Let's talk about cloth, baby

I hear there's a new de-lurking movement pulsing through the blogosphere today: The Great MoFo De-Lurk, in which those of you who cower behind the bland template of your feed reader are encouraged to visit the sites of the blogs you read and (gasp!) leave a comment. Now, I use a feed reader for blogs I'm still "getting to know" but rely heavily on my About page's blogroll to keep up with my favorite reads, so this concept isn't geared towards folks like me. However, if you're going to take the trouble to stop by these parts, the least I could do is give you something to talk about, right?

Right. So here it is: cloth diapers.

Whenever Luke and I tell people that we plan to use cloth diapers for Freka, we're usually met with a nose crinkle and a "Good luck with that," as if we're lofty idealists completely out of touch with the workings of the real world. And for the most part, I can understand where they're coming from. Why purchase reusable diapers when you can buy ones that go in the trash? Who wants to run shitty fabric through their big, shiny washing machine?

How about people who want to save money?

Though my husband won't be quitting his job until the end of my maternity leave, we'll actually be putting our one-income budget into effect the minute I'm hit with my first contraction since, you know, I'll be too busy caring for our child to bring home the bacon. This means we have to be very creative with our budget in hopes of working each dollar to the max. When it came time to draft our Excel spreadsheet, we looked at what the cost of using disposable diapers would do to that budget and nearly had a collective heart attack. Because of the Interweb, I was already familiar with some of the benefits of using cloth, but my near miss with death sealed the deal.

I talked to Luke about it, and he was totally on board, which was pretty important, seeing as he'll be the one in charge of all the day changings once I'm back at work. He was especially interested in doing a little something extra to cut back on the vast amounts of waste we humans dump into our landfills every day.

(Quick note here to acknowledge that the only reason cloth diapers are feasible for us as renters is the fact that we have a washer and dryer set in our apartment. No way could we afford to pay a professional laundering service. The whole point is to save money, remember?)

Yes, this move will require a little more legwork on our part. Yes, it might get a little disgusting from time to time. But hey, nobody said this parenting gig would be shit-free.

Still with me? Here's what I need from you:

Luke and I need to build up our supply of cloth diapers. We know we want to go with enough All-In-Ones (no messing with extra inserts for us, thank you very much) to last us the first few months, but we're not sure how many we need starting out or how varied the sizes should be (i.e., do we really need to buy the ones especially for newborns, or can we just go with the next size up?). We're also not sure where to search for the best deals or if we'll need any special accessories to make this work. Also, where in the hell do you stash the dirty ones until you're ready to wash them? I'm assuming the bathroom, but WHERE?

Readers without any interest in the type of fabric destined to grace my kid's ass: Can you offer any insights on the new Tori Amos CD? This is just as important as the diaper stuff, seeing as Luke and I bought tickets to her November Indy show! Yes!

Freka's going to love it. She's already partial to "Bliss."

Comments

[daddy dd]

I don't the difference between cloth diapers. But they are just like tools, you probably can't have too many of them. I would want a package of paper ones around for a backup. The material flow rate might require a backup at some time.

[debi]

Wow, I love all the comments you got on this one. I think you and Luke are great for deciding on cloth. I started out with cloth but after my machine broke down and we could not afford another, I tried disposables.Then I got spoiled and never went back to cloth. Cloth does seem like a wonderful gift to the environment. Wish more of us used them.

[Roxanne]

I didn't read through all 50-something comments so hopefully I don't repeat too much. I used cloth with both my kiddos (they are 14 and 10 now). I started out buying a bunch of diaper covers with velcro closures but was quickly disappointed as they leaked something fierce. We ended up buying the plastic pants and pins (!!) and thankfully my mom was there the first week to give us the hands-on tutorial. Once we got the hang of using the pins, it was a cinch.

As far as storing the dirty ones until they're washed: we used a rubbermaid trash can either in the bathroom or laundry room. I would fill it with water and some type of disinfectant (I used Hexol...it smells like Pine-sol). Even though you wash the poo out in the toilet, the disinfectant really helps keep down the lingering smells and helps prevent stains.

I still have a stack of diapers in the cupboard that we use for bathroom cleanups! So not only can you help the environment now, but for years to come. Also, you won't have the expense of buying all the diapering supplies with the second, third, etc. child. How great is that?

[Amy]

Hooray for the environment!

A little caution: I babysat a cloth-diaper kid from my church when I was a teenager. I was not experienced at cloth and put him to bed with a new one, finding out later from the parents that it was a messy time in the crib since I didn't do a very good job fastening the diaper. After that they provided disposables when I babysat. :)

[KC]

De-lurking and giving you my .02 cents on cloth.

We have a 10 week old, and we're using cloth and loving it! We used 'sposies for the first week because you do NOT want to have to clean meconuim off cloth. The only time we've ever had a "blowout" was when she was in a 'sposie. For us, cloth = no leaks. We are doing it mostly for the money as well, and therefore I did not want to have to spend money on seperate sizes, so we've gone with one-size diapers. I have about one dozen fitted diapers and covers, and about 4 pocket diapers. I love them all, but really love our Baby Kangas --we got them from www.Jamtots.com

And really? I haven't found doing cloth more work at all. We drypail (dump all your dirties and cloth wipes in an empty diaper pail) then dump them in the washer every 2-3 days. Cold soak, hot wash, rinse, and you're done.

[Sherry]

Found a neat website on the energy used in cloth vs disposable(less energy used in disoposables surprizingly), interesting read if you are an eco minded chic like myself, kinda scientific worded and dry if your not though:

http://www.ilea.org/lcas/franklin1992.html

[diane]

I used cloth. I found that dry-pailing reeked. I used a diaper sweet chemical with enough water to cover them. When it was time to launder, I dumped the whole bucket in the washer, put it on the spin cycle, then washed them. Bread bags work pretty well for stashing dirty diapers when your out and about. You can knot them off until your home and can rinse them. I used a stack of white washcloths for wipes so they could be bleached along with the diapers. You just carry a few damp ones with you when your out.

[Liza]

Thought you might enjoy this post on the addictive nature of cloth diapers: http://www.unwellness.com/unwellness/2007/10/crazed-diaper-b.html

[Gillian]

We're CDing, but not until he can fit into the medium ones- which he'll be able to wear for a good year or so. We're going the Pocket Diaper route- BumGenius and FuzziBuns.

We already have six of each, and will be buying another six once I figure out which brand I like more. Jamtots.com is the place to get them!

[Rachel]

I use cloth diapers, but only to clean up spills, snotty noses, spit up, etc. I have only used disposable so I will be no help.

[wolfbaby]

i was a die hard im going to do cloth it's going to be cheapter etc... but then life slapped me in the face liek the beach she is... disposible are cheaper where i live due to water costing so much. with the laundry i already do.. at 90 dolloars a month in water bills.. i can't imagine how much more it would be with cloth diapers as much as my kids go through. since my oldest has potty trained i now only spend about 30 a month on diapers. good luck with whichever way works for you!!!!

[Angel]

I wanted to share this website with you www.diaperswappers.com there are a lot of helpful Mama's on there. You can buy cloth diapers very cheap. I have cloth diapered my daughter since she was 4 weeks old. I used prefolds first. Then when I had more money I went with Fuzzi Bunz. There are a lot of choices in the cloth diapering. Hope this helps!