My grandmother was a fiercely independent and resourceful woman. Once, when a family member expressed concern that she was taking on too much, my eighty-five year old Grandma tersely emailed (yes, emailed) back, “I have a system and everything is under control”. That’s the kind of person she was and that’s the kind of person I have always aspired (but mostly failed) to be.
When my son CJ was first born I thought I had the cloth diapering situation under control. I had gone to an orientation session at my friendly local cloth diaper store, read the equivalent of the Encyclopedia Britannica in cloth diapering info on the internet, and I had my new stash of Rumparooz Lil Joeys and Grovia AIOs all washed and neatly arranged in the top drawer of the changing table. Everything was in order and I was fully convinced that my cloth diapering experience would be blissful. Then we brought CJ home, put that first cute cloth diaper on his little behind, and swiftly came to the realization that the situation was most certainly not under control.
We were plagued by leaks—lots and lots of them. Not only was CJ a heavy wetter but the cloth diapers we had selected just didn’t seem to fit him right. My cloth diapering system, so carefully researched and planned, had failed me. Full of postpartum hormones, I was enraged. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be! In fact, it was the complete opposite. Too tired to do anything else, I gritted my teeth and lived my life one wet outfit at a time.
After a few urine-soaked weeks, my dear husband (a genius even in a sleep-deprived state) decided not to take the leaks lying down. He tried something new: in the nursery he found a stack of Bummis prefolds that a friend had lent me (and that I had promptly put into a drawer and forgotten about, as I was not a prefold person) and a Thirsties Duo Wrap that I had received at my baby shower. A little help from the internet and—voila!—our baby was wearing his first prefold. My husband pronounced it good. After a couple of hours without having to do a complete wardrobe change, I pronounced it good as well. It took me a long time to get used to the prefolds but for a leak-free existence I was willing to learn a little origami.
Who could have predicted that diapers would help me grow as a person? Cloth diapering was a challenge for me at first; there were times when I wanted to quit all together. However, conquering leaks and learning how to use a prefold unearthed in me more grit and determination than I could have imagined. Perhaps I am more similar to my Grandmother than I thought.
This is what I have learned about cloth diapering: It ain’t always perfect. But then, neither is life. However, with perseverance, resourcefulness, and some of that can’t-quit attitude you can find a system that works for you.
Eva is an amateur housewife and stay-at-home mom but is learning fast. While her nine-month-old son CJ is sleeping she can be found sewing baby items for her Etsy store, renovating her home, or napping on the sofa.
When I think of my diaper bag, I have a Mary Poppins moment, wishing so desperately that I could look so assembled and tidy with a small bag that I could whip a lamp or a bed out of in a moment’s notice. Generally, however, I think I look more like a frazzled mom digging furiously for little E’s favorite toy, a clean diaper, wet bag, and wipes to conquer the task at hand as quickly as possible!
The problem is that I like to pack everything in my diaper bag just in case. You just never know when you might need some CJ’s BUTTer, infant Tylenol, or an extra outfit or pair of socks! If I left the house without those things, however, I’d probably survive, but I’m not sure I’d survive without these five staples:
Diapers. And not just any diapers, but cute diapers. (Because let’s admit it – all cloth diaper addicts linger maybe just a little bit longer in public restrooms while changing their little one’s sweet tushie in hopes the mama next to you might notice how adorable those cloth diaper bottoms really are.) And maybe I’m just a little on the *over prepared* side, but I like to pack lots of extra diapers. I generally throw in a flip cover with several stay-dry inserts, and maybe a Bum Genius pocket diaper or two… (or my new personal favorite: the Bum Genius Freetime diaper!). The Freetime diaper is my go-to diaper for babysitters or the church nursery. LOVE IT.
Then… add some gas drops, a snuggle blanket, maybe a baby carrier, lotion, a bib, some baby food, my wallet, a hair bow or two, an extra shirt for me in case there’s a burp-gone-bad…
I like to be prepared!
So maybe I’m not quite as poised as Mary Poppins, but we seem to have the same philosophy – you can never pack too much!
Bio: Molly is a stay-at-home mama with a love for all things baby, family, cloth diapering and blogging. As a former teacher, she loves to help others discover the world of cloth diapering, frugal living, and how to fit everything in a diaper bag!
I live in “remote” Alaska. In my case this means zero immediate access to stores or mail, and any groceries and supplies I need have to be preordered without a known delivery date, or picked up in bulk while “in town”. Going to “town” requires a 2 hour boat ride and good weather, or an expensive chartered flight, and also good weather. Needless to say, we are pretty good at planning ahead!
