At long last, I shall post about cloth diapers! Specifically, our cloth diapers, why we use them, how we use them, etc. But not why YOU should be doing it. That’s not my style.

Why we use them: to save money. When you’re on a budget and kids come into the picture, you have to decide where you’re going to cut corners. For us, diapering is one of those areas. We weighed the pros and cons, looked at the numbers, and decided it was worth it to us. Sure, you pay a good chunk of money at the beginning to get your initial stash. But then you never have to buy diapers again. Ever. That appeals to me. A lot. For anyone completely new to the CD idea (from here on out *CD stands for Cloth Diapering, or Cloth Diapers), if you buy “one size” diapers that adjust, they last from the time they’re newborns until they’re potty trained. And then you can reuse them for any future children. We spent just under $400 for our stash. That’s $400 on diapers. For the rest of our child-bearing years. If you can get other people to contribute to your stash (baby shower gifts, gift cards, etc.) or you’re okay with the idea of buying used diapers, you can spend even less money.

What we use: there are many different brands and types of cloth diapers. I won’t even begin to go through them all. You can look it up if you’re really interested. After researching and talking to other CD moms, we decided to go with the one size, Bumgenius 4.0 diapers. Specifically, the ones with snaps. We decided to go with snaps instead of “hook and loop” (aka velcro), because they’re more durable, and Gwen will have a harder time trying to unsnap her diaper when she goes through the “screw diapers, I want to be naked all the time” phase 🙂 As far as quantity, we have 24 diapers in our stash. That’s just enough to have to launder every other day. For some, that’s too often. So they buy more to last a little longer. For others who might want to save even more money, that’s about double their stash (which would mean laundering every day). I decided I was okay with laundering every other day. And now over 1 month into it, I’m still okay with it.

So let’s talk accessories and process: There’s a little more to CDing than just the diaper. You  need to have a “system”. Where will the diapers go until laundry day? How will you launder them? This involves a few accessories. So here’s what we have and here’s what we do:

Steps to CDing in the Griffiths home:

1. Change diaper. It’s not that much different than changing a disposable diaper. Unless you’ve never changed a diaper before in your life, there’s nothing you need to learn here. Just make sure it’s fitted properly otherwise you might have some leakage.

1.2. We used disposable wipes at first, but have now switched to cloth. We use these. If you’re using disposable wipes, you’ll need a separate trash can. If you use cloth, it all goes in the diaper pail (more below). There’s no need to create a “wipe solution” if you don’t want to. Regular water works just fine. We use a spray bottle on a dry wipe and so far it’s working well. Also, we only go through about 1 wipe per diaper change….2 wipes for the big poo’s. I tended to go through WAY more disposable wipes per diaper change.

2. Dirty diaper goes into a diaper pail lined with a wet bag. We use this one (and we bought 2 of them so while one is being washed, one is in the pail). The pail itself is just a round, lidded trash can that we already had for a few years (it was used in our kitchen but then we decided the shape didn’t work well in the kitchen and we replaced it). Anyway, it’s now perfect for CDs.

3. When it’s laundry day, we remove the entire wet bag and dump it in the washer along with the diapers/wipes. I don’t even have to touch the diapers. I just use the wet bag to push them all down into the washer. Of course, I still wash my hands anyway. But I feel better about not having poop on them in the first place. We follow the Bumgenius washing instructions: wash cold without detergent, wash hot w/detergent (we use Charlie’s Soap), wash cold once more without detergent. Then line dry the covers and tumble dry the inserts and wet bag. I’ve heard it might be okay to tumble dry everything, but I can’t speak from experience. I personally like line drying because the sun gets out any stains (which you will have, and it’s no big deal…seriously). Once the sun does its job, they look like new again 🙂

4. When everything is dry, we stuff the inserts back into the covers and put them back in the drawer of her changing table/dresser so they’re all ready for the next change.

For CDing on the go, we have a travel wet bag that we keep in our diaper bag, so the dirties have somewhere to go until we get them home.

So that’s our process. I don’t think it’s gross. And I don’t think it’s all that inconvenient. Yes, it’s a little more work and time. But not as much as you might think. Especially once you have your system down, it gets easier. Knowing that I’ll never have to buy diapers (or wipes) again makes that extra work worth it (to us). Also…they’re so ridiculously soft and cute. If I had to wear diapers, I’d choose cloth 🙂

Back to the “gross” factor. It’s my personal opinion that it’s something you just kind of have to get over. Kids are gross. Let’s be honest. When you become a parent, you have to deal with poop, pee, snot, spit up, blood, etc. on a somewhat daily basis. It just comes with the job. The only gross part of CDing is the 1.5 seconds I have to smell the inside of the diaper pail when I put a dirty diaper in. And the 5-10 seconds I have to smell it while putting it in the washing machine. I can deal. I’ve smelled worse things.