Guest post: Cloth Diapers

Welcome to my first guest post!  After having twins who are still in diapers, I have started to think about using cloth diapers for my new little lady.  It would save so much money and I am trying to make our lives a bit greener.  Not knowing where to start, I knew that my friend Erin's sister would be a great help!  I asked her to fill all of us disposable diaper Mamas in on the perks and ins and outs of cloth diapers.  Enjoy!
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Rebecca and her husband Mike.  She has an 11 month old son, Hunter, who was exclusively cloth diapered.  She also has a 7 year old step-daughter and one on the way in October! 

I heard about CD (cloth diapers) from my step daughter's mom and I fell in love with just how cute they were and all the colors blew my mind.  Besides the fact of it being very "green" it saved us a lot of money, which these days that seems to be in everyone's mind.

I know plenty of people automatically think that it is gross, but really it isn't any different than what people should be doing with disposables. Technically you are supposed to be dumping any 'poo' in the toilet before you put disposables in the trash. Human waste is not to be in landfills, and with cloth you dump the 'poo' in the toilet and then throw the CD in a wet bag or pail. As far as just wet CD you also just throw them in the bag or pail, and depending on how many CD you use you can wash a load everyday or every 2-3 days. With this always come the questions of "you wash 'poo' in the same washer as your clothes?!" And I really just want to know if your child has a blow out diaper do you throw away the outfit? Probably not!

Let me back up and describe our diaper routine and explain my stash. With a newborn it is recommended to have 16 to 24 diapers, we were lucky enough to receive a 24 pack of Fuzzibunz one size diapers as a baby shower gift. For us, that was plenty of diapers and we probably washed a load every night. After free diapers from orders and sales, and other gifts I fear we near over 60 diapers. I have sworn to my husband I will stop buying them... fingers might have been crossed though.  The recommended stash for a 1 year old is 12 to 14 diapers, and for 2 children momma's have gotten away with 25 CD stashes. To me, that seems like alot of laundry because Hunter is a big wetter and i feel we change him more often than others may have to. He might be changed 8 to 10 times a day and wear a super stuffed CD to bed that will last him through the night.

We roughly own: 

• 2 Bumgenius 4.0 one size pocket diapers
• 4 Tweedlebug one size diaper covers
• 3 Bumwear one size pocket diapers
• 2 Wonder Wrap one-size diaper covers
• 2 Grovia one size diaper shells
• 6 bummis wraps size small (for the new baby)
• 2 Rumparooz one size pocket diapers
• 1 medium fuzzi bunz pocket diaper, 3 large fuzzi bunz pocket diapers, and 35- 40 Fuzzi Bunz one size pocket diapers. 

We have a travel size wet bag for the diaper bag and a small Rubbermaid trash can with lid, with a pail liner in side which is lined with PUL to hold in dampness from dirty CD. We also have 30 pre-folds, that we use for extra stuffers for long trips and we fold them up inside the covers, shells, and wraps for bed time (at least two pre-folds in each). We also have random doublers and inserts. PLEASE NOTE: this is extreme and a lot is not needed, most of this is trial by error and just trying out different brands.

By far the best diaper to me is the Fuzzibunz one size diapers. These grow with your baby and are good from probably 9lbs to 40 ish lbs. They are the most economical diaper, as it will grow with your baby and you wont NEED to continue buying more (that does not mean you wont WANT to!). There are fitted CD that start at XS and go to Large, but as your baby grows you will have to buy more. The perfect one-sized Fuzzibunz are about $20 each, which is $5 more than the sized diapers.  Since they last longer, in the long run money is saved.

Washing routine:

1. When our pail is full, we take the inserts out of the CD and wash them and the covers first in a cold rinse, and then a hotwash with 1/4 of the reccomended detergent. 
2. Some people do an extra rinse, we stop there.
3. We have a drying rack hang dry our diapers, saving some more money. BUT if you do dry them, they can only be dryed on low temp. Otherwise the PUL will melt or pull away from the diaper and they will leak!

As for wipes, you can use cloth wipes which people just get damp and use and wash along with their CD, but those aren't for us and we make wipes from paper towel.  

I promise it isn't gross to use cloth diapers and remember ONE disposable stays in landfills for up to 500 years!! Please consider switching over!

I'm sure there is plenty i missed, but I'll be happy to answer any questions!!

*NOTE* I would recommend "like-ing" Diapershops.com on Facebook which is more specifically Kellyscloset.com for purchases. Check out the diaper dollars!!

Thanks for the read!! 

Becca

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As you may know, I am 6 months pregnant and I will be looking for more guest posters in the near future.  If you have any interest, please email me with a writing sample (or a link to your blog) and a topic you would like to write about.  I will need any extra help I can get!  Plus it is a nice way to expand readership!  

Ashleigh