Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Cloth Diapering…1 year later

It has been over a year of cloth diapering for us and I figured it was time for an update! Here’s some of the questions I would have asked a mom myself when I was learning, so I will answer them below in case it could help anyone out!

imageHere are all of the diapers I own listed in order of favorite to least favorite…

  1. AppleCheeks {size 2}-my absolute favorite-I wish I had more, I only have 1. I waited too long to try these and couldn’t justify the cost once I found them. You can see my review here.
  2. BumGenius OS 3.0-although the velcro is annoying at times, I still love these diapers. They are the ONLY things I use at night. These make up a majority of our stash.
  3. BumGenius FLIP-LOVE these for so many reasons. We own many inserts and I actually use the Flip inserts in my BG 3.0 covers and my Flip covers. LOVE that they can lay on top—so much easier!
  4. Knickernappie OS Pocket-I only have 1 but I really like it! See my review here.
  5. FuzziBunz OS Pocket-we have 4 of these and I do like them a lot. They were perfect for my older son at night when he was potty training. They enlarged bigger than our other adjustable dipes. Ladybug doesn’t wear her FB much, but I am sure she will when we get to that stage with her!
  6. BumGenius Organic OS AIO-I am not a big fan of the AIO-it takes longer to dry.
  7. Happy Heinys-like it fine, just don’t love it. We have it in black, with snaps.
  8. Monkey Doodlez AIO Medium-I really don’t like this diaper and it was way expensive, so glad I only got one to try! It’s super cute, I just personally don’t like the All-In-One aspect of it, I prefer the inserts to come out, makes me feel “cleaner.”

image

If I could buy diapers all over again knowing what I know now, here’s what I would get…

  • 5 pack bumGenius 3.0-use mainly for nighttime
  • 2 kits of Flip (that makes 4 covers and 12 inserts)
  • The rest AppleCheeks ;-) as many as I could afford!
  • maybe a Knickernappie or FB for color selection-I really like our brown and black diapers-they are cool.
  • PREFOLDS-if I had it to do all over again I would definitely try prefolds and covers early on. I could have saved a lot more money!

What about accessories?

  • Diaper Sprayer-yes love it. We have this one and it is great.
  • FuzziBunz Hanging Pail-we have 2 that switch out and I love them although the zipper did break on one, but I still love it and use it.
  • PlanetWise Wet/Dry Bags-yes love them. I use one for travel and one in our kitchen for dirty bibs and towels ;-)
  • Fleece Liners-we have about 10, use them for when she wears diaper creams. They are great and cheap.
  • Disposable Liners-I use these but don’t really like them. I only use them if we are traveling and I am afraid she might poop ;-). I don’t like how rough they feel, but they do the job.
  • Cloth Wipes-yup, we use them 90% of the time, with Seventh Generation wipes as a backup if we need them! I love our BabyKicks sets {we have 2 sets of those}, and my mom made us a bunch of custom wipes…we use all of them! We also still use the same wipes solution.

The perfect wash routine for us…

  • RockinGreen. Period. I wish I had started with this {I began with Charlie’s Soap}. It is simply the best cloth diaper detergent out there, I am convinced. I do think we’d be better off with the new Hard Rock version they have now, but we are still using up our Classic Rock.
  • Here’s my routine {we have a front loader}…
    • cold wash no soap, low spin
    • HOT wash, 1 tblsp RockinGreen {set to heaviest cycle with highest spin}
    • hang to dry if sunny, or hang covers inside on stair railing and dry inserts in dryer if I must.

Where to Shop?

  • I only use Squishy Tushy, the customer service is wonderful and always has been. It was a blessing to find a retailer online who not only had great prices but also great support!

Blogs I have learned the most from…

We only CD, unless we are on vacation and CAN’T wash diapers. Most vacations we can, so we have CDed even when away and it is fine. You can see the rest of my cloth diapering here.

I plan to CD until Ladybug is potty trained, and then plan to use cloth training pants. I am so thankful for all of the money we have saved! I was a HUGE skeptic of cloth diapering, but now I recommend it to everyone!

14 comments:

Carissa Blanchard said...

So proud of you! You're a convert! lol! I remember you saying "never!" They are just so wonderful and I still have all mine even though I don't have anyone in diapers anymore. We use the Happy Heiny's Pocket Diapers at night time for my 5 year, who inherited the bed wetting gene from my husband. Poor thing. :o) Saves so much money over Goodnights! Good job!

