Into cloth diapers that is. After much debate with my husband and a lot of research, we have decided to take on cloth diapering. My sister-in-law has been cloth diapering for a few years now and she’s the one who got me interested in the idea. So while I was pregnant, I did some research on the whole cloth diapering world. I discovered that these aren’t your mom’s diapers, these are much more convenient and high tech. While one can still do the prefolds of old, most cloth diapers involve a simple waterproof layer and soaker layer. Stuff, diaper, remove, wash, repeat. My sister-in-law provided me with a few she didn’t use and I purchased a few myself. I can say that after a month of learning, we are now solely cloth diapering.

There are a lot of pros and cons to cloth diapering and I thought I’d share what I’ve discovered along the way, in case you or anyone you know is interested in the cloth way of diapering.

Pros:

• Cost. While the upfront cost is usually over $200, in the long run we’ll be saving lots of money. Especially if we have another little one. These diapers can be used for years over and over again. So instead of throwing away money every diaper change, we’re saving! And the cloth diapers can be worn all the way up to potty training!
• Environment. There’s a lot of debate about this. While a lot of washing is done to take care of cloth diapers, disposable diapers are filling up landfills and take a long time to decompose.
• Ease: I started with disposable diapers and found them so easy. I was a little afraid to go to cloth because I thought they would be harder to do. I was wrong! It’s not hard at all. Since Claire is breastfed, all I have to do is take off the diaper and throw it in our diaper pail. Every other day I do a load of diapers in the wash and ta-da! Ready to go!
• Designs: There are a LOT of cute patterns. In the summer, I think Claire will be running around in just her diaper and a t-shirt because I’ll want to show off her cute diapers
• Chemicals: There are much fewer chemicals in cloth diapers. After multiple washes, you’re just left with plain old cotton and hemp. Claire had a very bad reaction to Pampers Swaddlers and even though we found another brand that didn’t give her problems, I felt more comfortable switching to cloth. We have yet to have a nasty diaper rash (We did have a little one once but that was my fault. I kept her in her diaper for a little too long, I guess.)

Cons:

• Cost: Yeah, the upfront cost is a lot but like I said you make up for it later.
• Leaking: I had a lot of leaking at first. Turns out I needed to put another soaker pad in her diaper. Now I rarely get any blowouts and if I do, it’s usually around her legs because she’s got little legs. I get many more blow outs in disposables and those are usually up the back
• Laundry: I have to do 2 washes and 1 rinse to get the diapers extra clean. And no one likes extra laundry…
• Extras: You have to buy special detergent which is somewhat pricey and a diaper sprayer (for when we start solids). Just little things which add to the upfront sticker shock.
• Big Butt: Cloth diapers have much more padding than disposables so Claire has a bit more padding back there.

Honesty,cloth diapering isn’t for everyone. It takes commitment to do laundry and deal with poop a little more closely.  But I’m glad we have switched. We’ll see if we’re still sticking with it for the next year!

Our entire collection!

My spiderbaby.

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