Well ... Rewind 17 years to pregnancy number 1...my mom tells me: you should use cloth it's so much better for the baby... My immediate reaction was ...ewww no way! The mere thought of having to be that involved with poop was not appealing... Not to mention there were not all the great new products we have now to make it so much easier.... Pretty sure it was the same tri fold cotton diaper and plastic pants they had back when I was a baby.!!
Fast forward to baby number two three years later. ... Still the same thought process... Fast forward 7years to baby number three... The thought didn't even cross my mind and not one person even mentioned the idea to me...then 5 years ago when I was pregnant with baby number 4. I see all these adorable cloth diaper booties and all the darling diaper covers and that caught my attention ... If it's cute I'm interested... So, I did the research and thought about it and talked to Chad about it and last minute I chickened out... Once again dealing with the poop so intimately freaked me out... Then last year ....surprise....I'm pregnant with number 5, and over the course of my pregnancy I talked to a few different friends who actually use cloth diapers and they made it seem doable. So hours and hours of research later... I decide ok I am going to do it this time!
Fast forward to baby number two three years later. ... Still the same thought process... Fast forward 7years to baby number three... The thought didn't even cross my mind and not one person even mentioned the idea to me...then 5 years ago when I was pregnant with baby number 4. I see all these adorable cloth diaper booties and all the darling diaper covers and that caught my attention ... If it's cute I'm interested... So, I did the research and thought about it and talked to Chad about it and last minute I chickened out... Once again dealing with the poop so intimately freaked me out... Then last year ....surprise....I'm pregnant with number 5, and over the course of my pregnancy I talked to a few different friends who actually use cloth diapers and they made it seem doable. So hours and hours of research later... I decide ok I am going to do it this time!
I got a bunch of disposable newborn diapers and some size ones at my baby shower and I knew I didn't want to start cloth immediately because I didn't want to have to buy newborn and then bigger cd's-(will refer to cloth diapers as cd from now on) and from what I read it's easier when they are a bit older anyway.
When he was 6 weeks old I purchased my diapers, diaper pail liner, wet bag for my diaper bag, special laundry soap, tea tree essential oil, special cd safe rash cream and cut out my reusable wipes.... More on those later!
My hubby was not super excited about using cloth before we started, but said we could give it a try.. and now he will tell you he likes it so much better.. we had to use disposable on our recent trip to Puerto Rico and we both hated it.. blow outs right up his back a few times- which never happens with cloth.
My hubby was not super excited about using cloth before we started, but said we could give it a try.. and now he will tell you he likes it so much better.. we had to use disposable on our recent trip to Puerto Rico and we both hated it.. blow outs right up his back a few times- which never happens with cloth.
There are soooo many brands of cloth diapers out there it is overwhelming, I chose Grovia because they came highly recommended from a few friends and they seemed like a good fit for us.
I purchased brand new grovia brand shells and diapers from a local cloth diaper company Bum Rite diapers, but I also purchased some shells and inserts used from our local cloth diaper exchange. I really like this brand, the system is easy.. they are Hybrids and can be used a few different ways. The first way is with a snap in insert that snaps into the shell.. I prefer the Organic cotton ones to the fleece... the fleece isn't as absorbent and gets stinkier... I have both types. The second way is by just laying a tri fold- organic cotton again... that I purchased from green mountain diapers into the shell, I love these... nice and absorbent. Third option is to use a special disposable insert made by grovia.. I have some of these also and keep them for emergencies. The best part is you can reuse the shells a few times through out the day if there is no over flow onto the shell. I also love that the shells are adjustable so as your baby grows you change the rise snaps and either the velcro or snaps at the waist. I have both but prefer the snaps,
I purchased one pail liner Kissaluvs Antibacterial Pail liner to start and it was a huge pain to wait for it to dry so I bought a second one to use while the first one is washing and drying ... buy two to start! I use them in my ubbi pail.
I bought a darling wet bag for my diaper bag and it has worked perfect so far! Its made by Logan and Lenora.
