cloth diapers

just thought i'd go ahead and write a post about cloth diapers while Levi is napping. for those of you who don't know, and those who do...but want more info...this is what we use for Levi right now:

chinese prefolds and bummi's super whisper wraps with velcro.

we have 36 of the prefolds and 9 of the wraps. i think if money were no object, i'd purchase a couple more of the wraps because sometimes he goes thru them quickly. they also make these wraps with snaps. they are not as adjustable in size but i have some friends who just had a baby too and they got some snaps and prefer them over the velcro. they will most likely last longer. i think i might purchase some of them in the next size up.

basically, this is a perfect 3 day supply for a new baby (if i wash on sunday, i will wash again on wednesday). this is how it works - you trifold a prefold inside the wrap and velcro the wrap closed just likea regular diaper. usually you can just swap out the prefold for a clean one when you change him but occasionally when he has a B.M., some gets out on the cover and it has to be replaced as well.

from my 7 weeks of experience thus far, i think we've only had 2 leaks, just pee, in the mornings when he hadn't had his diaper changed all night. and i'm going to start using some fleece liners (that we just received as a gift from dave's boss!) at night to help with that. i have been extremely happy with these diapers. the whisper wraps hold the stuff in very well. i venture to say that they work even better than disposable diapers on the market. we used disposables on him labor day weekend while in ohio and had a couple accidents, and i've seen the performance of disposables on countless other children that i've cared for in the past.

dave & i primarily chose cloth diapers because of the cost savings (since i want to continue being a stay at home mom) but the fact that they outperform disposables is just an added bonus. there are also other reasons to choose them (environmental and health related). see here. ...you know, it wasn't really our intention to start becoming "hippies" but it certainly seems like we are these days....cloth diapers, making our own laundry soap, deodorant and bath soap, etc, etc.

that was a link to our supplier's website...toasty baby is spectacular...they performed an in-home demonstration for us back in the spring and that helped us to decide what types and how many diapers to purchase. and we also set up a gift registry with them and thankfully received almost all our diapers from family and friends. and now we've already purchased some of the next size up in cloth diapers from a cousin of a friend because we love them so much.

i prefer to travel with disposables because then we don't have to lug around a huge bag of dirty diapers all week but it's not impossible. in fact, there will probably be many times we will travel with them. we just happened to have some disposables that were gifted to us to use during labor day weekend.

the other thing you may be wondering about is cleaning them...basically, when the diaper is just wet, we put it in a repurposed plastic garbage can with a lid. and when it is soiled, we first rinse it off using our mini shower that we purchased from Toasty Baby. this is what it looks like. it attaches to the water supply line on your toilet and you just rinse the waste off the diaper then throw it in the garbage can with the rest. we originally thought we'd just swish the diaper around in the toilet water but we found that you'd swish off part of the waste then it would stick back onto the diaper in another location. so the mini shower was a much welcomed addition to our home. when traveling, we'll probably just use the swishing method (in hotels or family's homes...not gas station or restaurant bathrooms...ew!!) and then we just store them in a waterproof lined bag (see photo below) that we got from toasty baby. when we are just out running errands i put the dirty diapers in another smaller bag and  them when we get home.

then we just wash the covers with our other light colored clothing with our homemade laundry detergent (see recipe here)...adding a 1/2 cup of peroxide to the load to rinse out stains. we have been drying the covers outside on the deck railing and the sun really bleaches out any stains that remain. it's amazing! when it's raining or when winter comes we'll probably just have to dry them in the dryer.

we wash the prefolds separately with a cold wash first with our laundry soap and peroxide also added to the load and then wash them in hot water again with our laundry soap. and they typically take 2 dry cycles to get completely dry. easy, easy, easy!