And now for a post that’s a bit more “living” than straight up “home improvement” related. When people ask what question we get here at YHL most often, they’re probably expecting it to be about paint or demo. Not so. It is, without a doubt, some iteration of the following:
How are you liking cloth diapers? How many do you have? What brand are they? Did you get the kind with the liners/inserts? Do they work? Does Clara like them? Are they difficult? Do you regret it? Is it annoying to wash them? Do they really get clean? Are there times when you don’t use them and opt for disposables? How long will they last? Are they bulky? What do you do when you’re out running errands? How exactly do you wash them? What colors did you get? How do you store them when they’re dirty? Does Clara have a lot of blowouts with them? Do they give her diaper rash?
Who knew it could be such a hot topic? But we’re happy to address the many (many) questions that we’ve received right here in this surprisingly exhaustive post. So fasten your seat belts and get ready to read the word poop at least once. And by all means, if you’re not a parent and have no interest in hearing about baby bodily functions, skip this post and stay tuned for more house-related fare tomorrow. You have been warned…
After a lot of research and chats with family and friends who went the cloth diaper route, we settled on the Bum Genius Elemental One Size All In Ones – the ones that are organic with snaps instead of velcro. They’re so easy to use and should last us through multiple kiddos. We’ve heard that velcro can wear out after tons of washings but snaps are good for the long haul so that’s why we opted for that feature. As for inserts or liners, the ones that we chose don’t have them. We figured if we were going to have to wash part of the diaper we might as well get all in ones and wash them all (instead of dealing with liners/inserts). It seemed simpler and so far we have found them to be extremely easy. Plus we love that they’re one-size-fits-all, which will save us a ton of money (they adjust with some easy snapping to accommodate Clara as she grows).
The dozen that we purchased should not only last us through Clara’s potty training days but we expect to use the same dipes for future bambino(s) as well. We picked up 12 and have never needed more than that thus far but we wouldn’t mind 18, which seems to be the magic number for many other cloth diapering parents. We might grab six more someday, but we’re definitely getting by with 12 so far. Oh and as for diapering duty, you might be shocked to hear that John changes way more diapers than I do around here. He sweetly decided that if I would be feeding her multiple times a day, he could be the go-to diaper guy, which is such a big help and actually really cute to watch (Clara loves to pee on him from time to time).
And as for washing them, we’ve found that with a baby you’re always doing laundry anyway. So tossing in one big load of diapers every day-and-a-half or so is no trouble at all. Really, we anticipated the switch from disposables to cloth diapers to be waaay harder (Clara didn’t fit into her cloth diapers for the first 9 weeks so we had some time to get used to disposables and were shaking in our boots about making the switch). Thankfully it was really easy and fun. They’re just so darn cute on her, and she seems really comfortable and happy in them too. Speaking of the aesthetic factor, we got three orange ones (clementine), three green ones (grasshopper), three light blue ones (twilight), and three yellow ones (butternut). That way they’re gender neutral for any bambinos down the line.
How has our experience with cloth diapering been so far? In short: we love them, they’re no harder than disposables (the time we spend tossing them in the wash seems equal to the time we used to spend trudging out to the store to buy disposables before Clara could fit into her cloth dipes). Clara seems to love them more than disposables too (she sleeps longer at night, never appears uncomfortable, etc) and she has experienced 95% fewer blowouts and zero diaper rash since trading up from disposables (where those occurrences were a tad more frequent). Oh and the only time we don’t use them is when we travel overnight somewhere, since it’s more of a challenge to wash them while road tripping.
And have we mentioned that they’re hugely cost effective? Especially thanks to our Energy Star front loading washer and dryer (which make the cost of cleaning them negligible and keep our water/energy usage extremely low). We also often line dry our diapers out in the sun to save even more energy and keep them looking mint (more info on that in a minute). For around $265 (for a 12-pack of cloth diapers) we have unlimited dipes on hand for the rest of Clara’s diapering days. Plus we’re not sending tons of disposable diapers to the landfill so that makes us feel good. In retrospect, the only thing we would have done differently is purchase some newborn sized Bum Genius diapers as well. The one-size-fits-all versions are a bit loose on most newborns, so they also make cloth newborn-sized dipes, which we opted to skip since we didn’t know how big Clara would be at birth (the doc estimated she’d be 10lbs (!) but she was only 7lbs 10 oz in the end). So since we skipped the newborn sized cloth diapers, Clara’s first nine weeks were spent in Seventh Generation disposable diapers- and we learned just how expensive the non-reusable diaper route really was.
