My Two-Week Experiment With Cloth Diapers

I have always used disposable diapers.  I mean, always always.  Fourteen years ago, when I had my oldest, I looked into cloth, but they were exactly the same as the ones my mom had used on me.  Cotton rectangles, held on by big fat diaper pins, covered by crinkly, scratchy vinyl covers.  Stinky, leaky, gross.  I went with disposables, and didn't look back.

I continued using disposables with each of my next four children.  Honestly, I didn't even know anyone who used cloth.  I think when I had my fifth, I briefly considered looking into cloth, but I didn't know who to ask, or where to start.  And really, the options hadn't improved that much by then, anyway.

Fast forward to this time around.  I happen to have a cousin whose wife gave birth to two adorable girls only a few weeks before Baby Boy was born.  And as we traded ideas and advice, and commiserated with one another over Facebook messaging, I realized that they were using cloth diapers for their girls.  I was kind of intrigued, and asked about their experience.

Several phone calls and about one million Facebook IM's and emails later, I was ready to try it.  But where to start?  I could, of course, just go with the brand and style that they were using, and assume that what they liked would be perfect for me, too.  But I was more than a little hesitant to make that kind of investment in something without, I don't know, trying it out first?

Enter the Diaper Lab.  I came across their website when I was trying to find someplace local to go and at least look at some different cloth diaper brands.

I was super interested to discover that they rent cloth diapers!

It's the perfect arrangement.  You go into their adorable little store, get some basic diapering info from the super nice and incredibly knowledgeable staff, and they help you choose eight different cloth diapers.  Then you take them home and use them for two weeks.  At the end of that time, you will have either developed definite preferences and know what type of diaper you want to keep (and probably buy more of), or you will have realized that cloth diapering is really not for you, thank you very much.

I was definitely up for this.  It was perfect.  If I had just gotten all over-excited about a new idea without thinking it through first (which I have been, ahem, known to do - see "I bought us a pet turtle!" as one notable example), then all I was out was the rental fee.  Or if it turned out that I loved cloth diapering, and wanted to switch over, then I'd know which diapers I liked, and which didn't work for me or my baby.

I jumped in with both feet.  No disposables for at least two weeks.  Of course, I had to blog about it...

Day 1

I just rented one each of 8 different cloth diapers.  Pretty fun!  I was all excited to get going immediately, but apparently you have to wash them 3 times before you use them the first time.  So today is all about laundry.  Kind of funny to wash the same tiny load three times and then hang it up to dry.

Day 2

Aack!  I’m really doing this!  My first cloth diaper!

It feels strange to be putting clothes on Baby Boy under his clothes, instead of a diaper.  Oh wait, this IS a diaper.  I’m going to have to get used to this.

Day 3

My oldest daughter changed her first cloth diaper today and declared (in that "there-is-only-one-right-decision" way that only teens have) that all of her kids will be using nothing but cloth: “They’re so adorable, and so easy!  And their fat little bums are so cute!”

Day 4

First poopy cloth diaper.  In church.  I’m not sure I was still on the positive side of the environmental-impact scale with this one, after the 5 paper towels I used to wipe out the diaper before I put it into my bag to take home.  But after so many years of just throwing it all away, putting a diaper full of poop into my bag and carrying it around church with me seemed… strange.

Day 5

I definitely prefer the shells/covers with inserts to the all-in-one’s.  I just can’t get them dry fast enough without putting them in the dryer (on low, which takes forever anyway, and uses all that electricity and makes me feel like I’m not saving so much money anymore).

Second poopy diaper.  I again used paper towels to wipe it out before I put it in the wash.  Am I doing this wrong?

Day 6

My oldest has a favorite now.  I think she likes the Velcro, and the fact that there’s no insert to keep in place, since it’s stuffed inside the pocket.  Snaps are still a little tricky with a wiggly 18 pound baby; I'm sure we'll get better as time goes on.

Day 7

I am fast becoming a big believer in cloth: this kid woke up and ate at least 15 times last night (don’t ask me why) so I was really asking a lot of this diaper tonight - and it held!  Both inserts were SOAKED.  But the only wetness outside of the diaper cover was a tiny spot on his waistband.  I would have had more leaking out with a disposable.

