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I spoke about this issue before (See Could You Be Loved for a refresher). So here’s my unadulterated and totally unscientific take on it. My honest opinion? The best way to cloth diaper is in conjunction with disposables.
Yes, shocking. I’m actually promoting both types of diapering.
We own seven cloth diapers – two Blueberries (though one is not in use due to size restrictions), two BumGenius, one Alva, one Kawaii, and one new brand called Sunflowerbaby. If I had to pick a favorite out of the seven, it has to be BumGenius. They’re very reliable and they don’t hold stink. I will admit, however, Sunflowerbaby is starting to gun for them. My least favorite is Alva just because it’s cloth so when Bo has a lot to drink, well, you get the idea.
I have to admit – I’m still not a fan of pockets. Though it only takes a couple of minutes to insert and make sure it’s straightened, I just hate the extra work. Still, for what it’s worth, they’re not bad for the money. Pockets are relatively cheaper than AIOs (All-in-Ones) and they are easier to clean poop. I’ve also learned that if I really want poop gone (and we don’t own a sprayer for I don’t see the purpose of it since we only have one child and a small set of diapers), after I scrape the poop off, I just soak the diaper overnight. See image below.
As you can tell by the above image, I use Rockin’ Green laundry detergent. Now, this detergent is very pricey – it runs under $20. However, this detergent is thee business and it does last for months. We purchased some back in March and just only had to purchase some more about a week or two ago. We use it for all of our clothes and no allergy problems for any of us. Yeah, it lasts that long and it’s very powerful. It gets out all of the funky.
So what about the money issue? Well, if I use up six cloth diapers a week, it averages about 24 diapers a month, which is the equivalent to a small set of diapers. If Huggies cost anywhere between $9.99 and $12.49, we’re saving at least $120 a year. It doesn’t sound like much but believe me, when you have a kid, that’s a lot of money. Eventually, we might get more diapers so we have about 10 total. 10 diapers x average 4 weeks in a month = 40 diapers and a lot more money we’ll be saving.
I like to give Bear a break when we do cloth diapers and it’s better for his bottom so it does work out. I don’t know when Rainbow Baby #2 comes along, we’ll still cloth diaper but I’ll cross that road when it comes.
Now, I’m going to keep one hundred here…cloth diapering is not easy. No Sir. No Ma’am. Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of blowout diaper shit. It is some work (read: you better be hella patient and not have an aversion to dealing with baby’s shit hands-on; I highly recommend gloves) and it’s very expensive up front (the average cloth diaper will set you back $20). If you live in a home, your water bill might see an increase. On the flip, cloth diapering in the long run, will save you a ton of money and it’s better for the environment overall. Cloth diapers last forever andplusalso, you can resell them used. Yes! People will buy your used cloth diapers as long as it meets some restrictions.
Don’t take my word for it; the best way to learn is the trial and error method. It might be your newest hot sauce or it might be not be for you. Or you might be like me and realize you can do both. The only way to find out is to try. 🙂
Nice article. Although I wish I could cd full-time, I’m only able to part-time. I recently wrote a about it too. http://amoxiemom.com/2015/03/15/cloth-diaper-well-see-how-long-that-lasts/
Let me check it out! Thanks for the link! 🙂
[…] list that’s both a hit and a miss. I went into great detail on my experiences with cloth (see To cloth diaper or nah? for a refresher). Now, I’m not saying cloth diapering was a waste of money and time. If […]