We are not quite done with diapers yet, but over the past few months cloth diapering has become more of a chore than something I've been happy to do. Somewhere between working a full-time job, not having a full-size washer and not owning a dryer (necessitating washing diapers every other day in our portable washer and using all of our quarters to dry them in the shared apartment laundry facility), Harrison going through an EC regression which for a season meant more poops to clean out of the diapers, and spending three weeks in Florida using disposable diapers- somewhere between all of that we decided we were done. We needed one less thing on our to-do list, one less task in our busy family life. So we bought some disposable diapers, tried them out, and then bought some more. It was time.
But here's the deal- despite opening this post with the negative, in all reality, cloth diapering has been an incredibly positive experience. It worked so well for us in the season that we did it, and I'm proud of us for realizing that we came to a point in our busy life that it didn't make sense for us anymore. I believe that if we had our own full-size washer and dryer permanently hooked up in a laundry room, we would have seen it through to the end. Or if I was a full-time stay at home mom, rather than a full-time bring-my-son-to-work mom. Or honestly, if my employers had a dryer that worked well, that could have made things better. But the pieces just didn't fit together any more, and we stopped in time for me to look back on cloth diapering fondly enough that I know we WILL be taking those diapers out for baby #2 (someday. This is not a baby announcement.)
It also helps that we have a hard end-date for diapers altogether. We are starting potty training on February 16th and are not looking back after that date. So we have enough disposable diapers to get us through until then. You all can look forward to a fun post about potty training a 21-month-old in the coming weeks!
So- these cloth diapers. Why? The details have never been set in stone in our minds, but it was a good mixture of environmental impact, cost, chemicals, and keeping ourselves encouraged to continue with elimination communication.
Our cloth diapering supplies cost us far less than $200, and we used them for 20 months. Seeing as how our budget was in the red for the first eight months of Harrison's life, this was basically a necessity. Once I started working some part-time jobs and then my current full-time job, it still felt silly to spend $50+ a month on something that we already had figured out. We live fairly low-waste in our home in the first place- reusable paper towels, glassware and stainless steel food containers and reusable ziplock bags for storing food and packing lunch and snacks, cloth grocery bags, mama cloth and a Diva cup (you're welcome for that TMI), minimal plastic, and making a concerted effort to borrow items or purchase things second-hand. We are nowhere near zero-waste, but with all that we do do, it feels funny to throw things away. Cloth diapers were another way to minimize the trash in our home.
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| Whether or not it is 100% accurate, this is a good representation of disposable diaper waste. |
As eco-friendly/green/crunchy/hippie/what-have-you that I have become in my adulthood, the majority of the disposable diapers on the market did not meet my preferences. We used four packs of disposable diapers when Harrison was first born, to bide us a little bit of time while we were getting used to having him around, and we decided on the Bambo Nature brand for those first two weeks, as it met my strict standards. With those strict standards came a hefty price, so it didn't make sense to continue with them even if we wanted to. We've settled on Seventh Generation for daytime and Honest diapers for nighttime for these next few weeks. As Harrison has gotten older I've become less stringent with my standards, and both of those brands fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to what they are made of. And honestly, I am aware that the cloth diapers that we used- simple flour sack towels from Target- are made of 100% cotton, and you could easily make the argument that they have a bad environmental impact and are full of chemicals since they are not organic cotton and require a ton of water for processing (and washing). We're not perfect, but we found our middle ground.