When we found out we were expecting our first child, we started thinking about all the things we would need to have on hand. Being new to parenting, this is tough! How were we supposed to know how many of what size diapers we were to need well in advance? We are big-time warehouse shoppers, and buying in bulk certainly cuts costs, but doesn’t assure us the right numbers of diapers per size! The fleeting idea of cloth disgusted me quite frankly. I babysit a fair amount in my preteen years, and memories of sagging, soggy, stinky diapers and wet pails still haunt me. However, in all practicality, I knew that I needed to have something on hand for emergencies. I mentioned this to my mom, and promptly put it out of my mind.
One day in early third trimester, mom called me. She was SOOO excited about these 2 adorable Bumgenius diapers she had just gotten in the mail, and wanted to know when our next mail delivery would be so she could send them out. She had done her research before ordering, was certain she had the best possible option, and she just couldn’t wait for me to see them. I, on the other hand, was more than a bit skeptical. This was something I was doing out of necessity, not out of desire.
Finally, the diapers arrived. They were absolutely nothing like I had imagined! I called mom, admitting how cute they were. She tried to persuade me to make more of a commitment, regretting the use of disposables on her own kids. I was hesitant, but did decide that to truly be “safe” I would need more than two diapers. I promptly got 6 more headed my way.
Fast forward a few months to the birth of the cutest baby boy ever! We were in town a month prior to his birth, and lucky enough to be house-sitting for friends while we waited. I didn’t even consider using cloth while there, in spite of the homeowners being the “greenest” people I know. I was in no hurry to test out this adventure, and certainly not without the comforts of home. When baby was two weeks old we were given the go ahead, and by way of a long boat ride, we headed home. It took a little while to get through the chaos and fatigue of those first few weeks, and I wasn’t about to throw cloth laundry in the mix. However, like many parents, we did our share of “blowout” laundry and quickly got used to handling our angel’s poop.
Finally curiosity got the best of me. I broke out my 8 diapers, picked the perfect day, and put that first one on my boy…and the second, and the third, etc. All diapers used, laundry done, and no blowouts! We rinsed the poopy ones back then, my husband even helped. Not knowing better, we soaked them in a wet bathroom trash can too! Nonetheless, after those first 8 changes, I was SOLD! We promptly ordered another 6 diapers, and though 14 wasn’t really enough, we fought through the constant laundry to keep our boy in cloth as much as possible. Those diapers took a beating! (I still have and use them though)
We are now parents to our second boy, who has been in cloth since his second diaper. We are also both big-time cloth advocates! When my sister got pregnant she (being a minimalist by nature) asked what our top 5 “must-haves” would be. I clearly remember my husband’s #1 response…Bumgenius diapers! I have tried many varieties of diapers since those first 14 BG’s (a discussion for another day), but BG remains my favorite. We now share diapers and advice with anyone who will listen, and our own stash has grown to possibly excessive. I have now discovered Kellyscloset and it is a fight to resist a good deal, so my “excess” supply goes to my mom (to give as gifts)and my pregnant friends, along with a list of my top ten reasons to love cloth…
Thanks mom!!!
Lynnette Wright lives in remote Alaska, and is the lucky stay-at-home momma of boys ages 2 and 2 months. An originally reluctant convert to cloth, when not being entertained by her two boys, she likes to research new tricks and find deals on new diapers to “test” so that she can be a more fully educated advocate of cloth to others!
Before I had my first child, I loved to shop. Even after she was born, I loved to wear high heels and carry designer hand bags. That all changed back in September when my husband gave me the green light to stay home with my 1 year old little girl. I traveled for a living and I cried when I had to leave her for an extended period of time. It was a tough working through her first year, but now my dream has come true. I was over the moon!
However, when reality set in I saw that we were down to one income and no company paid health insurance. When Morgan was born I had every intention of cloth diapering and our care giver was so accommodating, but on the weekends we were lazy. Then as time passed my Mother Ease and FuzziBunz sat in a bin not being loved. It took about 3 months into staying home when our savings started to diminish and I could feel the effects of the reduced income. I pulled out my bin and started adding the diapers into the rotation. I then went to a cloth diapering meeting and a couple of the women starting to explain all the different types and brands of diapers and I was a little overwhelmed, but lapping it up. I also learned that one could make their own lotions, diaper rash creams, and there were reusable wipes.