Day 8

As I got into bed, I remembered that all my diapers were still in the washer, and that I needed to hang the covers and put the inserts into the dryer.  It took less than 5 minutes.  When I got into bed, my husband said, “You’re really loving this cloth diaper thing, aren’t you?”
I am.

Day 9

Hot and humid today.  A fun bonus of cloth diapers is that I can just have him wear just a t-shirt and he looks fully dressed.  And adorable with his big bum.

I’ve started using a wet washcloth instead of wipes.  When I’m not already throwing a diaper away, it seems weird to throw wipes away.  Plus, I’m doing that load of laundry anyway.  I think I’m going to look into making some.  I mean, cloth ones.  I already make disposable ones.

Day 10

I definitely feel like I’ve got this down, at this point.  I have a routine of throwing the load of diapers in the washer every night when my kids go to bed, and then hanging everything just before I go to bed.  The all-in-one’s aren’t dry in the morning, but everything else is - I think it’s the humidity here.  I carry two diapers and a gallon Ziploc in my diaper bag, and it seems just as normal to me now as a handful of disposables did ten days ago.

Day 11

I’ve got a system down for the poopy diapers: I just run them through a rinse cycle first, then put all the rest of the diapers in with them for the whole wash cycle.  I think other people don’t do this.  But I’m still getting used to putting poop into my washer instead of throwing it away.

*My cousin’s wife reminded me that this exists.  I think I’m good with my extra rinse, but it’s a good idea to keep in mind for later.  I don’t know how I’ll feel when he’s two.

Day 12

Hooray!  The three diapers that I won on Ebay last week came in the mail today!  It’s nice to have a few extra to put into the rotation.  Eight diapers is pretty close to a 24-hour supply, especially since there are one or two that I’ve pretty much stopped using because they leak so reliably.

Day 13

Uh, oh.  We’ve got ourselves a not-super-helpful new trick: sometimes when I’m feeding Baby Boy, and he’s not wearing pants over his diaper (which is pretty much every day lately – it’s just so hot), he plays with the label or Velcro tabs on his diaper with his free hand.  If his diaper has snaps, or some heavy-duty Velcro keeping it closed, no problems.  However, there are a few diapers whose Velcro tabs get undone faster than I can grab that little hand of his.  Grrr.

Day 14

I had Baby Boy in just a t-shirt and diaper this afternoon when we were over at a friend’s house.  She gave his fat bum a quizzical look and asked, “What’s he wearing?”  I said I’d switched to cloth, at which point she looked really skeptical and said, “Yeah, because you have time for that.”  My daughter jumped in to defend my choice: “It’s really easy, actually.  Just one extra load of laundry.”  She’s right.  It is really easy.  Just one extra load of laundry.

Day 15

Today was the day I went back to Diaper Lab to return what I didn't like.  I think this store might be my new favorite place to hang out.  Those ladies are just so nice!  And it's strangely fun to look around at all the different diapering systems, carriers, creams, toys.  I had all of my kids with me, which usually stresses people out, but they handled it with no problem: they pointed to a small toy-area in the corner, and also invited my kids to play outside in the "backyard".

Post-Two-Week-Trial-Period Update

We had our first trip away from home with cloth, and it was no big deal.  Ok, so it was only two days and one overnight, but still.  I didn’t know if it would be as easy being away, as it has been while at home.  But, easy peasy.  I don’t have a “wet bag” yet (need to get to the fabric store to buy some PUL fabric!) so I just brought along an extra garbage bag.  The only snag I hit was that I don’t really have more than two days’ worth of diapers, so even though I threw all the dirty diapers into the wash as soon as I got home, I still had to use a disposable that night because the load wasn’t dry.  It seemed really strange, not using cloth.  Kind of like I was cheating.

How can you not love that cute little baby bum?

So at this point, the verdict is probably obvious: I really like cloth diapers.  I like them enough, in fact, that I've completely switched over.  I returned some of the diapers I rented, and bought more of some others.  Come back Wednesday for a review of each of the eight brands and styles I tried!

Happy diapering,

Kate