(Jane in a cloth diaper at 3 weeks old)
The verdict? WE LOVE IT, yes, so does Mr. Hunt. Well, maybe he doesn't love it, but he certainly doesn't ever complain or mind. And yes, he knows the difference because there have been plenty of times where we've put Jane in disposables.
I decided I would answer some common misconceptions about cloth diapering for you.
1. Its too difficult/confusing/time intensive.
I find this absolutely false. Its not anymore difficult than a disposable diaper. You put the diaper on and off just like a disposable and instead of putting it in the trash, you put it in a bin to later be washed. Its not confusing at all. To be honest, when I first decided to cloth diaper, I was confused. But once I learned how to do everything, it became second nature. My husband is not dumb by any means, but if he can take the time to learn this and do it without even thinking, than its not confusing people. As far as being time intensive, I don't find that true either. The only thing that takes a little bit more time is spraying off a poopy diaper and washing them. Spraying off the poopy diaper takes maybe 1 minute if not less, and once Jane was 3 months old she is only really pooping once a day. Now that her poos are more solid, half the time I don't even use the sprayer, the poop just falls in the toilet. TMI? Then washing them is just like a normal load of laundry. If you are already doing laundry, whats one more load every few days?
2. They smell
This is also not true. In fact, during use, disposables smell more than cloth diapers. If you are washing your cloth diapers correctly than they should never smell. If for some reason they start to get a small scent than you can strip them during the wash cycle leaving them smelling brand new again. In the 9 months that we've been cloth diapering, we've had to strip our diapers once because they were starting to smell. The smell wasn't a bad smell, it was just a smell that they didn't have before from soap build up during the wash.
3. They leak
We haven't had any problems with leaking. In the 9 months of using them, we've had two poopy blowouts which were because we had them on too loose. That's the same or less than a disposable diaper. As far as pee leaking, we've only had that happen once and it was because she was in the diaper for too long. Right now I change her every 2 or 3 hours and we never have leaks. The one leak was when she was in the diaper for 4 hours.
4. They are unsanitary
Again, they are just as unsanitary as disposable diapers. When you change the dirty diaper, you change it the same way as you do a disposable. You don't touch the pee or poop...that's disgusting. Then you throw the diaper in the pail with a washable liner in it. When its time to wash, you put the diapers in with the pail liner making it so you NEVER have to touch the pee or poop. Whats unsanitary about that?
5. They are expensive.
OK, this one is 100% false. They are SO much cheaper than disposable diapers. I'm not going to breakdown cost or anything on here because you can google it if you really wanted to. Basically we spent about $300 on 12 diapers, pail liners, and a toilet sprayer. That's all we've spent! We don't use any special detergent either. We just use the same free and clear that we buy for Jane's clothes anyway. Also, I don't factor in the extra cost for 2 or 3 loads of laundry extra a week. I do still buy disposables but maybe only one pack every other month just to have on hand. With that said, I do believe that we are saving a TON of money, especially thinking about future babies and not having to buy new diapers. After 9 months, the diapers still look brand new!
That's basically all the misconceptions I hear about. Of course people have their own preferences. I will say that it is alot easier to cloth diaper if one parent will be staying home. You'll find it harder to find a daycare that will change cloth diapers for you, and there isn't really a point in doing cloth if they will only being wearing them in the evening.
(Jane in cloth diaper 5 months)
Basically Jane is ALWAYS in cloth diapers besides a few exceptions.
1. I fall behind on washing the cloth diapers and I run out before they are clean
2. Diaper rashes. Diaper rash cream and cloth diapers don't mix. The cream makes it so the cloth diaper material is not absorbent. Although, I just learned of the diaper rash cream that is for cloth diapering so I'm excited about that but haven't tried it yet
3. When we are on vacation. If I really wanted to, I could cloth diaper on vacations especially since we are usually at our parents house where there is a washer and dryer, but I already have a hard time packing everything and keeping in the 50lb weight limit, that I just leave them all at home.
4. Every night I put a disposable on Jane. I honestly cant remember when I started this "tradition" but I just felt like the double stuffed (two inserts) diaper was too bulky and possibly uncomfortable for Jane to sleep good. Although she never shows signs of being uncomfortable, it just looks so bulky so I made that decision and never really think twice.
(Jane in cloth diaper 7 months)
(Jane in cloth diaper 8 months)
One last note: We have 12 cloth diapers right now, honestly it may be a tad easier if we had about 6 more. Just because right now I do a load every 2 or 3 days. 6 more diapers could stretch that one more day.
So that's it! Let me know if you have any questions, Id love to answer them. If you can cloth diaper, I highly suggest it.
Love,
Jennifer
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