Cloth diapering. . . what's the big hype??

Luke and I decided before we had Riley that we were going to attempt to cloth diaper (at least part of the time) for a number of reasons. This was, yet another reason for my mom to call us granola, but a single disposable diaper sits in a landfill for over 150 years before it decomposes! Holy crap- no pun intended. We were lucky enough to get a number of different options. I snagged a few off of Little <http://littleneetchers.com/> Neetchers. On black Friday last year all their diapers were 50% off and the Econobums were buy 1 get 2 free! So that is where my cloth diaper journey began. I had a couple friends, and my sister in law holding my hand through the whole process, and my sister in law probably gave me the best advice, telling me to just try a bunch of different kinds and decide from there which ones we like. We got a few covers from her, a few as shower gifts, and a few from Luke's cousin. We decided to go with prefolds because they are the most cost effective, and the easiest to wash, because you just pull out the inside (prefold) and throw it into the wet bag. So basically this means we use a "cover" or a waterproof outer shell, that resembles a disposable diaper, but most likely with a cute little design on it, and a "prefold" which is a square piece of cloth that gets folded into 3 and placed inside the cover. This acts as the absorbant piece of fabric, and is the only part that gets changed during diaper changes (unless there is a massive blow-out).



What we have:

8 covers (Econobum, Best Bottom, Charlie Banana, Flip and another kind that I can’t remember)

6 snap in inserts (Best Bottom)

18 prefold inserts

1 Bum Genius all in one (with 2 inserts)

2 wet bags



Basically, this is enough for 24 diaper changes, which lasts a couple days. Washing is super easy- We just soak in cold water, do a hot wash with Tide, cold rinse, and dry in the dryer (or you can let them dry in the sun).



It works out really nice, because Riley is watched in our home on most days, and my mom and brother are both comfortable using cloth diapers. My brother and Luke even surprisingly said they think that the cloths are easier than disposables. I worry that if she enters daycare they will have an issue. We have, however, found that using a disposable at night is the best option, because she goes a longer period of time without a diaper change, and tends to soak through the cloth. Not only are we saving a ton of money by cloth diapering, but we are also eliminating waste by not using disposables that frequently and Riley RARELY ever has diaper rash.



It is an investment, and it is “messy” at times, but babies are messy! Plus I feel like there’s nothing cuter than a big cloth diaper butt :)