I wrote an entry entitled The Diaper Dilemma back in June. We have since visited Baby aWEARness (Manoa Marketplace, Hawaii) and purchased our stock of cloth diapers in preparation for Baby Champuru’s arrival.
Whenever I mention to someone that we’ve chosen to go the route of cloth diapering Baby Champuru, it’s usually met with a skeptical look and a snide comment to match. It’s usually along the lines of:
“Are you NUTS?”
“That’ll last a week.”
“We’ll see how THAT goes…”
“It’s not as easy as you think.”
Well, for one thing, the upfront investment in cloth diapers is significant enough for me not to give up on it — also, considering the savings of using it in lieu of disposables in the long run. I feel that the benefits certainly outweigh the potential inconveniences that cloth diapering poses: to the environment, baby, and financially.
Let me tell you, the cloth diapering options available now are mind-blowing.
Here’s what we picked up, on two separate trips. The first time we went, they were nearly out of the Bum Genius diapers, so we came back for them this past weekend when a new shipment came in. I had the nice folks at Baby aWEARness look over my diaper inventory and they assured me that I should be set. Here’s what we got:
- 3 medium Swaddlebees (thanks, Lisa!)
- 3 Bum Genius one-size 3.0
- 1 Happy Heiny’s one-size pocket diaper
- 1 small Happy Heiny’s pocket diaper
- 1 small Fuzzi Bunz pocket diaper
- 1 Mommy’s Touch one-size pocket diaper
- 12 unbleached prefold diapers
- 2 one-size and 3 small diaper covers for use with prefold diapers
- 2 regular, 1 long (nighttime) inserts for use with pocket diapers
Bum Genius 3.0 one-size diapers
Diaper covers
Unbleached prefold diapers
Cloth diapers come in such cute colors and patterns!
Swaddlebees Pocket Snap Cloth Diapers
Purchased used from Lisa. (Thanks, Lisa!)
Handmade Washable Baby Wipes
How cute is this? I know, now you’re thinking I’ve gone off the deep end for using reusable baby wipes, right? Well, I figure since I’m washing the diapers, washing an extra wash cloth with each diaper change isn’t that much more. When you use this with a product like Bum Genius’ bottom cleaner, it’s just as effective as using a disposable baby wipe.
Being total rookies to diapering, Hubby and I have been practicing with this teddy bear. The pocket diapers aren’t a problem since they work just like a disposable, but the prefolds take just slightly more effort. Besides information found on the web, we’ve also found a great number of videos on YouTube explaining how to use cloth diapers. All I can say is that I’m glad we live in the information age.
The purple thing holding everything together is called a Snappi and it is used instead of safety pins (which never seemed all that safe to me). Sharp pin + moving baby + nervous mom = disaster waiting to happen! Thankfully, the Snappi is easy to use and poses no harm to the child — even in the hands of an inexperienced new mom.
Now, it’s just a matter of getting them washed and ready for Baby Champuru’s arrival. 52 days and counting!
wow – my son is just 10 years old, but the cloth diapering options seem like so much more now, then what we had back then! It was just pretty basic prefolded diapers with the diaper covers. We used a diaper service though, instead of laundering them ourselves!
But when my second child was born, our baby sitter said “no way” to the cloth diapers! I guess she said “yes” the first time maybe not knowing what to expect?
I commend you! But, knowing you as well as I can via your blog, I think you have just the determined and eco-friendly personality that you can pull it off. My sister went the cloth route with the first one, but switched to disposable only because a diapered toddler and newborn seemed like a lot of work with cloth.
I think you will do great with the cloths – among all the other things you will do great with when Baby Champuru makes her debut!
Boy, have things changed since my time with infants, the pre-folds were just making an appearance . My parents gave us the gift of a diaper service for the first month or two which supplied you with 90 diapers a week and we always seemed to use more than that a week. You know, you’re about to go out so change the baby’s diaper which then causes the baby’s systems to kick in and three diapers later you finally make it out the door, that type of thing. These new ones look great, especially the no need for scary safety pins.
You are going to love cloth diapering a newborn! They are so tiny! Make sure and fully prep the prefolds before baby arrives so they are super absorbent. Prefolds also make great pocket stuffers.
Wow, they are nothing like I’ve used as a baby (almost 40 years ago!). It was literally a cloth then.
That is so cool… someone posted something on HM about cloth diapers at Costco- you should look, they are so cheap I’m thinking about buying some for my babies.
wow mama. i give you major kudos for cloth diapering!!!
It’s fabulous the way cloth diapers have changed.
Being a first time Mom can be exhausting – and it’s great that these new cloth diapers are so effective – and also look great, and so many different ones to choose from.
As a Midwife – where we always use disposables, it’s great to hear that someone out there is making a choice!
Best wishes for when babe arrives!
diapering baby
That’s great that you’ll be using cloth diapers. I love the bum genius diapers! I am thinking about cloth diapering with my baby boy who is on the way. I will have a fight on my hands though since hubby thinks it’s gross. LOL.
I started reading about ECing too. So i’d like to do a combo of the two.
[...] have asked me about how things are going with the cloth diapers since I blogged about it previously here and here, so I wanted to give you an [...]