We’re actually happy we experienced life with disposables so we have some point of comparison. If we hadn’t relied on them at first, we never could have kept track of the money we spent on them (and the money that we would thereby be saving moving forward). After nine weeks of disposable diapering we had spent more than $180. That’s only a bit less than we spent on our entire stock of Bum Genius diapers that will easily last through the end of Clara’s diaper days and hopefully through future babies’ as well! And by our $180 for 9 weeks estimation, we could have easily spent another $3000+ on disposable diapers to last her until she turns two. Crazy, right? We also hope to make the change to cloth wipes sometime soon for even more savings in the future (we’re currently using Seventh Generation ones, which we like a lot).
As for our dirty diaper system, we have a pail for dipes and a smaller pail for wipes in the nursery (we snagged both pails at World Market). We rinse the dirty (read: not just wet) ones with the diaper sprayer that we mentioned a while back (pictured above). Some people say that you don’t need to spray dirty diapers when a baby is exclusively breastfeeding but we have found that a quick spray helps them come out a lot cleaner and less discolored so it’s worth it to us (and for what it’s worth, our friend Katie Bower also had the same experience). What can we say, we’re pro-spray kinda girls. And it only takes a second. It’s kind of fun too (but I won’t get into that as I’m probably one of the weirdest people on the planet since I get an inordinate amount of joy from cloth diapering).
After spraying the dirty ones, we place them in the larger pail, while only-wet ones go right into the same pail without a spray. The dirty wipes go straight into the smaller pail for disposal (both pails are lined with “recycled” plastic bags that we have laying around from places like Target when we mindlessly forget our reusable ones). Note: we hung the pails off of the hard-to-see corner of the dresser with coat hooks and anchors, which keeps them much easier to reach than placing the pails on the floor. Then we added small strips of weatherstripping on the bottom edge of the pails (where they meet the dresser) to keep them from scratching the wood.
We haven’t experienced any issues with odor thanks to the lids (of course we hear that things can get stinkier once we transition to solid foods but we have a few family friends who still use the pail method so we don’t anticipate having a problem as long as we continue to wash our diapers every day and a half or so). Which brings us back to dirty diaper laundering. As recommended by Bum Genius, we prefer to launder them at least every other day. We usually wash 11 of them in one big load every day-and-a-half while Clara wears the remaining 12th diaper- that way we’re not washing just a few at a time.
And as for our detergent, we use Seventh Generation Free & Clear (update: we learned our diapers would last even longer thanks to Charlie’s Soap Laundry Powder so that’s now all that we use) and we just wash them once on the warm heavy duty setting and either machine dry them or lay them out in the sun. We have heard that you can do a cold pre-wash before the warm heavy duty wash, but so far that hasn’t been necessary (possibly because we pre-spray the dirty diapers into the toilet as soon as they come off).
Oh and we learned that occasionally one may come out of the wash with a slight orange tinge (very rarely, this isn’t an everyday thing). The good news is that it’s 100% clean and sanitized, sometimes one every few weeks is just a bit discolored from breastfeeding poop (since the pure organic cotton liners are awesomely absorbent). It’s kind of like how old tupperware containers can get stained from tomato sauce and even if you run them through the dishwasher and they’re totally clean they can still have that tint. Luckily we learned if you lay them out in the sun while they’re still moist from the washer it bleaches them white again- it’s like magic! Seriously, you might want to cross your fingers for that tinge every once in a while just for the fun of seeing the sun undo it in a few hours. We wish Clara was old enough to watch in wonder like we do. She’d probably make this Zoolander face:
Oh and they’re also pretty easy on the go (we only use disposables when we’re traveling somewhere overnight, but for day trips and errands and things we stick to cloth). If we have to do a diaper change while we’re out – at Home Depot for example, haha – we just slip the dirty cloth diaper into a plastic bag and rinse it when we get home. We hope to upgrade to a reusable zippered wet bag for dirty diapers while we’re on the go (we currently just reuse Target bags and stuff that we have laying around) since we’ve heard those work well and contain everything nicely (no smells or leaks).
Now for the bulkiness question. They’re definitely a bit bulkier than disposables but nothing too terrible. In fact we think they’re super cute! Clara can still fit into a few newborn sized outfits with them on and she’s almost three months old! So they can’t be that huge, right?