Oh boy, what else didn’t I know? I don’t know what people did without the internet (even though I do because I was in college when the internet started to hit its stride), but the first thing I did when I got home from the meeting was jump on the World Wide Web to research everything. I found out that one could make their own cleaning supplies and laundry detergent. I started making my own home scents to put into diffusers, made my own almond butter, starting making my own wool dryer balls and we started getting our fruits and veggies from a local co-op. I also increased my cloth diaper stash and now Morgan is in a cloth diaper 99.99% of the time. Next week we are adding 4 back yard chickens to our family and in April we start the garden. I am still working on convincing my husband to install the rain barrels and I am going to attempt to make my own baby shampoo. There is really no limit to what I will do. It has been such an easy transition and I now know I should have been doing this all along. When I first thought of “being green” I thought expensive, but with all these little changes I have made I am saving our family money and doing my part to secure a livable planet earth for my kids. I still use my old designer bags, but my heels have been replaced by comfortable flats. I can’t bear to give them up maybe one day my kids will wear them.
Liz McGarraugh is a 35 year old SAHM of an 18 month old little girl Morgan and is currently pregnant with a second little girl due in July. She has been married to her loving husband for almost 3 years and currently resides in Katy, TX with her cat Otto and dog Buddy The Elf.
1. Cost. Hands down the most economical way to cloth diaper. You can purchase quality prefolds for anywhere between .50 and .00, give or take, depending on the size and material. Plus you can size up, fold them accordingly, and extend their use to a larger age range. Compared to + for many AIOs and pockets, well, there’s no comparison.
2. Versatility. If you do a search for ways to fold a prefold, you may be overwhelmed with the many variations that exist. Newspaper, trifold, angel wings, bikini twist, the list goes on. There are folds for every size, age, and shape of baby. Prefolds can be made from cotton, bamboo, or hemp to further tailor to your absorbency needs. They can even be used in conjunction with a doubler. Totally customizable.
3. Ease of Care.Prefolds can really take a licking and keep on ticking. After they have been prepped (which admittedly is kind of a pain in the butt), they can be washed alone or with other laundry. There is no worry about voiding a warranty if you dry on high heat. There’s no concern about whether an insert needs to be removed before washing or laundry tabs needs to be used to prevent a diaper chain or damage to other diapers. They typically don’t hold stink like microfiber can.
4. The Snappi. One of the greatest inventions of all time. This is not a post about why Snappis are amazing, but they are, and they make using prefolds a breeze. The perfect companion to the prefold; not essential, but definitely helpful. It makes using prefolds just as simple as snaps or velcro. Diaper pins also work well, and with certain folds, such as the trifold, the cover keeps the prefold in place. What could be easier?
5. Covers. Have you seen all the adorable prints out there for covers? Combined with the fact that they are often much cheaper than AIOs or pockets, and they can be used for more than one diaper change (usually several), they make prefolds even more economical and adorable. Plus covers clean up easily and quickly. Maybe you’re thinking, but Kelly, I don’t want that extra step in there, because most of the time, you do have to use a cover. But is it anymore trouble than, say, stuffing in a pocket or snapping in a soaker?
I’m not going to say I don’t own any AIOs, pockets, or AI2s because I do, but I always seem to grab for the prefolds first. And there’s just something about doing a bikini twist that sets my heart aflutter. Maybe it’s because they were my first introduction to the awesomeness that is cloth diapering, or maybe it’s because prefolds are amazing.
Kelly is a stay at home mom of a 3 year old and 1 year old, and when she is not running around like a chicken with its head cut off, she enjoys knitting, relaxing in the hot-tub, and shopping…for cloth diapers.
The ABDL community definitely only has a few companies out there that exclusively tailor their products to the community. I could probably count the number of ABDL companies on 2 hands that are actually legitimate…and that would probably be fairly difficult. Off the top of my head I can think of Bambino Diapers, ABUniverse, CosynDry, and then it starts to become a bit more difficult. Sure there are others but its not the greatest sign when its that hard. Out of those 3 companies 2 of them have had great customer service and 1 of them has been very suspect but I will not name names.
Regardless, it is important for the ABDL community to continue supporting at least 1 of these companies whether its buying a case, pack, sample, trying a new product, etc. As long as these companies are working for us and making products for us and doing their best not to take advantage by charging outrageous amounts of money for their products then we should support them. ABUniverse has been guilty and still is of poor customer service, suspect affiliations with sketchy sites, and charging outrageous amounts for their “novelty” diapers. It is unfortunate as they offer some decent products but there products have never performed as well for the amount of money as some of the other brands like Bambino, Secure, Abena, etc. While, I think we should still support ABUniverse “IF” they clean up their act – they have an obligation I think to the ABDL community to at least provide the basics of better communication, customer support, better pricing and better products if they want to be any where competitive with people choosing to buy from elsewhere.