The grovia diaper inserts are not absorbent enough for my heavy wetter all night, so I purchased some used good mama fitted diapers and some covers... I also use the grovia shells as a cover. I happen to love these also!
There is a learning curve for washing, you have to prep new diapers for absorbency by washing them about 8 times before use. I also washed my used ones in hot water a couple times before use. I started by using Planet Laundry Soap and then Country Save.. With my water and washing machine the planet is the one I have stuck with... The country Save doesn't seem to clean the diapers as well with our water and leaves a residue that causes some red skin on baby's bottom.
I wash my diapers every 2 days. I do a pre rinse then wash on warm with an extra rinse at the end. I hang all shells and covers and pail liner to dry.. I dry all inserts, cloth wipes and tri folds in the dryer on medium heat. If there is staining from poo, I hang the inserts and trifolds out in the sun for an hour or two and BAM just like magic they go back to being fluffy and white! Even on over cast days this works, so amazing!
I made my cloth wipes out of receiving blankets (about 80-100) and it takes me about 10-15 minutes once a week to pre moisten my wipes for use. I use 2 cups boiled water, 1/3 cup melted coconut oil, 1/4c California baby soap and 6 drops tea tree oil.. then I moisten wipes and squeeze most of water out and fold my wipes so they come out of the containers like regular wipes. They smell amazing and work awesome.
The initial expense for full time cd stash is 200-300$ or more if you go crazy, but the savings is huge and its so nice to not have to run to the store to buy diapers.. we never run out. We love that we aren't putting chemicals on his bum and not adding to the land fill. One thing we didn't prepare for is needing bigger pants to go over the poofy diaper booty.. not a big deal but good to know. You cant tell when the diapers are full like disposables until its too late, so we change him every 2-3hours during the day. We haven't had to deal with real poop yet so I will do another post in a few months when we get to that stage.
I purchased one pail liner Kissaluvs Antibacterial Pail liner to start and it was a huge pain to wait for it to dry so I bought a second one to use while the first one is washing and drying ... buy two to start! I use them in my ubbi pail.
I bought a darling wet bag for my diaper bag and it has worked perfect so far! Its made by Logan and Lenora.
The grovia diaper inserts are not absorbent enough for my heavy wetter all night, so I purchased some used good mama fitted diapers and some covers... I also use the grovia shells as a cover. I happen to love these also!
There is a learning curve for washing, you have to prep new diapers for absorbency by washing them about 8 times before use. I also washed my used ones in hot water a couple times before use. I started by using Planet Laundry Soap and then Country Save.. With my water and washing machine the planet is the one I have stuck with... The country Save doesn't seem to clean the diapers as well with our water and leaves a residue that causes some red skin on baby's bottom.
I wash my diapers every 2 days. I do a pre rinse then wash on warm with an extra rinse at the end. I hang all shells and covers and pail liner to dry.. I dry all inserts, cloth wipes and tri folds in the dryer on medium heat. If there is staining from poo, I hang the inserts and trifolds out in the sun for an hour or two and BAM just like magic they go back to being fluffy and white! Even on over cast days this works, so amazing!
I made my cloth wipes out of receiving blankets (about 80-100) and it takes me about 10-15 minutes once a week to pre moisten my wipes for use. I use 2 cups boiled water, 1/3 cup melted coconut oil, 1/4c California baby soap and 6 drops tea tree oil.. then I moisten wipes and squeeze most of water out and fold my wipes so they come out of the containers like regular wipes. They smell amazing and work awesome.
The initial expense for full time cd stash is 200-300$ or more if you go crazy, but the savings is huge and its so nice to not have to run to the store to buy diapers.. we never run out. We love that we aren't putting chemicals on his bum and not adding to the land fill. One thing we didn't prepare for is needing bigger pants to go over the poofy diaper booty.. not a big deal but good to know. You cant tell when the diapers are full like disposables until its too late, so we change him every 2-3hours during the day. We haven't had to deal with real poop yet so I will do another post in a few months when we get to that stage.
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1 comments:
Thank you so much for sharing.
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