So there you have it. Over 2,000 words on cloth diapering. Can you tell we’re enthusiastic? Of course this is a completely personal parent-how-you’d-like-to decision, so we’re just sharing our experience when it comes to diapering. And we’re not anti-disposable by any means! Tons of our family and friends opted to go that route because it worked best for their household and we still rely on disposables when we travel. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in three months of parenting it’s that there’s no right way to raise your wee one, and it’s all about sussing out what works best for you and your family. So go forth and diaper your beans and beanettes any way you’d like with a smile on your face. Or am I the only weirdo who grins every time I snap a fresh diaper on those cute little buns?
UPDATE: We switched from diaper tins to wet bags a while back (since they’re super easy to toss into the laundry with our diapers too keep things smelling fresh – here’s that info for ya). As for how cloth diapering is going, we still love and use the same 12 cloth diapers that we purchased over a year ago! That’s it (we haven’t purchased any more or tried any other brands). They still look mint, work well, and don’t smell or anything. Best money we ever spent.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Our cloth diapers are still holding up really well two years later. Check out the update post here.
Amelia says
Yay for BumGenius! We also made the switch around nine weeks and haven’t looked back since. Our little guys is quite the nighttime pee-er (you know what I’m saying) and the doubled up cloth is the ONLY thing that has kept him consistently dry all night. I also wanted to recommend to you that you check out the paper liners that cotton babies sells (http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?products_id=1853). We started using these in the diapers, they’re completely flushable and have been awesome now that we’re into the solid food and the, ahem, perks that come with solid foods. They’ve completely eliminated our need to spray (ok, well almost completely :) and for 8.00 the roll lasts at least 2 months. All of us Charlottesville cloth users are hooked on these, hope they help you too! (And no, I don’t work for cotton babies etc…) Just sayin’ :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amelia,
Thanks for the tip! $8 for two months of cleaner/easier diapers does sound intriguing! We’ll definitely check them out!
xo,
s
Tara says
I am now cloth diapering my FOURTH baby and thus feel the need to add my 2 cents. Most veteran clothers that I know choose pocket diapers over all-in-ones if they’re going that route. Why? Being able to separate the outer pocket from the inner stuffing allows the diapers to get much, MUCH cleaner in the laundry (and they dry more quickly too). You won’t notice so much now on an infant but once the poop starts stinking, so may the diapers. Pocket diapers also allow you to choose your stuffing amount and placement (ie more upfront for a boy, more in general at night, &c). Other than that, I love BumGenius. I have their very first model of pocket diaper and am still using them after 3 1/2 years. Granted, I had to replace the elastic and the velcro did wear out so I put on my own snaps. (Back then, they didn’t have a snap-only version). :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for all the info Tara! We actually know some family friends who have used the same all-in-ones for multiple kiddos without any issues, but we look forward to learning as we go and seeing what works for us (we figure every baby is different so the cloth diapering experiences might be too). We promise a one-year follow up post about what has changed/what we’ve learned in the wonderful world of cloth diapering!
xo,
s
Beth says
Our Ezra is 2 1/2 and we’ve been using the bumGenius cloth diapers since he was born. We love them. Our only regret is going with velcro rather than snaps. Not only does the velcro start to wear out, but it also snags on the cloth in the wash causing the diapers to pill and look much older than they really are. We’ll be purchasing some of the snap version for baby #2 due in Dec.
ashlie says
Great post – my husband and I are hoping to do cloth diapers when our little one gets here in December. We’re planning on using Apple Cheeks because they’re designed and made here in Canada, which was important to us. Like a lot of people have said, some friends and family think we’re crazy for wanting to use cloth diapers, but they’ve changed so much!
Erin B. Inspired says
I’m not a mom but this was very informative for when I become a mom. Also, I enjoyed reading the link about your water conservation in your toilet. Something I should definitely look into.
Hilary says
I actually don’t have kids but I still found your post informative.
My real question is where did you get that great bedspread and which room is it in?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Hilary,
That’s actually a yard of fabric that we picked up at Joann Fabrics on clearance for Clara’s weekly photos (we take one each week on a different fabric backdrop and photoshop her age on her onesie). You can check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/younghouselove/sets/72157624154743476/
xo,
s
Robin says
I have an 8 week old and just started cloth diapering this week. He is our 3rd child and we did disposables with the last two. I made all 24 of my diapers and just used a bum genius as a pattern. I did plastic snaps and the polyurethane laminate fabric for a fraction of the cost. I even have about 8 yards leftover because you have to buy it in larger amounts if you want a discount. I actually think the cloth diapers may be easier and I know he seems more comfortable than when he wears disposable. No blowouts yet except around the legs since he is still just a bit small to be wearing them. I’m thinking in the future perhaps this great little fabric leftover could be used in a design for training pants. Does anyone have any good sites to check out for idea’s?