Bambino has always been at the forefront of innovation in the adult baby and diaper lover products world. While, their releases have been traditionally slower and more spread out – that seems to be changing lately with them actually taking feedback from their customers and using it real-time in enhancing their products in new batches. Any one can appreciate that. They are trying to interact more with people on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Which is nice to have a social face to a company like that.
Regardless, any ABDL community should be welcomed with open arms and fully supported until they do something to lose the trust of its consumers because we would hate to see these few companies go away and be sent back to the dark ages of store-brand diapers all the time and limited selection. While, I do support open criticism of any of these companies – I think it is also important to keep in mind what they are actually doing for the ABDL community as a whole and the investment they are making and effort they are putting in to provide us with these products. Just a thought!
Been busy these days – trying to get my life in order – sorry everyone…drama drama drama.
I get so use to cloth diapers that I often forget that cloth diapering is still “off the beaten path” for many. For instance, dropping off my little one in nursery on Sunday and forgetting to explain how to change our daughters diaper- assuming they know, until I pick up my daughter and the diaper is on backwards or they just gave up and put her in a disposable. Then it hits me again, duh, not everyone uses cloth! So naturally, I get a ton of questions about them and I notice that almost everyone I talk to has this vision stuck in their head of safety pins and plastic pull on covers and of course, a big ole’ mess. Our conversation always starts with me debunking all of the cloth diaper myths they have heard and believe, here are some of the most common I run into:
“Gross” – I hear this so much it makes me laugh now. Cloth diapering is not any dirtier, “grosser”, or messier than disposables. We both have to wipe dirty bottoms, both have to deal with the not so pleasant smell, we both have to deal with the occasional blow out. If you are using disposables the correct way, you are actually suppose to dump any solid waste into the toilet before throwing it out, too! Instead of throwing my diapers away, I toss them into our diaper pail and close the lid. No odors, no mess. When it’s time to wash, I simply pick up the entire pail and empty it into my washer, no need to touch a dirty diaper at all! Washes, rinses and a dry cycle later, I have fresh and clean fluff waiting to be reused! Nothing gross about it.
“Expensive”- This is one even I fell for when someone first mentioned cloth diapering to me. I remember purchasing my first cloth diapers three short years ago and thinking “geeze I could buy 6 packs of disposables for these three cloth diapers“. Most people do not look at it in the long run, they think for one diaper? No way. They don’t realize that once they spend that 0-0 on a good stash, that they are d-o-n-e. That there is no need to buy more diapers- ever! They don’t sit down and use one of the nifty cloth diaper calculators you can find online. They don’t think about how much disposables will run them for the next 2-3 years, sometimes even longer! Instead of talking about how much cloth diapers cost in a conversation with someone who is interested, I first talk about how much money I save by using them.
“Hard work”- Or “inconvenient”. I have found that the only time cloth diapering is even a little inconvenient for us is when I am down to my last diaper and realize I have not started a new load yet. Which would be the same as grabbing the last disposable and realizing that you have to get dressed and rush to the store to buy more, except I don’t have to leave or buy more of anything! I just start up the washer As far as work, we both change diapers, we both do laundry. No extra effort is needed, cloth diapering families continue to do the same things just in different ways.
“Old school”- Believe it or not, cloth diapering these days is not the same as when your grandmother cloth diapered 60 years ago. There are prefolds, pins and plastic covers if you choose to use those. Otherwise, the variety of cloth diapers these days is insane! There are all in ones, pocket diapers, hybrid diapers, fitteds, covers, snappis, wet bags, special detergents, all in two diapers, diapers with snaps or diapers with hook and loop etc etc! You don’t have to use a diaper service, I know our town doesn’t have that option anyway. There is a large array of bright colors, soft pastels and cute modern prints. So many options, it does not have to be like when your grandma had little ones.
Four common myths debunked! It just takes some explaining and excitement over your fluff to debunk these myths to other moms, and hopefully they will strike an interest and make the switch, too!
Shay is a stay at home mom of three little girls, a foster mom, and a regular TCDW blog contributor. When she’s not homeschooling, changing diapers, or snapping pictures, she spends time blogging about their journey in the foster care system, family, cloth diapering, and raising kids. You can follow along at http://www.busybudgetmom.blogspot.com
