Cloth Diapering

As I got up and got the girls ready for the day, I reached past the stack of disposables and grabbed cloth diapers. I am sure there are some people who are skeptical. Why would you want to touch poop? Aren't they a hassle? They are expensive! why bother?

Well I thought the same thing when I first heard one of my friends considering it. I just thought it wasn't worth the trouble just to save a couple bucks. After almost a year of hearing how well it was going for another friend, I started thing about it more seriously. Isabella was just over a year old and Cara was only one or two months old when we decided to go for it. We ordered 12 Fuzzi Bunz and I knew I would be washing diapers daily because they recommend 12 per kid. We bought so few because, like everyone thinks, they are expensive. So for the next 6 months I dealt with leaking and just assumed I must be doing something wrong. I was determined to keep using them because we got them to save money and using disposables at that point would have been like throwing money away. About a month ago, I finally decided I had enough. The girls were getting rashes and the diapers were leaking. I emailed Fuzzi Buns and they actually replaced ALL 12 diapers with brand new ones! I am happy to say none of the new diapers leak! As for the rashes, I have stripped the diapers in an extremely hot wash cycle and have switched to an all natural soap nut detergent. I make SURE to change them every 2 hours whether they need it or not. Cloth diapers don't have the chemicals like disposables to be able to wick away the moisture. This is great for potty training, not for a long day of errands.

Please don't think I am gross and would keep my kid in a diaper forever. That's not what I was saying. But in disposables, I could go to bible study for 3-4 hours and them actually be ok. My girls have sensitive skin, so in cloth they just need to be changed more often. No big deal.

Cloth diapers can be very cheap or very expensive. It depends a lot on you. It is more expensive if you buy a ton if diapers and keep buying because they are so cute (and they are!). And the more fancy diapers are going to cost more. I have seen diapers cost as much as $25 and as little at $10 each.

Ok, so what makes the price range so wide? There are different types of diapers. Here are the ones I know of:

Hybrid: a cloth outer shell that you can use either cloth OR disposable insert in. These can be nice while traveling or if you just like options. (example: gDiapers) these can get expensive when you calculate replacing the plastic liner and buying disposable inserts that are more expensive than disposable diapers.

Here is a great site I found that explains the other types!

I read somewhere that on average, disposables will cost you $2400 per child from birth to potty training. With cloth (I only know the price of Fuzzi Bunz so that is what I am using) you spend about $300 from birth to potty training when you buy 12 one size Fuzzi Bunz. We did that math and decided cloth was for us. No pressure because it's not for everyone. But don't be scared of it if you are interested!