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone have ideas for Robin?
xo,
s
The Virginia House says
Are they very bulky? I love the idea of cloth diapers and especially of the money savings. Every child I’ve seen wearing them (cloth) and my memories of my little brother in them is that they are HUGE! I would love to know how these compare.
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
They’re definitely a bit bulkier than disposables but nothing too terrible. In fact we think they’re super cute! Clara can still fit into many newborn sized outfits with them on and she’s almost three months old. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Lauren says
We don’t have kids yet, but I am interested in using cloth diapers when we do. I think someone already asked this (I just skimmed the comments) but what do you do when you’re out and you have to change a diaper? Do you have something that you store it in until you can get home to wash it?
Thanks for this post! It answers a lot of the questions I had!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Lauren,
If we have to do a diaper change during the day while we’re out we just slip the dirty cloth diaper into a plastic bag and rinse it when we get home. We hope to upgrade to a reusable wet bag for dirty diapers while we’re out (we currently just reuse Target bags and stuff that we have laying around).
xo,
s
Amy Baker says
After reading your post, i’m thinking of switching my 13 month old to CD, but i have a couple of questions for you. By saying you still use disposables while traveling, did you mean going to home depot, or going on vacation? if you meant on vacation, what do you do when poop happens and you’re not at home? We are very on-the-go kinda people, so that’s one of my main concerns. Otherwise, what kind of feedback have you received from sitters? You may not have left Clara with anyone yet, so if you haven’t what have future sitters (aka, grandma and close relatives) said about having to deal with the CD?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amy,
We mean overnight trips. To places like Home Depot she’s just fine in a cloth diaper, and if we have to do a diaper change during the day while we’re out we just slip the dirty diaper into a plastic bag and rinse it when we get home. We hope to upgrade to a reusable wet bag for dirty diapers while we’re out (we currently just reuse Target bags and stuff that we have laying around). We also haven’t had feedback from sitters yet (we both work from home and haven’t left Clara in anyone’s care yet, although family members love that we use cloth and are happy to learn about it and help when they watch her). It’s such an easy system that we’re sure they’ll be just fine with them!
xo,
s
Amy Baker says
oh yeah, and have you noticed having to change her less often since switching? It seems like i changed Allie 10 times a day!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amy,
Clara was quite the frequent pooper in the early days, but lately those have been less frequent and we find that we change her about 8-9 times a day. Since she sleeps so long overnight (over 9+ hours) that also saves us some diaper changes in the overnight phase of the day. Then in the morning of the next day we’ll use the other 3-4 diapers and then it’s time to do laundry (we do it every day and a half or so, which works well for us). Of course if we got 6 more diapers for a total of 18 we could go even longer between washings (although we hate for diapers to sit in the pail for too long anyway, so we’re happy with 12 so far). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Shyla says
Glad you posted on this! I evangelize cloth diapers whenever I can to people who ask about them. We used cloth diapers for both of our children (now 3.5 and 1.5 yrs. of age), and we don’t regret it one bit. We used the dry pail method, but we purchased a two swaddlebees liners for the pail and then we wash the liner at the same time we wash the diapers. Now that my oldest is potty trained during the day, we use the cloth diapers as a night-time training pant with only 1 insert in it.
Goldie says
Not a diaper comment, but I find it hysterical that Clara was estimated at 10 pounds… My dr said baby would be no bigger than 8 so when I actually had a 10 pound baby it was kind of a shock!
Julie says
Good for you guys! Bum Genius didn’t work well for us as both of our chunk-a-monk babies grew out of them before they were even 18 months! We love Fuzzi Bunz though, especially the latest version with the higher rise.
And how people can cloth diaper with a diaper sprayer attached to their toilets, I do not know. And I could not live without my Imse Vimse (or however you spell it) flushable liners.
Good luck!
Gina Applegate says
We use Bum Genius, too, but I prefer the velcro because my son is an acrobat during diaper changes. I had snaps and that extra 10 seconds to snap was too much for his squirming, so I sold the snap diapers on craigslist and got velcro ones.
