our baby.  I’m sure I’ll be chronicling that in the months to come!  For now, I’m almost as excited about my diapers as I am about the baby coming.

Or maybe the two have become intertwined.

Or maybe  I just need a distraction while we wait for the little mister to grace us with his presence.  Yeah, that seems like the most likely option.

Why I Don’t Sew (a homemade cloth wipe project gone bad)

Remember when I talked about using cloth diapers?  Well…part two of a post on bums…we are also planning to attempt cloth wipes.  Hey, if we’re doing the diapers, why not? Unlike the diapers, cloth wipes don’t have a ton of technology to them, they just need to be soft.  But they are pretty expensive, which is baffling.  So I asked, if I made them myself, would the effort be worth the cost savings?  I concluded that, yes, it would be worth it, plus, “it would be fun!”

Now, I don’t sew, so I’m not sure what I was thinking.  But, before I could realize this, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought two yards of flannel material (the suggested fabric for those venturing into the homemade wipe world) and cut it into 6×8 pieces.  Well, they were all supposed to be 6×8, but somehow I ended up with about 4 different sizes. I measured everything, so I’m not sure how that happened.  Probably because I don’t sew and I thought, “that’s good enough” when I was measuring.

“Good enough” doesn’t work for sewing.  Which is why the doll dresses I attempted to make at my grandma’s house as a little girl never fit my American Girl doll quite right.

Anyhow, one Saturday, my friends Martha & Sarah hosted a sewing day at their house.  Several girls from my church, plus my mom, my sister, and I all gathered to work on various sewing projects.  OK, fine, we gathered to get thread caught in their machines and compete for their attention to our problems.  Even though I’m pretty sure they ended up finishing most peoples’ projects for them, we had a good time.  I started my wipes that February day, but did not even come close to finishing them.  So I packed them up, intending to work on them at my mom’s house “whenever I could.”

Which wasn’t until a few weeks ago.  I went over to her house and got out the one-billion-year-old machine (just kidding, we all know the world isn’t that old, right?).  I threaded the bobbin and the needle with the right color of thread and began sewing.

Just kidding.  First of all, we had to find the bobbin, which was a different color thread that was nowhere to be found in the basket of threads.  So we settled for a color that was “close enough.”  Once we got everything threaded and ready to go, we had to try to pick a stitch on my dad’s machine that was similar to the one on Martha’s machine.  We didn’t even know how to move the little indicator to a different stitch.  While we struggled to fix the blessed machine, Brandon happened to stop by on his way home after a meeting.  He, like my dad, can and has done every activity known to man, including sewing and icing cakes, and he does them with excellence.  I love this about him.  In no time, he found the correct stitch, tension, speed, and whatever else was required to hem these squares of flannel.  He whipped out several wipes within a few minutes and turned it over to me.  I grabbed a square, positioned it under the needle, flipped the foot down, and starting sewing away.

For about ½ a wipe.  Then….clunk.  Something got jammed.  I tried to figure it out for approximately 1.2 seconds, then, “Brandon! What happened?”  He came over, figured out the problem, and gave the chair back to me.  Repeat this scene about 17 times over the next hour, and I was able to complete about 2 wipes.  Finally we tricked the machine into thinking I was Brandon, so it would cooperate.  I’m convinced this is the only way it worked.

My mom and I probably got about 10 wipes sewn within the 3 hours we messed with the machine.  We repeated this scenario one day a week for several weeks before I finally gave up on the cloth wipes.  We got half of them finished, the other half will have to wait to be used as scrap material.  And I’m looking online to find the cheapest cloth wipes/fine terry washcloths to use as wipes.

And that’s why I don’t sew.  Because there is a scientific theory that, for every 10 minutes you spend producing quality craftsmanship (if that’s what you want to call what we cranked out), you spend approximately 90 minutes making said machine do what it’s supposed to.  Why did we create these dang machines, anyway?  It was probably easier and more efficient when everyone knew how to sew expert works by hand, like this gorgeous baby blanket my cousin Sarah made for Adler:

This is combination machine and hand sewn, but the point is that she knows what she’s doing and she’s not just fumbling around with the machine.  And the parts that are hand stitched are straight, even stitches.  A brilliant work of art.

As for my wipes… you can judge their brilliance for yourself.

