What I learned ~ All about Cloth

I knew that I was going to have a big baby, my husband was 10lb 10 oz and I was 8lb 8 oz at birth, I fully expected to be having a baby that was around 9 pounds.  Lots of blogs and things I read said that newborn diapers were pointless only fit for a week or two, and not to bother with them and just get xs covers that would last a lot longer. It seemed like good advice. I really really wish I hadn't listened.  C was 8lb11oz, he was a big boy and we probably would have been OK with ill fitting covers had he gained weight after birth, he lost a pound and took a month and a half to get back to his birth weight. We managed with small overs and prefold after a week or so of doing disposables (we went ended up using nearly three packages of newborn diapers there are maybe 6 or so left in the last package that I plan to use for the 1st day or so for the next baby so we don't have to deal with cloth and the brand new baby poop.)

Lesson one: is get a few newborn covers, buy them used,they last forever since they are only lightly used and, they have a few advantages such as the cut out for the umbilical cord and since they really do only wear them for a little while they last for ever. Lots of cloth moms pass the newborn stash of diapers around the neighborhood, so if you have friends that use cloth ask if you can borrow the newborn sizes.

Lesson two:You really do want a snappi, When we started we just couldn't see why we really needed a snappi, sure it was a littler harder to get the prefold in the cover with out one but we managed until C started rolling and I gave in and bough a snappi, Seriously wish I had done it sooner it makes prefolds so much easier. We ended up getting three one that lived in the diaper bag one that stayed on the baby and one at home on the changing table. On really messy diapers they sometimes get yucky or when changing wiggle worms its nice to be able to finish the change and wash the snappi later to get the yuck off.

Lesson three: Try a little of everything. Starting out I said we only need a few covers and prefolds, all the pockets, fitted, all in one, insert business seems unnecessary and so much more expensive. We rocked prefolds and a few brands of covers as well as a combination of snaps and apex. Starting out we loved the apex covers, I had compleatly been converted to snaps, they don't come unstuck in the wash and attack everything in the machine. We started using a combination of fitted diapers and prefolds until we out grew out current sized prefolds and all our friends were raving over one size pocket diapers so we switched and have completely fazed out our prefold usage.

Lesson four:  Start buying diapers early. I knew what I wanted and still was so overwhelmed by the choices of kinds of covers and types of prefolds. I was so worried I was going to make a mistake and I didn't want to "waste" my diaper budget buying the wrong thing.That I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything. I know now that buying something that's not right for you or your baby happens, its easy to resell your stash if you need to and having a back up of stuff you don't love is better than having no back up at all.Trust yourself really you can't go wrong. If your not sure buy one of a few different kinds of diapers and once your little one can wear them you can sell the ones you don't like and buy more of the ones you do.

Night Dipaers ~ All about Cloth

At some point I think every mother hits a break up point with cloth diapers, for most this breaking point is night time. I was blessed with a baby who loves to sleep, even as a newborn he would go down for the night and other than nursing constantly he was not to be bothered. Before he learned to roll over a single microfiber insert and a pre-fold was enough to keep him try with no night changes. Suddenly he decided that sleeping on his tummy or side was much better than his back and we had huge leak issues.

I researched online and was lucky to stumble across a post by another mom talking about how she had a son who was a heavy wetter and a side sleeper and the liquid just leaked out the leg holes. That night I tried a micro fleece insert, then a prefold that was folded and snappied on, then a fitted diaper then another insert inside a cover with leg gussets.
No leaks,

We varied the layers play around with different types of inserts bamboo, hemp, microfiber. The fitted diaper was a homemade flannel and terry cloth. the key, for us anyway was that the extra elastic in the fitted diaper helped keep the liquid from pooling out the legs. The diaper is huge (see the big butt on the baby in the photo) but not having to get up and change diapers in the night or waking up to a wet bed and wet baby is wonderful.


Now that hes older we just do a normal diaper for night, we are currently doing a bamboo blend insert folded in half in the front plus a microfiber and second bamboo blend inside a Alva pocket diaper. It seems to work well for us.

A note: some kids don't react well to micro fleece right against the skin, I would recommend  a bamboo or hemp blend right against the skin, the wick the liquid way better and I'm sure the natural fibers feel better than the micro fleece.

Stripping Dipers ~ All about Cloth

Cloth diapers

Yesterday I stripped our pocket diapers for the 1st time. Caden has been smelling a little like a hamster cage. In 15 months this is the 1st time we've had any issues with diapers smelling. Honestly cloth diapers have been so easy and we have saved so much money by not using disposables. I'll write a longer more detailed account of our journey though cloth at some point soon.

 This morning I stuffed all the diapers. There is something almost therapeutic about sorting out all the diaper stuff the stack of inserts and the covers and then rhythmic stuffing each one folding them up snapping them and stacking them on the shelf.  I love cloth diapers, love the fluffy little butts, the cute prints and patterns. I love never having to buy diapers never having to deal with the blow outs and weird gel stuff that is in them. I have to say I love saying money and early potty training.