Adventures in Cloth Diapering - Day 1

Several years ago a coworker told me he and his wife cloth diapered their baby and I remember having two thoughts. My first thought was, "I didn't think people did that anymore." And my second thought was, "Disgusting." I never in a million years thought I would ever try cloth diapering.

Since that conversation, I've heard of more and more people using cloth diapers. I have several cousins and friends that have gone this route and love it. When I found out I was pregnant, I started looking into cloth diapering more, knowing I was hoping to stay home with my baby and that it would be a difficult transition going from a two-income family to just one income. I was looking for ways I could contribute financially to the family without going into work. I went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth again on the idea of using cloth diapers. I had multiple conversations with my friend Lindsey about her experience cloth diapering her daughter Rosie.  I found out what kind of diapers she uses, how the inserts work, about cloth wipes and wet bags, laundering the diapers, etc. It seemed a bit overwhelming, and still kind of gross, but when quitting my job became a reality (more on this in another post) I decided to bite the bullet.

I purchased:

• 30 BumGenius 4.0 cloth diapers in assorted colors (the picture below shows a few of the colors). I bought them all from CottonBabies - about half of which I purchased at a discount through a "seconds sale" (brand new diapers with some sort of defect like a missed stitch or slight discoloration - none of which I could actually see!) These are the diapers Lindsey recommended because she said they are "most like" disposables.

• 12 bamboo diaper inserts (the seconds sale diapers didn't come with inserts)
• 45 flannel wipes
• 2 large wet bags and one small wet bag - you put the "used" diapers in the wet bag until it's time to do laundry

• Special laundry soap

All of my supplies have been sitting in a basket in Tyler's room for a couple months now. Untouched. Up until recently, the diapers just seemed so big for Tyler. At least that was my excuse. I think I was also still trying to talk myself into this. Finally, this week, I decided to pre-wash all of my seconds sale diapers, the microfiber inserts, and the flannel wipes and give cloth diapering a shot. (All of the "new" diapers are still in their packaging. My thinking was that if I really hate this, I might be able to return the diapers. Or at least get close to the original price selling them on craigslist.)

Tyler only poops about once or maybe twice a week. Since he went yesterday, I decided I would try out the diapers today :-) I figured I would be safe with testing the diapers out for a few days before I had to deal with the yuckier stuff. And... so far so good! Besides the diaper making Tyler's bum look pretty large under his clothes, I haven't had any leaks or other problems, and changing the diapers has been a breeze and not gross at all. I do admit I did google "how often should I change a baby's cloth diaper" - I am missing that little line on the front of the diaper that tells me if he is wet! For now, I am changing his diaper as I normally would - with each feeding. I'm sure I'll get the hang of this more as I go on. 

I don't plan on using cloth diapers 100% of the time. I am thinking I'll use disposable diapers at night, when we go out of town, if I have someone babysit Tyler, etc. But I would consider Day 1 a success, and think we'll try again tomorrow.