Cloth Diapers are Easy and Inexpensive

     My goal is to show the world how easy it is to cloth diaper a baby. Hold on to your child's (soon to be) cloth-diapered-rear! =)

     First, to get a visual, you need to understand what kind of cloth diaper we use. I really enjoy Cotton Babies! For 6 months my daughter exclusively wore the bumGenius! 4.0 One Size Stay Dry pocket diaper with snap closure (she's 8 months old and has already figured out how to undo the velcro). So, snaps it is. Okay, moving on.

     When my husband and I made the decision for me to be a stay at home Mom with our two children, we both realized we needed to make a commitment to saving money and make our decision feasible. It's still amazing to me just how much 'tunnel' vision I had as a mom. We threw so much money towards buying thousands of diapers and wipes verses 18 cloth diapers and cloth wipes in a continual rotation that have a reputation to last past potty training because you can adjust the size as they grow, trash bags to hold disposables verses washing one load of diapers each day, multiple trips to the store clear across town each week for disposables verses no trips to the store and rash ointments upon rash ointments from disposables verses NO rash and thus, no ointments. Cloth diapering has saved me way more money (and time) than anyone can estimate. Seriously.

     I knew all about the hassle of disposables from my first child. I had NO idea there were other options. I had NO idea cloth diapers were any more advanced than cloth folded and pinned around a baby. I had NO clue, until I had my second child, Moriyah. She had such sensitive skin that many kinds of disposables would make her bum-bum rash and break open like crazy. Not fun. So, after trying at least 10 different kinds of disposables and chemical-filled ointments, I turned to the internet to find other options. After doing some research, I found out that most disposables are filled with chemicals and toxins bad for baby and the environment. This is when the door to cloth diapering benefits, was opened (angels singing in the background).=) Just knowing that all those harmful chemicals were not touching my baby made it easier to start cloth diapering and not look back.

      I love cloth diapers in so many ways.

     The diapers are cute and they make outfits much easier because you can have them as bottoms/pants. Two in one. In the summer, 'Riyah wore bottom-less dresses that matched them and you couldn't even tell they were diapers! Now that it's winter, I make her leg warmers and she can still sport them with just a long sleeved shirt and warmers! Perfect!

Also, this makes for easy access for diaper changes instead of having to peel layer after layer off to get to an ugly disposable.  I've recently learned how to decorate our cloth diapers so they're more personalized! (read my tutorial here).

     They keep baby 'Riyah's butt DRY! The material that is next to her skin sucks any moisture away from her bum and to the thirsty insert inside the pocket. Since it is a pocket diaper, you can easily customize how much absorbency your baby needs! You can't do that with disposables. So at night, we double up the inserts because she wets heavier at night. Her inserts can be dripping wet, but her bum will be dry as a bone, which prevents diaper rash!!! LOVE! This actually makes our diaper changes faster with cloth than disposable because I don't have to apply any preventative creams or ointments and I don't have to apply any to heal her either because she doesn't have that issue now that we've switched to cloth!

     Poop issue is minimal. MINIMAL, I TELL YOU!!! The band of elastic around the legs and her back prevent ANY leaks. I can honestly say that she's NEVER had the poop explosion up the back while wearing these. Since she was exclusively breastfed until she was 6 months, we didn't need to worry about the factor of getting solid poops out of the diaper before washing. Exclusive breastfed poop is very thin, naturally, so it washes out easily and great in the washer! Now that she's on solids, I have a system where I take the poopy diapers and use a diaper sprayer to spray off the firm poo into the toilet and then throw the cloth diaper load in the wash. This makes laundering them even easier than it already is! My hands never touch poop. Oh, and yes, I easily installed the diaper sprayer myself and yes, it took me less than 5 minutes. I know some might think it is gross to wash a little poo and pee in the washer, but guess what? It's not. I know because the diapers are 'squeaky' clean when they come out and my washer tub is spotless, as well.

     Changing her cloth diapers is easy-peasy. So, 'Riyah has a wet. I lay her down on the changing table and get out her cloth diaper. (In the photo, you'll notice there are a number of snaps to accommodate your baby's size as they grow. One diaper fits from from 7 to 35 lbs.)

Then, I 'stuff' the diaper with desired inserts to adjust to her needed absorbency. (Each 4.0 diaper comes with one One-Size Insert that is adjustable for sizing accommodations and one Newborn Doubler).

In the photo, to give you a visual of where and how, I used a colored book instead of the inserts as you could not see very well with the white inserts going into the white diaper.

     Next, I unsnap and remove her soiled/wet diaper and place it in a 'dry pail' (Ours looks like this. When the tote/'dry pail' gets full with usually 8 or 9 diapers for ours, it is time to do a wash). I use cloth wipes and water to get her bum clean, as well, which also go in the 'dry pail'. Then I place the clean and newly 'stuffed' diaper on her, pull until snug and secure with the snaps (exact same process as putting on a disposable, except there are snaps). EASY! Painless! Fast! Non-irritating!

Check out our cloth diaper routine: Part 1 here.and Part 2 here. I have added to my stash since this video. I have added the bumGenius Freetimes, Blissful Booty Perfect Pockets (my new favie), and Grovia AIO's.

(I could literally go on for days about why we love them...)

     When people notice me changing one of her cloth diapers, they gasp and stare. Literally. It's sad that more people don't know about them. They watch me and they see how simple it is and after I'm done...they ask questions. Every time, they are amazed at how easy the system of cloth diapering works. Awareness! (YAY!)

So now, it's your turn. Comment below! Ask questions! Oh...and try a cloth diaper. You never know until you've tried it.