I have had to change the velcro tabs out, but you can get the repair kits for about $1 on cottonbabies website and it only takes about 5 minutes to sew. We both work full time outside of the house, so we have found 24 diapers to be our magic number so we can go almost 3 days in between laundry.
As for when you are out and about, Lauren, (and because I sew), Kidsinthegarden.com sells PUL fabric by the inch, which is waterproof and breathable, so I have made a bunch of drawstring bags out that fabric to keep in the diaper bag for soiled diapers as well as wet clothes, swimsuits, etc. They’re really handy especially while we’re potty training.
Michele says
Thank you so much for this fabulous post! Our baby is due in January and I tell my co-workers that we are going to cloth diaper and they just think that is the funniest thing! They are all older with teenagers so they don’t understand just how far cloth diapers have come. I am super excited to try them out! We are going to go with the Bum Genius too! I am also super excited about the money we are going to save! It is unbelievable!
I think a few others have asked too but I would also like to know about the laundry process, water temperature, what kind of detergent do you use, etc…
Thanks again! You have gotten me super excited for this:)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Michele,
We use Seventh Generation detergent (the free & clear kind with no scent, it’s very pure and we’ve never had an issue). And no fabric softener (which can mess with a cloth diaper’s absorbency). Then we pre-rinse the dirty diapers with our sprayer (not so with the wet ones) and wash them all on one “warm heavy duty” cycle which seems to do the trick. We have heard that you can do a cold rinse beforehand but we have found that by using the diaper sprayer on the dirty diapers it’s not necessary for us thus far. Then we dry them for a bit in the dryer our outside. Easy, peasy!
xo,
s
Robbyn says
Great post! My son is 16 months old and we’ve been cloth diapering since the beginning. We have *ahem* a LOT of diapers and many different kinds, and BG’s products have always been my favorite. On busy days and when we’re away from home for more than an hour or so, I use the organic all-in-ones. The rest of the time I use the Flip system with organic inserts. GroBaby/GroVia is also high on the favorites list, and those are mostly what we used during the newborn days since their smallest setting is a lot smaller than the BGs.
I’m also a huge fan of my diaper sprayer (from eBay). They really are necessary for sticky toddler poo, but we survived just fine without it until Silas started eating solids around 7-8 months.
Lisa says
Thank you for the post! Very helpful and greatly appreciated, we plan to use cloth diapers when we start having kids.
Hehe, I would love to see the expression on Clara’s face in about 15 years reading this post.
Patti says
Glad to hear you’re happy with the cloth route. I have one question tho … someone commented above about the whole family using re-usable wipes instead of toilet paper. Am I missing something or misunderstanding? What impact does tp have on the environment? or is it just a matter of cost? I’m not even joking, just curious.
YoungHouseLove says
We currently use Seventh Generation wipes (although we mentioned that we’d love to switch to washable wipes as well soon). Maybe that person was referring to the packaging waste (plastic etc). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
vika says
There’s a diaper store in Chicago (well several of them) that has a cloth diaper trial. If anyone has questions about different kinds of diapers, they should see if there are such stores in their area. You get a 2 or 3-week trial of different kinds of cloth diapers to test out which ones work best on the little one and to see if cloth diapers are for you.
Nicki’s Diapers (http://www.nickisdiapers.com/) also has something like this.
We’re expecting our sweet little one in early November and have already had a diaper “class” and decided on a trial.
Tiffini S. says
2.5 years ago the cloth diaper thing was JUST getting convenient. However, between daycare and relatives who were caring for our little guy, we could not use them most of the time. We tried a few here and there, but Jameson blew right through them. His middle name is “King” and we soon found out that he was the King of pooping.
Our only diaper related joy was the diaper songs we made up to keep him happy while we changed him. Such as:
(To the Tune of Stayin’ Alive)
Well you can tell by the way I suck my thumb
I’m a baby boy, and I ain’t dumb
Milk is warm, my butt is wet
Need a diaper change, ain’t had one yet
Well it’s all right, it’s OK
I need to find that one lady
She feed me milk, she change my butt
At night we do the Baby Strut
Ah, ah, ah, ah, poopin’ da pants, changin’ da pants
Ah, ah, ah, ah, poopin’ da paaaaaaaaaaaaaannntsss
Or my personal favorite, and with apologies to Nelly:
If you wanna go and change a diap wit me and put a little powder on my booty
Oh why must it be this way?
