Cloth Diapers???

I met some moms at a garage sale and they invited me to join their mom's group. A lot of them use cloth diapers (which I had looked into, but quickly nixed the idea!). They said that they never thought they would like it, but now they wouldn't go back to disposables.

My husband and I calculated that we would spend around $1,000+ on disposable diapers before our son was potty trained, so we bought two cloth diapers as a trial. They were easy to use and we really liked them. They add just a little bit of extra bulk, but our son was long and lean, so it kept his pants from falling off. And they're not as gross as I thought they would be! When he started eating solids, we used a flushable liner (Imse Vimse). The poo rolls right off into the toilet with the liner and wa-la. And you can wash and reuse the liner if it hasn't been soiled.

We initially used the bumGenius 3.0 pocket diaper (velcro) which grows with your baby from infant to potty training ($18/each), but I had problems with the velcro tabs losing their stick. I tried wool diaper covers, prefolds and covers, cheaper brands (Nubunz) of pockets, and was unhappy with all of those options. (Good thing cloth diapers hold their value and are resellable.) HOWEVER, BumGenius came out with a 4.0 one-size pocket diaper with SNAPS! They are also $18/piece, but should hold up through a couple of kids (plus there is a one-year warranty.) I'm very (very!) happy with them. www.cottonbabies.com has no shipping cost and you can buy just one as trial. (If you don't like it, you can sell it on www.craigslist.com...cloth diapers have amazing resale value.)

For a cheaper option (but no warranty), you can try Sunbaby diapers. They are $4-$5 dollars each. http://www.sunbabydiapers.com/product.php?id_product=19 You can contact the owner and ask to purchase just one or two before purchasing a bunch. I have some and REALLY like them. They don't have the same fit as BumGenius, but they work just as well. The Sunbaby diapers fit my two-year-old and my infant, so they are one-size, too. And they have some really cute patterns. :)

If you are interested, I would just buy one or two to make sure you like cloth diapering before you buy more. I had eleven at first and did laundry every three days. You will do laundry more if your child isn't yet on solids. If you have an HE machine, I would not recommend buying cloth diapers. They need a lot of water to wash out the smell and all the detergent. You will most likely end up with smelly, leaky diapers. I do have friends who use HE machines, but they have to "strip" the diapers often. (See below.)

If you do have leaking problems, it's because you're using too much detergent. I use a couple drops (really!) of the original blue Dawn dish soap per load and 1/2 teaspoon of Country Save detergent and that's it. (Use warm water.) I also have friends who make their own detergent and use it on the diapers without problems. I wish I would have known before I bought the more expensive kind. Here is a recipe:

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Homemade Laundry Detergent
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (Crest, Meijers)
1 cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda* (Walmart, Homeland, Crest)
1/2 cup Borax (Walmart, Homeland, Crest)

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads...Recipe cost approx. $2 per batch.)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate.

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: You can also use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars instead of Fels-Naptha bar soap. Just don't use heavily perfumed soaps. Washing Soda and Borax can often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle.

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~One time a month or every two months, use 1/4 cup bleach/per load
~Periodically "strip" diapers of detergent build-up otherwise they start leaking. Strip by washing them in warm water until all the soap suds are gone. (Up to 8 cycles.)
~Do not use diaper creams...it will cause diapers to repel and leak (if you accidentally do, stripping will fix the problem)
~Keep the dirty diapers in a little pail with a cover until you do laundry (you don't have to soak in water)!