The family of one of the blogs that I read use cloth diapers and they cannot stop praising them. That's where I first learned about them. Of course, I knew what cloth diapers were, but I thought you still had to fold them and use pins which I definitely wouldn't have the patience for. This was two years ago when I read about this family using them, but since then Ive always thought that Id do more research once I became pregnant.
Obviously the cloth diapers are usually used because they are good for the environment, or maybe just not as bad as the disposable diapers. It takes disposable diapers about 500 years to decompose in a landfill, and 92% of all dirty diapers make it to the landfill. One baby can go through between 3000 and 3500 diapers in just one year. Most kids aren't potty trained until sometime in their second year or even third year, so 6000 diapers at the least. Wow! That's just ONE baby!
As much as I like to say that I care for the environment, because I do, that wasn't the reason I decided to go with them.....or to even bring it up to Mr. Hunt. Selfishly the two main reasons I decided to do more research was because they are significantly cheaper, and because they are too cute to pass up!
Here are the rough specifics (can there really be rough specifics?) with the pros and cons of each.
The disposables are obviously easier and more convenient to use. From the research Ive done, disposables can cost up to $3000 in total. That's a whole lot of money. That doesn't include wipes though, but with disposables, you have coupons everywhere and you usually get alot at your baby shower which can help with the cost.
The cloth diapers are significantly cheaper for the diaper themselves. I'm investing in 6-7 GDiapers for the newborn stage and 12 Bum Genius diapers for the remainder of the diaper days (I will explain these later and why I chose these brands). The GDiapers are $18 a piece, so $126. I did register for these so hopefully someone will buy them for us. I just bought 12 Bum Genius diapers online for $171. These will last the remainder of the diaper days for us. So, for all the diapers, that's only $297 compared to the $3000 of the disposables. The cloth diapers do require a sprayer for your toilet which can range from $20-50 and obviously you still need wipes for these too. Ive also seen where people complain that you still have to wash and dry them which constitutes in more money there. Honestly, I do laundry almost once a week (I'm not sure how we go through so many clothes), so one more cycle a week, isn't going to be so different than what we are doing now. Plus, if you are thinking about having more than one child, which we are, these cloth diapers can be used for more than one child. Of course if I ever have two in diapers at the same time, I may have to buy more cloth diapers, but over all its still a whole lot cheaper than disposable. I made sure to get gender neutral colors so that I can use them on a boy if we have one next.
So that's just the tip of the iceberg with the cloth vs disposable diapers. There is a bunch more, for instance, the cloth diapers are known to prevent diaper rash more than the disposable, and they prevent less blow outs than disposables and I know blow outs can be BIG! I won Mr. Hunt over with the up front cost of the diapers themselves and he did some research with me.
Now, I will explain what I am getting and how I will go about making them work.
The family of the blog that I originally read used all Bum Genius diapers for their now two year old daughter. They bought 10 diapers to start out with, and two years later that's all they've needed. The Bum Genius diapers are one size fits all. They have snaps that snap to the three different sizes needed for the baby. This is what I was going to do until I talked to a few more people and got a different opinion.
Conveniently, my new neighbor friend uses cloth diapers for her baby boy and he is 11 months right now. Also, her friend which Ive met and who belongs to my small group just had a baby and she uses them also. It has helped to look at theirs in person, and get their opinions, which has helped me come to this conclusion.
Bum Genius
OK, these are awesome. Basically they are the one size fits all diapers that come in very cute colors. There are two parts to the diaper, the outside shell and the insert. The insert is to capture the poo and pee and help absorb so not to leak onto the shell. With these diapers you can also double up on the inserts for overnight pees.
The not so appealing part is the clean up, but it really isn't that bad. If its just pee, you can take the diaper off, take the insert out, and throw it into your diaper pail. But if it poo, you have to take it into the bathroom and spray the poo off with the toilet sprayer that you buy separately. This is gross in the beginning since baby's poo is soft and wet, but becomes alot easier as they eat solid foods and the poo can just roll off. TMI? Then take the insert out and throw them into the pail. Then once every three or four days you wash the diapers and they are ready to go again. You can watch YouTube videos and research if you are interested in more than that. There is alot more about how to wash them and how they are known for coming out with NO stains.
The downside of the one size fits all is that when the diaper is snapped to the smallest size, it is basically folded down, so it makes the diaper very bulky. It doesn't bother some people, but some people say their clothes don't fit right and the baby looks uncomfortable. I don't want Jane to be uncomfortable with a HUGE diaper on, which leads me to the GDiapers.
GDiapers
I picked these only because these are what my neighbor and friend use and they like them. They also use Bum Genius which works out for them, so I'm hoping it will work out for me too. There are actually a TON of other brands out there, but the research takes a long time for each brand, and I know these work for my friends.
The GDiapers are not one size fits all, you have to buy small, medium, or large for these. I liked the idea of the one size fits all better, but decided to go with a few smalls for when Jane is a newborn so she doesn't have to wear the bulky Bum Geniuses then. Then she will graduate to the Bum Genius when she grows out of them.
These are a little different than the Bum Genius diapers in the way they are used and cleaned too. These have the colorful shell, a snap in liner, and an insert. The snap in liner is used in hopes to be able to use the shell more than once between washes. Just snap in another liner. Sometimes though, the poo can leak past the snap on liner, so its not 100% preventable. Pee though (as long as its not overnight) you can usually use the shell again. That's why I am only registered for 6-7 shells. Then I just need more snap in liners and then that leads me to the inserts. The inserts with Bum Genius are cloth inserts so they are washed with the shells. With GDiapers you can chose between cloth inserts and flushable inserts. I think the main idea behind the flushable ones are so you can use them easier when you are out and about and not have to worry about carrying around a dirty diaper. I'm going to go with the flushable inserts for the GDiapers because I will be using them when she is a newborn. Newborn pee and poo a WHOLE lot more than when they are older. I would have to buy a ton of cloth inserts and do the wash alot more. Instead, Ill just have the 6-7 shells, about 20 snap in liners, and the flushable inserts. These inserts can also be doubled up like the Bum Genius for night time use too.
I really hope this makes sense to y'all. If you are interested in doing it yourself, I would encourage alot of research. Don't hesitate to ask me anything either, of course I don't know much more than this since Jane isn't here yet, and I'm not using them.
With all of this said, Mr. Hunt and I decided together that we are not going to be strict cloth diaper users. For instance, if we are headed out of town where there wont be a washer or dryer, we will probably just use disposable for the trip. Or if I'm headed out of the house while she is in Bum Genius and I cant flush the inserts, I might just put a disposable on her. From the research, it seems pretty easy to carry around a dirty diaper for a little bit and just put it in the pail when I get home, but Ill cross that bridge when I get there. Also, during the summer I will just use the disposable water diapers for the pool and ocean. They have cloth diapers for that too for the hard core people, but I don't see the point for only a dew uses. Since Ill be home with her most of the time, the cloth diapers are what we choose to do. I may have made a different choice if she was going to have to do to daycare or something.
That's it for now. Wow, that was alot more than I thought I could write. Sorry if this bored you, but just know we are excited to see how these work. My mom used cloth on me (the kind you fold and pin) for a short time so I thought that was cool. And I'm pretty sure Mr. Hunt ultimately agreed knowing that I do the nasty laundry part.
Bye bye for now,
Jen
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