Cloth diapers are not for the faint of heart. However, anything that rocks rarely is. I acquired a stash from a mom who was done
having babies and was selling her stash through Craigslist. I was so excited because it had big names in
it like Fuzzibunz and BumGenius. We started cloth diapering after my post
partum healing was done, and I was disappointed at how leaky they were! My
sister in law was diapering two kiddos and started to get into cloth diapering
herself. It really gave me the push to
figure this out.
Buying Diapers
Like I said above, I bought a stash off of Craigslist and
did a thorough wash to start. This can
be a great way to start, however instead of just washing, I recommend stripping
them (see below). Diapers can go for around $18+/diaper, and that’s just
crazy. Don’t do it. My expensive brands
are not my favorite. You are really
paying for the brand name, not the quality of diaper.
The same SIL I mentioned above kept talking about these
co-ops on Facebook and I was thinking, “What the crap are you talking about!?”
She explained to be that there are groups on FB that get together and buy
various things from companies at wholesale and then they ship it to you for a
small amount of money for their time.
So get into a co-op is my first tip. Here are links for my three favorites:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/babiesbeyondcoop/?fref=ts
– Generally, these ladies are really on top of things and fabulous about
keeping up with things and are great.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/163473787159121/?fref=ts
– Renee is really chill and my kinda person!
There aren’t a ton of buys going on all the time here, but she is great
about keeping in touch and answering questions.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebabybumwrap/?fref=ts
– These ladies are really organized and on top of things as well. I haven’t experienced anything remotely shady
or frustrating on this page.
Your options for diapers vary. There are flats, prefolds,
insert-types (like WeeGro), or pockets.
Maybe there are more, but these are the kinds I have or have used. If you have hard water, I highly recommend
flats or prefolds. The cotton doesn’t
hold on to the ammonia smell like blends do, but I will get into that more
later.
My stash is mostly pockets.
Pockets are super easy because you simply stick an insert in them on put
it on the baby very similarly to how you would put a disposable diaper on.
Flats and prefolds are less daddy or wiggly baby friendly, as you have to get
the inside layer of the diaper on, use a Snappi to keep it on, then put a cover
over it. These are more similar to the cloth diapers our parents and
grandparents used. Prefolds are a bit
better, but flats are the same exact thing with fancier covers.
The brands of pockets that I love most are Kawaii
(especially their Goodnight/Heavy Wetters – or GNHWs), Sunbabys and JC Trade –
also referred to as Cartoons, I believe. For inserts, I love the ones that come
with Kawaii or I love BabyLand inserts.
The CBI (Charcoal Bamboo Inserts) and Bamboo are my favorites, but the
microfiber are fabulous too. I prefer these CBI because they are much more
flexible than the other CBI I have tried.
I also like to buy liners through co-ops whenever possible,
but also get them off of Amazon. If your
baby is not Exclusively Breast Fed (EBF) then you will DEFINITELY want
these. You put them in the diaper, and
it catches most of the poop and you simply dump the liner into the toilet, let it
sit for a couple minutes and flush. Most of your clean up is done!
Another thing you want to buy if your baby is not EBF is a sprayer to connect to your toilet. You can get one through Amazon or a co-op, but be sure that the connector is metal!!!! We bought one that was plastic and it broke and flooded our bathroom. Luckily those middle of the night feeds woke me up before there was real damage. We simply connected it with a tube with a metal connector and have had no problems since.
I will update with more later.
