Cloth Diaper Questions...

I've had a few people recently want to know more about our cloth diapering so I'm going to give you all the poopy details!

We currently have 20 diapers in rotation. We started with 15 and added 5 ore a few weeks ago. With the 20 we have now we are washing them about every 4 days. It would be nice to have about 25! The washing so far has been pretty easy. We are still in the runny breast milk poop phase so I'm not sure what will happen when we start solids. For now, we just toss all the whole diaper into a diaper pail (this one) and then when it's time we toss them all in the wash, no extra steps necessary. We do a rice cycle and then a wash/rinse cycle and toss them in the dryer. When it is nice out I line dry them...3 reasons for this. The sun completely bleaches the diapers so if there are any stains, they come out when drying in the sun. The sun also deodorizes them and of course it saves energy costs. Since we are in Seattle I think our sunning is coming to a quick end but we have done this a lot this summer.

We have 2 different types of AIO (all in one) diapers...Happy Heiny and Bum Genius. The Bum Genius work a lot better for us, the Happy Heinys tend to leak. The only downside to the diapers is that they tend to be a little bulky, especially on small babies so some clothes don't fit great or you may have to go up a size earlier than usual. Not a big deal but something to be prepared for. When it comes to diaper changes (people have asked how Jimmy is with the cloth) it is really pretty easy. Nothing is different than when using a disposable. I do always keep disposables on hand, we usually use them if we are going to be away from the house for several hours but I have only purchased 2 packs since we started using cloth.

There is a time commitment to washing and stuffing of the diapers. The liner comes out of the diaper in the wash and therefore the diapers need to be stuffed again before use. It takes me about 10 minutes to stuff all the diapers and put them away, not a big deal but obviously more time than opening a package of disposables.

We have purchased all of our diapers from Cottonbabies.com or Nickidiapers.com. Jilliansdrawers.com is also a great resource and pinstripesandpolkadots.com has some great resources on washing and detergent use.

I hope this is helpful, any other questions???

Here's a few pics of my little fluffy butt!