In my mom’s words, they don’t have to be pretty for what they’re going to be used for.  True that.

The Road to Cloth Diapering

When we started getting involved at The Grove Church shortly after we got married, I had no idea one of the results would be our commitment to cloth diapers.

But that’s what happened.  My exposure to modern cloth diapers (CD’s for the savvy moms) started with my friend Jaime Miller.  She was pregnant with her first child and I went to her baby shower.  I knew she was planning to use cloth diapers, but as I was newly married, not thinking about kids at all, and definitely not caring about diapering methods, I hadn’t really taken much notice.  At her shower, however, she did a little demonstration on cloth diapering, using one of the diapers she had gotten as a gift and a baby doll.  I remember thinking, “wow, that is a lot easier than I thought!” And her argument for the cost savings was pretty convincing, too.

Fast forward about 2 years, when 2 of the girls in our community group were both pregnant at the same time.  They also both chose cloth diapers, as it is a known fact that approximately 72% of the families in our church are CD families.  They had to participate in the statistic, although I don’t believe the CD statistic is quite as important as maintaining the percentage of families who have boys first (I believe it is around 96.2%.  We obviously had a slim chance at a girl, since we are regularly involved at The Grove).  Anyways, Leslie and Kelly both used cloth from the time their little ones were born (Leslie had a boy, and Kelly was among the rare few who have a girl first).  Being around CD’s on at least a weekly basis showed me how it really is simple, especially with all the new technology that has developed in the last 10 years.

Fast forward just a few months after Leslie and Kelly had their babies.  Surprise: 4 positive prego tests at the Horner house one November day!  Of course, cloth diapering was not the first thing I thought of as I stood in my bathroom holding that first stick in my shaking hand.  But for the sake of this post, let’s just skip to that conversation with Brandon.  I had been throwing the idea around in my head for some time, mainly because of the great cost savings and the perceived simplicity I have seen in using them.  But I was still pretty nervous and hesitant to commit to such a large undertaking.  I wanted to at least discuss it with Brandon, though.  And I thought, “he’ll never go for that.  He’ll be my out so I don’t feel guilty going to church with disposables in the diaper bag.”  So, I mentioned it to him one day.  His immediate response? “Yeah, I think that’s a great idea! It’ll save a ton of money.”

Of course.  Thanks a lot, honey, you were my excuse!  I should have realized that he is into saving money above all.  But I was just trying to get out of what I already felt was the choice we needed to make.  So, with that incredibly brief conversation, it was decided.  Cloth diapers it is.  And according to our assessment, detailed in my sustainability post, it is potentially greener (this is under debate as you use so much water & detergent with cloth. But at least they aren’t sitting in a landfill for a supposed 100 years, which is how long they say it takes for one disposable diaper to break down-not sure how they know this since disposable diapers haven’t been around for that long).  It is definitely cheaper-startup cost is only $200-500, depending on how detailed you want to be, and most diapers are one size, meaning they fit from around 12 weeks until potty training.  Disposables can be around $900 per year.  I’ve already said that cloth diapering is pretty simple, so we feel that it is worth the monetary savings for the extra laundry we will be doing.  And I have already learned a ton and will continue to learn as I put cloth diapering into practice!

Since that decision, I have done a moderate amount of research and talked to several CD users and experts.  My favorite is Abby Flores, of Itsy Bitsy Bums.  She runs an online store based out of Kansas City. She is so helpful and organized and really makes cloth diapering seem less intimidating.  It seems intimidating because there are about 7 billion brands, styles, fabrics, fits, sizes, etc.  And all with clever names: Soft Bums, Bum Genius, Best Bottom, Bottombumpers, Econobum, FuzziBunz, Thirsties…the list goes on, and the naming creativity is endless.  There are abbreviations, like AIO, AI2, and some others that I don’t know the meaning to.  Anyways, I have learned the basic types of diapers, their basic functions, and which brands are best depending on the type you want.  And you can ask my mom, I am totally into this.  It’s addicting.  I can’t wait to figure out which type is best for Adler, how I can combine pre-folds with pockets, what the best type of detergent is for us, and everything about how the diapers practically work.  I have the knowledge, I want to put it into practice!  I am excited about our decision and this adventure and plan to chronicle my findings as I go.  So, look forward to many more posts about laundry, bums, and poop in the future.

Just kidding.  But not really.