Back in August of 2012 Jason and I were invited to a cloth diaper party. Yup, it’s exactly what you think. Its a party to see all about cloth diapers and get to know a companies product, very much like Tupperware and candle parties. Friends of ours had started trying out cloth diapers on their little guy (see the little man in the right of the photo) the month before and were really happy with the diapers they had been using from Tender Tushies.
This was good timing for us as we had been talking about our options, cloth verses disposable, and wondering what direction we wanted to go with our little one. By this time we were 5 months along and still had lots of time to decide what we wanted to do before our baby arrived. By the end of the Tender Tushies party we agreed that cloth diapering was the direction we wanted to go. We bought some that night to start our stash and it has grown since then.
The drawer in Everly’s change table is full of cloth diapers. On the left side are the regular sizes for babies 9lbs -35lbs. And on the right are the newborn diapers. There are actually two brands of newborn diapers that I have (I’ll do a review on the two another time). Newborns are roughly 5lbs – 12lbs.
We did use disposable diapers on Everly for the first week and a bit. We received some for free from Huggies and Pampers, and we did buy two packs ourselves. I found myself annoyed during this short time at the fact that I was sending money into the garbage each time we used one, it felt like such a waste. With how much we spent on disposables in that short time I could have bought a couple more cloth diapers. However, my biggest issue with disposables is the fact that Everly ended up with a wicked diaper rash when she was only just a few days old. (We aren’t sure if this was from just the disposable or the diaper cream we had been using, my guess right now is both.She has very sensitive skin, and seems to have the same sort of allergies her mom does, so I had to take her to the Doctor to get medicated butt cream. We used this cream on her until the rash healed and it was into cloth diapers for her and we have not seen a rash since!)
Some of the reasons why we decided to go with cloth diapers are:
- On average it costs $2500(ish) to use disposable diapers until your child is two years old… OUCH! That is a trip, car insurance, and many other things right there.
- Getting enough cloth diapers to last you not just one child, but through two or more will cost you $200. That’s it! Though many will spend more because new patterns and colours come out, and diaper get improved upon. (Did you know there are massive cloth diaper groups who have members looking to buy used cloth diapers? So long as your cloth diapers are still in good shape you could sell them if you want to when you are done with them.)
- Disposable diapers contain a bunch of chemical junk in them, this is a likely source for Everly’s brutal diaper rash.
- Diaper explosions .. we’ve had a few “blow outs” with Everly in the disposables, the cloth diapers seem to contain them a whole lot better and we don’t have to hose down our kid because of the mess.
- No, cloth diapering does not have to involve folding fabric and using safety pins. If this was the case I would be doomed because I would most likely stab myself or my daughter with the safety pins and that is a risk I am not willing to take. The cleaning process also does not require a nasty bucket with them soaking in disgusting water til laundry day. The whole process of cloth diapering has totally improved.
- All of the cloth diapers we have from Tender Tushies are made with snaps, good luck to my munchkin in trying to get them open on her own! If she did get one open, then I have a kid with super baby strength and possibly have a super hero on my hands.
- Cloth diapers don’t leave your kid smelling like a stink bomb, but since it is harder to smell you do have to be proactive about checking your kid for when they need a diaper change.
- Did I mention how cute the patterns are, and how bright the colours are on the solid colour ones? This is just an added bonus that they look great compared to plain disposables.
Tamara! I love reading friend's blogs and even though I don't have any baby plans, I still find this stuff so interesting!!One of my best friends tried out cloth diapers and found they held onto the smell of pee even after washing. I don't believe it was this brand though.Great job blogging.. make sure you never pressure yourself to write a blog or it will take all the fun out of it :)- Shelby
I love my cloth too! The number one reason I chose to do it (Tim didn't really have any say 🙂 ) was because I am cheap and look for any ways possible to lower our monthly expenses. But I am even more swayed by pretty things than I am cheap, so I ended up going with a more expensive brand – BumGenius – because they were the only ones with colours I liked! But yes, all of those bonuses apply. When I was travelled back home for a three week Christmas holiday, I used disposables so I wouldn't have to pack a whole bag just for diapers on the plane. I got really annoyed with the smell. It's not just pee, but the smell of the diapers themselves when they get wet. Yuck.
Shelby – You just never know when you'll need random baby knowledge 😉 If your friends diapers were holding the ammonia smell they needed to fiddle with the way they are being washed or what is being used to wash them… I've already had to do that fun process because of having a high efficiency washing machine. Larissa – I'm definitely preferring cloth already. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when Jason and I go to volunteer at the summer camp for a week in July. I wont have access to a washing machine and drier so I'm sadly going to have to use disposables and I am not looking forward to it.