Cloth Diapers

Ok, I want to tell you all about my one true love. Sorry Chad! Just kidding, y'all, but seriously, I have become kind of an Earth Mother where my child is concerned.

I LOVE cloth diapers. Can I say it again? LOVE.

I initially bought just a couple of cloth diapers because Parker was getting really bad (like, blistery) diaper rash for no good reason and I had read that the natural cloth could make the rash go away quicker.  Well, I soon discovered that 1) they are SO cheap 2) they are SO cute 3) it is impossible to buy "just a couple."  My poor husband keeps discovering packages from Amazon.com on our doorstep and threatening to divorce me if I don't stop buying them (I kid, but seriously... ).

But can I ask you this? What is better than a diaper you can wash and resue? Yea, occasionally you have to deal with poop, but you have to deal with poop with disposables anyway, right? Right. Everyone has had to deal with blowouts, and let me let you in on a little secret -- blowouts happen LESS often with cloth.

Now if only I could get my husband and babysitter onboard with this idea.

So here's what's ended up happening -- I now have pretty much a full stash of fluff (CD lingo -- I feel like a member of a cool club! Haha), and I use them as much as I can. I am finding that they are especially useful at night (for my heavy wetter I just add another insert), and that they are a TON cheaper (in the long run -- upfront costs for these babys are scary) than spending close to $100 a month at Sam's Club for the huge boxes of disposable diapers, and that I feel a lot better putting my baby in beathable cotton and hemp as opposed to disposable (fake? live in landfills for hundreds of years? whatever material they are made out of?) diapers. Amen.

And here's the thing:  once your diaper gets used (peed in or pooped on), you just rinse (if you have...solids) and thrown them in a wetbag till you're ready to wash them.  Then wash your inserts and your covers, set the covers in the sun to dry, and throw the inserts in the dryer. How easy is that?

So if you're interested, here's what I recommend: 

• I am actually a bigger fan of pocket diapers than AIO's, because you can really customize them for your baby.  I LOVE the bumGenius pocket diapers. I am also in the process of trying out Thirsties covers with prefolds.  If I don't like that I think I'm going to try a slim fitted and put the Thirsties cover over it.
• You don't have to buy expensive "cloth diaper" detergent. I use Tide Free and Clear, no problem. (Also I have a High Efficiency washer and you can't really use any of those fancy CD detergents in HE washers)
• You can buy them used. Sounds gross at first, but it's really easy to power wash (often called "stripping") a used diaper and have it look (and more importantly smell) brand new.
• Buy a wetbag. Listen to me. Buy a wetbag. They actually contain smells BETTER than my Diaper Genie. No kidding.
• For solid waste, either buy one of those sprayer things, or if you're cheap like me, invest in a scrub brush you can keep near the toilet and scrub off the junk before you throw the dipe in that wetbag you bought.

It would be super easy to cloth diaper your baby if you happened to be a SAHM, but since I am a Workin Mama, I can really only use cloth at home, and when my husband is cooperating and doesn't sneak the baby back in to sposies (more lingo. ha.). But next baby I have will wear cloth from birth to potty training, without a doubt. I'll just have to find a babysitter who is down with my plan.