HEY! Must be the poopay!
If you wanna see my little winkie and get a brand new Pamper on me
Oh why must it be this way?
HEY! Must be the poopay!
YoungHouseLove says
Love it.
xo,
s
Shannon says
As a soon-to-be-new mom, I enjoyed reading your post. Question, do you have to wash the diapers more than once? I heard they have to be washed 3 times to be sanitized- true?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Shannon,
We just rinse the dirty diapers with our sprayer (and leave the wet ones alone) and then do a warm heavy-duty wash before either drying them for a bit in the dryer or line drying them to save more energy/money. We have heard that you can do a cold rinse beforehand as well, but ours have been fine without that step. So it’s just one wash for us, and they’re definitely 100% sanitized. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Rita says
About bleaching in the sun: I’m from Portugal, though I live in the U.S. now, and bleaching in the sun is used very often. For best results, the clothes are wet and soaped up and put out in the sun with the stain facing up (for example, put it out in a plastic container in the lawn or your patio).
Over here, it is hard to find laundry soap in a bar but you could use glycerin soap or if you have access to a Latino market, they do sell laundry bar soap, although I’m not sure about the “organicness” of it.
There’s only one less positive thing about sun bleaching. If your item has a bright color, it will fade out a little bit. To prevent some of this fading, try to bleach it late afternoon and early morning (for example put the clothes out at 5 PM and take them out by 10 am the following day) and avoid doing it when the sun is at its peak.
Katrina says
Thanks for the run down on your cloth diaper experience. Although I suspect that some of your observations pre and post the switch might be confounded by the advancements made by your little one (oh, how quickly they change), it’s nice to hear you haven’t had any major disappointments using cloth diapers. We’re onto potty training our little one now, but I definitely have my eye on cloth diapers for any future children that we (fingers crossed) have.
Tami says
While cloth diapers are no doubt cheaper I can’t help but wonder what you were buying. I only spend about $30 dollars a month to diaper my kiddos. Of course after the first few months you don’t have to change them every two ours anymore.
Kelly says
Thanks so much for posting this!
I have one more request for you … could you do a post on your favorite baby items — like your stroller pick, car seat, etc.?
I am expecting and I love to hear others’ opinions. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Kelly- Check out this post (see all the linked items in it) for our favorite baby essentials: https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/07/keeping-it-real-the-baby-gear-factor/
There’s also this post and this post for more ideas. Hope it helps!
Tami- We were buying Seventh Generation diapers. And Clara is quite the pooper, especially in those early days! The math that we did to estimate how much we might spend did take into account that she’d use less diapers over time though. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Carolyn says
I second Hilary! Where did you get that great bedspread?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Carolyn,
That’s a swatch of fabric from our weekly photoshoots with Clara. You can see them here on Flickr (we just go to Joann or Hancock and get 1 yard of clearance fabric for each week): http://www.flickr.com/photos/younghouselove/sets/72157624154743476/
xo,
s
Kris says
Thank-you for this post! Though I wasn’t one of the many who inquired about cloth diapering, I was really hoping that you guys would share your experiences!! We don’t have any children yet, but I would LOVE to find a way to incorporate CD into our lifestyle. Thanks again!!
Yessy says
It’s great that you can use cloth diapers, I think they look so cute!, but I have to use disposables, because I’m work, and during the day my mom and my mom in law take care of my little one.
I think you can write more about Clara, if you don’t wanna do it here, you should do a Clara’s blog, just like Burger’s blog, don’t you think so?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english, I hope you understand ^^
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Yessy,
We wish there were more hours in the day! Hopefully someday we can have a Clara blog since it seems like lots of people love to see what she’s up to! If only we could figure out how to clone ourselves…
xoxo,
s
Heather @ Side of Sneakers says
Thanks for all the info- I’m planning to use them when the time comes, so it’s great to hear others’ experiences. And Clara’s face is in that last picture is absolutely priceless.
Erica says
Thank you so much for this post! It is very helpful! I feel like there is so much to learn about cloth diapers, and this post has been very informative! Our Claire is wearing G Diapers with the biodegradable “hybrid” liners. While I like the idea of the G Diapers, my husband and I have not been fully pleased! I am going to check out these Bum Genius diapers. I like the idea that the are one size fits all.
