Cloth Diaper Bunz

I haven't blogged in a few days and thought I should get on and talk about something that is kind of unique in this day in age of parenting. I use cloth diapers on my babies! Now, I have met a few people out there who cloth diaper, but not that many, especially considering that I live in the NW again where a good amount of people are adament about taking care of the environment. I need to say first, that I'm not against disposable diapers, in fact, I still use them when we go out for long lengthes of time in the day, and at times when I just feel like it, but for the most part I use cloth diapers on Gabi.

My sis in law Emily uses them on her son as well. We kind of started out this cloth diaper venture together when Emilio was about 16 months. My mom offered to invest in the diapers and wraps for us ($300, although we have more than we need) if we wanted to use them, ultimately helping out our pocketbooks and the environment too which is always a plus. We bought Chinese pre-fold unbleached diapers (2 sizes) and Super Bummis Whisper Wraps (gone are the days of diaperpins which many of us were possibly poked with as a child....these new wraps have velcro or buttons that keeps them on and securely around the cloth diaper). I also use these disposable liners now (they are flushable) that can be washed and reused if they aren't pooped on. They are great for catching the major messes and easier to dump in the pot.

We bought our products from www.earthbaby.com, and there are many other styles of cloth diapers besides the ones we purchased. I think the website is currently under construction, but there are many other website about cloth diapers if you are interested in looking. So, our main goal was to help save money when we initially started and figured personally that we had the energy and time to add a few extra loads of laundry a week (only about 2 really, it isn't that much more work). The best part is........they do save money!!! It is estimated that one child in diapers will cost a person somewhere between $1500-$3000 dollars in their early childhood years. Cloth diapers cost us about $300 (we could have bought less thought like I mentioned before) and then the little money it takes to launder them on our own each week. I don't even machine dry the wraps but hang dry them (although they can be machine dried). We don't have to make late night trips to the store to get disposables anymore either since we have the cloth.

After researching about cloth diapering we have found so many more benefits from using them as well. For example;
* They are better for the environment. Disposables are filling our landfills and supossedly take 500 years to decompose. Ouch! That means that every disposable that has ever been used is still on this earth.
* They don't have the chemicals that disposables do.
* Cloth diapers don't cause diaper rash as often, because we can feel when kids are wet better and change them more frequently.
* Children who use cloth diapers often potty train earlier. Emilio was potty trained by 22 months. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, because I know it wasn't really my doing, he could just feel stuff more in his cloth diapers. My nephew is 22 months and well on his way to potty training currently, producing often in the toilet. My 20 month old daughter is telling me when she poops and seems to recognize wetness as well at times.
*The cloth diaper pail doesn't smell as much as my disposable one did, because I'm getting rid of most of the smelly stuff in the toilet.
*I used my cloth diapers on Emilio, now Gabi, and if I happen to have another child someday, I will be able to use them again. Three different butts in the same diaper (different times though), talk about hand me downs.
*It is really simple to throw my cloth diapers and wraps into the washing machine twice a week and run it on heavy duty. They come out clean too!

The negatives of Cloth;
*They do make my kids appear chunkier in the bottom and they have kadunkadunks to begin with. I just have to put a larger sizes of clothing on them (instead of an 18-24 month, I may use a 2T, depends on the brand of clothing though). Gabi wears dresses a lot because they seem to fit better.
*The poops can be gross to deal with at times. BUT, when kids are potty training you have to deal with cleaning up accidents at the beginning anyway and if you are a cloth diapering mama dealing with the "SHIT" (excuse my language) isn't such a big deal.
*A slight amount more work a week of laundering and folding the diapers. Not such a big deal if you are a stay at home mom though.

Now please, I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to talk you into cloth diapering. I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty (Lord knows us moms don't need anything else to feel guilty about in our lives). It is a decision that you have to make on your own and one that I just felt was good for me and my family. I just know I get tons of questions when the subject comes up and thought this might help clarify why I enjoy using cloth diapers. If you want to find out more about it please ask me or google the many articles and websites dedicated to cloth diapering on the Internet. Here is one website. Also I know that there are cheaper disposables available these days to help save money. There are also disposables that are made without the chemicals which I've had friends use and love. They also make gdiapers now that are disposable and break down and can be flushed in the toilet. So many options out there.

Here are cute pictures of Gabi in her cloth diaper (this is before a diaper change in the morning and doubled up since it was for bedtime, so it might look pretty bulky) and her new adorable Flowered Super Bummis Whisper Wraps (the rest of mine are just plain white).




Cute bottom if I do say so myself