Kelly said...

YEAH! Thank you for this!! I am due with girl number 4 and have been slowly diving into cloth diapering I am nervous about trying different ones and them not working out. My toddler has HH's and likes them but they are getting to tight around her legs. So I wasn't sure if I should buy a different brand or not... Tried a babykick CD and she says "too big yuck" It just fits different. Anyway THANKS!!!

Madeline said...

With all those diapers and all the accessories, soap, etc, you still saved money? I would love to CD, but am looking for a way to convince my husband it really would be a money saver.

Anonymous said...

Hi there -

Can you give the link to the wipes solution you are using?

Thanks

Carisa said...

I will edit the post to include the link to the wipes solution we use...I forgot to add that link!

Madeline-YES... we did still save money although we could have saved a lot more had I been brave enough to start with prefolds, I was just too nervous in the beginning and wanted the easiest switch.

Good things is-the wet bags are PERFECT for traveling and we use them all of the time, I even have 1 right now in the kitchen for dirty kitchen towels and bibs! We have 2 PlanetWise and 2 Fuzzibunz, I LOVE THEM and will use them long after cloth diapering!

I had a spreadsheet for a long time, the early stages of it are in one of my older CD posts on this blog, outlining how much we spent vs. saved so far. I might try to go back and finish it out with an average estimate for savings. My guess is that with what we've spent I think we will save about $1000 as a family. A family who spends less or uses them for more than 1 child can save 2-3000!

;-)

Unknown said...

I started with prefolds; I was afraid that I wouldn't like cloth diapering, and didn't want to spend a lot to start with. I love 'em! Including detergent I was able to cloth diaper full time for about $100, and have built my stash as time goes on from there.

I got lots of prefold love, lol. Great post!

Mama Teaching 3 said...

I am saving this post! Bumble's diaper stash is growing little by little and I hope to actually be successful this time.

Tara said...

Thanks for all the links and advice! I have two in diapers right now and we're having trouble with rashes so I wanted to switch to cloth wipes. Just ordered my solution from Squishy Tushy and listed you as my reference. Thanks again for the helpful advice!

meganesmith said...

I'd like to second the prefold love! Economical and easy...

Kelly said...

Yeah! Just ordered a couple of things from Squishy Tushy. I wanted to make sure you got credit for it.
I put your name and blog in as the reference!
Can't wait to get them! Thanks for your thoughts and review!

Meghan said...

Does anyone ever have trouble with ammonia smell? I have 15 bumgenius 3.0 and am very disappointed to have only used them for 6 months and this smell will not go away. I have tried washing them on hot with/without soap, hang drying them, washing them numerous times. I just can't figure it out! If anyone knows a solution, please, please help me out. I don't want to give up! (Spent too much money on them :)

melanie. said...

we use prefolds and covers, because it's too humid where we live for all in ones to dry before they spoil (and we CD for financial reasons, so i can't justify firing up the drier when i'm trying to save money!)

we use baking soda in the second wash cycle and a little vinegar in the rinse to get right of the ammonia smell. works like a charm and keeps them soft.

MO said...

Hey there.

I have just had a daughter who turned a year.
Just wanted to say that we use happy heiny one size for pockets. I use velcro and snap. When my baby was only nursing, nights were a horror so I switched to disposables for nights. This was before trying prefolds, which probably would have done great at night to contain the leg leaks. My kids are slim, so around the waist and legs is an issue with pants, so this includes cd's. Happy heiny's would fit a chubbier baby between birth-5 months than mine. Now that my daughter is a mover all the bit of tummy she had is now gone. I've actually had to size down all the snaps, some even to newborn because my girl's thighs are so tiny. Sometimes the snap waist is a little hard to find the right fit but overall I like our investment. BTW I can now go back to cd pockets at night.
LAUNDRY.
I have always used Nature Clean for all our washing. I was sent a sample of rockin green and it washes well. I might consider switching. That's all for now.

sbswtp said...

I am converting over to cloth diapers- I only have a few, but am trying to build up a stash :) ...anyway....I went to Squishy Tushy and put in your name yesterday when I placed my order...I hope I did it right!