Nikki says
Love, love, love this post. It’s great that CD’ing is becoming more acceptable. Three years ago I would have thought using cloth diapers was crazy but now I wouldn’t do it any other way. Thank you so much for this informative post : )
Alex Tijerina says
My husband and I were just talking about how we want to “do things” when we have kids. My mom used to use cloth diapers on my two youngest sisters. Strangly enough, I remember fighting with my younger brother over who gets to help mom and flush the contents of the dirty diapers (rest at ease- you are not alone in your cloth diaper cleaning wonder). Thanks for this blog at just the right time for me to show my husband that I am not crazy for wanting to use cloth diapers! As an added bonus – I cant wait to show him his next DYI project – installing a “bum genuis diaper sprayer” to our toilets :)
Love and Rockets
~a~
Holly says
This was SO helpful. I am due in 5 weeks and have been on the fence about if I wanted to use cloth diapers or not. Everyone tells me I am crazy for even considering it. I plan to breast feed, so why not use cloth diapers to! I will just be saving myself a ton of money. My only question – and you experienced moms can answer this for me! What do you do when they go to daycare? Would you use disposable diapers? Or tell the daycare to get over it and come up with some method for the day care workers to use for the childs cloth diapers? Just wanted some opinions! Thank so much!!
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone have some opinions or advice for Holly?
xo,
s
Katie says
Your guys are way braver than we are. I think my opting for disposable diapers had more to do with me fearing that it would be tons of extra work to use cloth. It seams that you might have proved me wrong!Love you guys.
Katie
http://www.ps-travelblog.com
Lauren says
This post was great! I’m expecting in late October and can’t wait to try out cloth diapers. Looking foward to your future post(s) with the answers to some of the questions posted in the comments.
loreejo says
regular cloth diapers are way cheaper and just use diaper pins! they are one size fits all and you can put whatever cute cover over them that you wish. we used regular flat diapers (not prefolded) and only washed a load every other day and hung them out to dry. honestly, it didn’t take long; but the time you hang the last one, the first one is dry and ready to come off the line for folding. then when they are out of diapers you can use the dipes for years to come in cleaning chores!
Lexie says
Great post! We’re not expecting our first little one for another four months or so, but we’re definitely set on cloth diapering when she gets here. I thought I’d share a little wisdom from my sister-in-law, who owns a natural toy and cloth diaper store; she makes her own wipes by cutting a roll of paper towels in half with a serrated knife, then putting it in a snap-top Tupperware container with the following:
1 T oil (baby oil, or she uses Young Living V-6 oil)
1 drop lavender oil (which is terrific for skin ailments and has a calming effect)
1 T liquid soap (she uses a baby soap that is available in bulk from our local health food store)
2 cups warm water
After turning the Tupperware container upside down for about an hour, the paper towels are soaked all the way through and ready to be used as wipes.
Cathleen Pearson says
Hi!
Just wanted to add that instead of using disposable wipes, we use regular baby washcloths with a water bottle to spray our babies bottoms and then we can just wash them with the cloth diapers. Also, I use Fuzzibunz and LOVE them! No velcro that can wear out over time. Fuzzibunz also makes a diaper pail liner that you can throw in the wash with the cloth diapers and then there’s no trash bags to buy and throw away.
Katie says
Do you have to wash them separately from other garments or can you throw in other kiddie clothes with them as well?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Katie,
We imagine you can wash anything else that you’d like with them assuming you’re ok skipping fabric softener (since that can hurt their absorbency).
xo,
s
hi-d says
Adorable post and extremely informative at the same time. This is something I’m definetly going to consider when having my baby. I grew up wearing cloth diapers made by either my grandmother or my mom. :)
Holly says
Thanks for sharing your experience. We thought about cloth diapering my son (now 1.5 years old), but we both work full time and we just didn’t think it would be possible. Hopefully I will be able to stay home by the time we have another baby and I want to try cloth diapering!
Drea says
I am cloth diapering baby boy #3 :) and love it. I recommend it to all my friends! Im also photographing the BUM GENIUS LINE for cottonbabies.com!! Im so excited about it.
For fun heres a few of the latest sessions ive done with them:
http://andrea-wood.com/blog/?p=444
http://andrea-wood.com/blog/?p=424
& a newborn in them! (he was over 9lbs tho)
http://andrea-wood.com/blog/?p=377
Have you tried rockin’ green cloth diaper detergent? its awesome!