And then there was elimination communication. This was a big deal to us, and I don't think we would have had as much success as we did if we used disposable diapers. Cloth diapers should really be changed every 2 hours and/or after every pee, since they have no stay-dry qualities (you can hack a stay-dry cloth diaper by putting a fleece or wool liner in it, but we didn't use that option). You don't want to let your child run around in a wet cloth diaper so you need to stay on top of diaper changes. And the flour sack towels didn't hold more than one large pee before leaking (there are plenty of other options that are more absorbent.) This helped us with EC since I fell into a routine of offering Harrison the potty with every (frequent) diaper change, and it worked out in our benefit in a cyclical way: checking his diaper to change him every 1-2 hours meant I would often find a dry diaper, and if I found a dry diaper I was more likely to then catch a pee, which in turn would then help keep his diaper dry until the next time I checked it. On a good day, I could keep him in the same dry cloth diaper for half the day or more. When Harrison is in a disposable diaper, I definitely don't check it as frequently (though these days he is more prone to tell me when he needs to pee, which is a great win!)
Cloth diapers have come a long way from a square piece of fabric and diaper pins, though that is essentially what we ended up using. On the market these days you can find all-in-one diapers, which you put on just like you would a disposable and put it in the wet bag to wash, rather than in the trash, when you change it. They have a waterproof outer layer and an attached absorbent inner layer. There are all-in-two diapers, which have a water proof outer shell and a detachable inner layer. When you change that diaper you detach the inner layer and you can re-use the outer shell with a new liner. There are pocket diapers that involve a waterproof shell with a pocket inside that is stuffed with a liner. These can be made with some sort of stay-dry fabric next to the baby's bum. There are fitted diapers that snap or velcro on and they are made of all sorts of different fabrics that you then put a cover over, or you can get prefolds or flour sack towels (both just large pieces of fabric) and fold them in different folds to fit your baby, and put a cover over them. There are covers made of polyurethane laminate, fleece, and wool. There are so many possibilities and it can be overwhelming. And it was overwhelming to me at first. But after some trial and error, we found what worked best for us.
We used Target's Room Essential brand of flour sack towels, FST for short (a variety of colors rather than just plain white, which was fun), and folded them in the Jo fold fastened with a snappi. Thirsties duo wrap covers with velcro worked well for us, and we rotated through three of them, washing them with the FSTs every two days. We had a few FuzziBunz pocket diapers that we used as back up covers when necessary. We also had some hemp/cotton blend doublers of various brands that we used to add absorbency as needed. Hemp is very absorbent and those inserts were very useful to have on hand. I found that Harrison would typically have a lot of pee first thing in the morning, so if we were unable to catch it in the toilet, I added one of the inserts in with the FST to keep the diaper from leaking with his first pee of the day. For overnights, we used a hemp/cotton blend flat (made by Truly Charis, but currently unavailable on their website) and folded it in the Jo fold and added a hemp doubler. We used wool covers for overnight. Wool is AMAZING. It has antibacterial properties, it can absorb up to 30% of its weight in liquid before feeling wet, it is temperature-regulating, and it is a natural fiber which of course makes me very happy. We had two Disana shorties in rotation for over night. Disana is at the lower end of the spectrum for wool, price-wise, and they worked just fine for nighttime use. We also used cloth wipes for quite a while- sprayed with a homemade solution of mostly water, a small bit of Castile soap, and witch hazel- though we used Water Wipes for poop once Harrison started solids (poop from an exclusively breastfed baby is water soluble and doesn't need to be rinsed before being put in the wash!)
So ... there it is. Cloth diapering the Kozeluh way. We made things perhaps a bit more difficult than we needed to but the season we used them was a good season. Cloth diapers can be very simple- you can buy enough all-in-ones to last you 5-7 days, store the used ones properly so they don't smell before they are washed, and throw them all into your regular-sized washer (with a good wash routine) once a week, then let them air dry. EASY. Apartment living and shared washers and all of the quarters and smog and etc etc etc made that more difficult for us, but our little portable washer washed our diapers SO WELL and it was all worth it. I am so looking forward to this next season of raising a child- the diaperless season. The potty trained season. Here's to February!
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I really just skimmed the surface of all of the possibilities for cloth diapering. If you're intrigued at all, one of the best resources for learning is Fluff Love University- not a question unanswered on their website or Facebook group!
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