Good afternoon! I am really excited about today because 1. I have my maternity shoot tonight and 2. this post talks about something I am far too enthusiastic over—cloth diapers! I never really thought I would get this excited talking about something that is essentially a vehicle for pee and poop but ever since I found out I was pregnant I was determined to find out every thing I could about cloth diapering. Now I am not about to get all activitst on you. Yes, I love mama earth and the thought of more diapers piling up in landfills and not decomposing hurts my heart but that is not the only reason why I am so obsessed. I am frugal! And very stubborn. Also if you haven’t heard, babies are really freaking expensive.

Now, my mother attempted cloth diapering me when I was a baby but was quickly fed up with the messy folding, giant pins, and covers. She cautiously warned me that I would have enough on my plate when the baby is born so maybe that was not the best idea. My mother-in-law laughed at the thought saying I would last about a day. Then again, she told me I had cankles last weekend. Isn’t that sweet? My husband looked at me like I was crazy. My sister told me she would not be changing any diapers if I went that route. Determined to prove them wrong, I decided to research cloth diapering like no other and find a way to make it work for my family.

Here is what I have found:

On average, using disposable diapers costs a family about $1,900.00. On the high end, using a more eco-friendly disposable, you are looking at spending around $3,000.00 until the little one is potty trained. Of course that price all depends on how many times you change diapers and when the child is potty trained. But you get the idea! Then, if you have another child, you have to spend that money all over again. Yikes!

With cloth diapers, you can get all of the diapers you need for around $400.00, including washing costs. It should be noted that there are several types of cloth diapers out there with lots of different price points. For example, some cloth diapers can get as pricey as $1,600.00, including washing costs. However, you can use them for any other babies you may have in the future or you can even sell them when you are finished.

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The cheapest route for cloth diapering is using prefolds with covers. Prefolds are what I like to call the OG of cloth diapers. They are usually a large piece of fabric folded (thus the clever name) into thirds, wrapped around your baby’s bum, secured with a clip, and then wrapped in a diaper cover. You could also layer the fabric itself into the cover and not use a clip (as seen above). You will need several different size waterproof diaper covers as your child grows but you certainly do not need as many covers as you do inserts.

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Now, I was ready to go with the prefold option until I found out about the lovely world of one size all-in-one diapers by Bum Genius. These award winning clothing diapers are essentially the insert and cover all-in-one. The absolute best part about this particular style is that they grow with your baby so you do not need to buy a bunch of different sizes. Seeing as convincing my family to use cloth diapers was already a challenge, the fact that the simplicity of these sold them instantly says something. The prefolds…not so much. With the all-in-ones you basically wipe them clean of waste and toss them in your diaper pail, wash, and dry. No stuffing, no layering. Keep in mind these are a large cost upfront at about $17.00 a diaper but again, they will work for any other babies we may have. I added this style to our baby registry and we received about a dozen as gifts, which is a great start to our collection and may even be sufficient once he grows into them.

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You see, the only downside to my beloved Bum Genius diapers is that they will most likely not fit my baby when he is a newborn. They usually work best for babies that are about 2 months old (unless you have a big baby). Luckily, Jill from Baby Rabies, my cloth diapering guru, has a great suggestion for newborn cloth diapers—rentals. For around $200.00 you can rent 24 Kissaluvs (highly rated) fitted newborn-sized diapers. Once you are done, you send them back and you receive your choice of a $100.00 cash credit or $110.00 store credit. Pretty cool, right? The Kissaluvs do require a diaper cover but since I decided on renting these months ago I added them to my registry and someone kindly purchased them for us as gifts.

Overall, I am going into this whole cloth diapering adventure really excited and hopeful but not naive. There are many other cloth diapering options and I picked the ones that I see working best for our family. I do have some disposables on hand that I received as gifts just in case. Plus, when we travel and are without access to a washer and dryer I will probably rely on disposables. But I feel pretty confident about my ability to cloth diaper my bambino. Am I freaking out about all the added laundry? Not really. I took care of enough babies to realize that when you have kids, you do a lot of laundry anyway.

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As far as other diapering needs, I have a standard garbage pail I bought from Target lined with a Planet Wise washable liner for used diapers. I can even throw the liner in the washer with the diapers. Eventually, I plan on using cloth wipes but I am going to start slow. Until then, I am open to suggestions or helpful hints with cloth diapering.

xo

P.S. Totally off topic but there is the gorgeous giveaway going on over at E Tells Tales. If you haven’t checked out her blog, please do. She is easily one of my favorite bloggers!