Also IKEA has a fun little OCTOPUS drying thing that you can hang when its rainy out and cant “line dry” your covers, I love it, I actually will connect the diapers together and hang like two to one clothes pin (if that makes sense) They are 5 bucks and you can hang them from up high so nothings in the way.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80189663
Id get atleast two.
Mines blue although on the website I only see darker colors. I think I remember them having a green too.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Drea,
That’s so exciting! And thanks for the Ikea tip and the green cloth diaper detergent. We’ll have to check them out!
xo,
s
Tiffany says
Thanks for posting on cloth diapers. I never saw what went into them.
XOXO,
http://outfitidentifier.com/
Jennifer Gessner says
THANK YOU for posting this. I’ve been so overwhelmed with the cloth diaper options and cost/benefits. This post cleared up ALL of the questions that I had. We have a baby due in January and this article has provided so much info that I needed to read about. Thanks so much!! :)
Jill says
I have been thinking about the BG cloth diapers for a while, thanks for this post. My only concern with the snaps is that my son is 10 months old and is a total wiggle worm when I am changing his diaper, or cloths for that matter. I am usually snapping the bottom of his onsie as he stands up holding on to his crib, changing table, wall, laundry hamper, etc. As much as I agree the Velcro could wear out, it my also save my sanity. I will have to keep on thinking on this, and then somehow get my husband on board.
Snickrsnack Katie says
I am DEFINITELY cloth diapering when I have a wee little one! The hubs and I are going through fertility and we are expecting to be expecting soon (I expect! :-) I really am curious, though, as to how many people cloth diaper and have their kids in daycare. I am going to have to send our bambino to daycare at three months (sad face) and wonder – do daycares accept cloth diapered kids? I sure hope so!
Erica says
We are a cloth diaper family too, and absolutely love it. Cloth does make diapers fun, and the bumGenius are so cute. We use cloth wipes, I just got a bunch of those ultra cheap baby washcloths, and we use some water on them and good to go. none of those chemicals from disposable wipes.
I applaud your ability to maintain such a simple stash (all the cute syles out their make me want to try them all!), but I would assume that means you are usually putting them in the dryer? If so, you should know that the elastic and the PUL (which makes the outside leakproof) will not last for the next bean if they are regularly put in the dryer.
YoungHouseLove says
Erica- Thanks for the tip! Our high efficiency front washer actually makes it possible for our diapers to come out of the washer nearly dry- so we can hang dry them in the house or outside and they’ll be totally dry in about an hour. Definitely better than tossing them into the dryer (which is only what we do occasionally, in a pinch). Hope it helps!
Brittany- It’s really a personal preference thing but we did some research and asked other cloth diapering friends and family members and they were the most often brand that we heard. They also had won some ease-of-use awards from places like Cookie magazine and other online sources so we decided to go for it. No regrets!
Snickersnack Katie- We imagine that depends on the daycare. Maybe try calling around to see what certain centers are willing (and not willing) to do? Good luck!
xo,
s
Brittany says
Until I read this I have never considered using cloth diapers. It always seemed like too much work to do the research on them (not my specialty). They seem like a great idea, and once you get used to them I suppose they are no more trouble than disposable. Why did you go with this brand/company versus the MANY MANY others out there? I’m pregnant with my third and possibly going to be working from home after it’s born. I would like to give them a shot. Any more advice from anyone would be helpful. This was a great post. THANKS!
AKK says
We are due with our first in December and cloth diapering was just an obvious choice to us… it’s fascinating how it’s such a big deal to others. They say “oh, so you’re getting a service”. When I say “no”, they look at me like I plan on keeping our baby girl outside in a dog crate or something.
I was also wondering of the Bum Genius dipes are bulky. The all-in-one sounds great, but I’m wondering if it makes them puffy and bulky. Yes, I’m concerned with diaper fashion! I’m getting a few prefolds & covers also just to see which we like best!
One thing we’ve been looking at that you didn’t include in your plan is the reusable/washable/waterproof liners. I plan on trying those as well in a flip-top metal kitchen trash can. Your pails are super-cute, more so than my idea!
Bravo to your family for making responsible choices, even if they are not (yet) the popular ones!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey AKK,
They’re definitely a bit bulkier than disposables, but we haven’t seen any other cloth diapers that are much slimmer looking (even though ours have some extra fabric & snaps, they fit under regular onesies and Clara still fits into many newborn outfits even with them on- and she’s almost 3 months old!). Hope it helps!
xo,
s