Cloth Diapering Wrap-up
Hope you enjoyed my week of cloth diapering info! I am no expert and have only shared with you the tiny bit of knowledge I have gained from personal experience and reading on the net.
I also hope that you consider cloth diapering for several reasons. Cost of course being one of them! But also don't let the complication of it scare you, it is no longer the case. And the benefits to our environment and waste build up and chemical build up from the materials in plastic diapers, to me, far out weighs the extra load of laundry! And seriously I only do about 2 extra loads a week, sometimes but rarely, 3.
One thing I forgot to mention about the Chinese prefolds and covers is that you can still use the old "rubber pants" as my mother-in-law calls them, though they are vinyl now. They are by Gerber and can be found cheaply at almost any Walmart or grocery store in the baby isle. All you need are some pins. Do a fancy fold and pin it then slide on the vinyls. I do this when I have to. Sometimes, my little man will poop through all 4 of his covers in one day and we only have 4 all-in-ones. Well, I am not happy about washing a whole load with so many clean diapers still in the basket! So I will whip out the old school style. I admit this is very scary with an active baby such as mine and I don't like to do it. He kicks and flaps all crazy and I am scared of poking him or myself with a pin. To decrease the chances you can pin one side before putting it on your baby and just slide it up.
Remember soap is the enemy of your diapers! It clogs them and makes them lose their absorbency. Use as little as possible and sometimes if they are starting to get stinky, you need to wash soap free a few runs and hang them int he sun if you can!
As for storage, I used to be real particular and organized and fold all my prefolds into a basket in neat piles under my changing table. But many days they would all stay in the dryer! I didn't like that though because my dryer is no where near my changing table and I hated having to go get one out whenever I needed to change my baby. But I was just not finding the time to fold them all. So I found a low and wide wicker basket I'd received as a gift and just started putting them in there unfolded straight from the dryer. I keep it right next to my table and I can easily pick up the whole basket, take it to the dryer and fill it then bring it back. So much more low maintenance!
I confess also, we do have plastics in the house. My son wears them at night for now until I can make my own pockets and feel fully confident int heir absorbency. We also wear plastics when we go out for long periods so I don't have to carry around dirty diapers. I also will put him in plastics on wash day. I know it is terrible! ;) But we use so few of them really that one big package lasts a whole month. And also believe me when I tell you I see an immediate difference in his little baby bottom on those wash days. We have to keep the cream on it and it still gets a little rashy! I much prefer the cloths but still lean on plastics some. So you don't have to go all or nothing, but every little bit helps!
Here are the links to my last 4 posts about cloth diapers. They all contain links to other great information!
Chinese prefolds with covers.
All-in-ones and Pockets.
Fitted Diapers.
Introduction.
This is not the last you will hear from me about cloth diapers. I find them one of the biggest ways to save money as a mom and I will bring you along on my cloth diapering journey!
I do hope you try them and let me know how it goes!
