July 15, 2014

More Thoughts On Cloth


Since I've proven to be hopeless at potty training, I thought I would give a little update on how diapering is working in our house these days (I'm an ace at diapering, a dubious honor, for sure!). Last year I wrote a about our experience with cloth diapers. Long story short, it's a bit of of hard work. Still, I am compelled to try to use cloth as much as possible. It saves us money, it's significantly better for the environment (at least in my understanding of the numbers... and since Little Smith will be attending college in diapers, it seems only fair to do our part), and I prefer putting that soft fuzzy fabric against my baby's tushy over the disposable stuff. There's also just something nice about being self-sustaining, like making a meal with home-grown veggies... sure the market would have been just a nutritious, but it's somehow less satisfying than keeping it all in-house. 


When baby Roo was first born, we set aside our cloth for a few months. I really applaud people who go with cloth for a newborn, but personally there was no way I could have added a single extra laundry cycle to my sleep deprived plate. When she turned 5 months, we finally felt up to the extra challenge. I decided to give up on Little Smith and just switch him to disposable training pants (cloth on big kids who should really be out of diapers is just... unpleasant) and focus our efforts on the baby. 

We had used a combination of FuzziBunz and BumGenius brands the first time around, but the velcro on our BumGenius was all worn out and there was no way I was going to sew on replacements. I tossed the worn ones and ordered a package of 12 additional Fuzzi's 'One Size', figuring keeping everything consistent would help simplify the 'stuffing' process.


Of course nothing is ever that easy, and in the few years since we purchased our first diapers, FuzziBunz completely redesigned the 'One Size'. I won't go into too much detail, since there's no shortage of web reviews devoted to the subject with far more expertise than I can provide, but it's pretty obvious that the old version (on the left in the photo above) is a less pastel color and a trimmer shape. The trimness made 'stuffing' (working the absorbent part into the shell after each wash) more difficult, but it also made them fit much better under clothes. My kids are pretty lean, even Roo's rolls are deceptively slim, and the new style gives a very poofy booty. We make it work, but I did prefer the old style. Isn't that always the way?

^^^same 'one-size' diaper on Little Smith (top) at 2 years and baby Roo (bottom) at 11 months^^^

I do think this style of diaper, with the size adjustments on the inside, is so much nicer than seeing all the snaps on the front. I'm amazed by how those elastics can transform the same piece of fabric to fit a tiny baby all the way up to a toddler. Cloth diapers are a pricey purchase up front, but I definitely feel like we have gotten our money's worth. 


With all our good intentions, we still do use disposable diapers about 25 percent of the time. I always go with disposables for travel or long days out of the house when I know there will be lots of changes. There's also those times when the laundry just hasn't made it through, or when James is home alone (he is a sucker for convenience, that daddy!). I guess we are 'hybrid diaperers' (some cloth, some disposables), and I'm really fine with that.

I'm hoping that baby Roo doesn't share Little Smith's fondness for diapers and actually graduates from them in a couple years, but it is kind of fun seeing our cloth rainbow drying on the line. If you have to wipe tushies a dozen times a day, you might as well try and make it pretty, right?!

8 comments:

  1. They are so pretty! We never did get around to trying out cloth diapers, but I was thinking the same thing, if you're going to do it, at least try to make it pretty. It is much better for the environment, too. I hate to think of all the landfill waste we've contributed to over the years... maybe we can make up for it in other ways?

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    1. They are way cuter! And I think it all balances out, our cars are total gas guzzlers and we have an extra year of diapers going with this late potty training business. We all do what we can in different ways, you guys have certainly offset your diapers with your green ways :)

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  2. Beautiful colors. We use cloth diapers too...about 75% of the time. :) I still have a decent stash of bum geniuses but we had such a problem with diaper rash that I use thirsty covers and prefolds most of the time. There is nothing glamorous about cleaning cloth diapers, but it does feel good. :)

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    1. I have heard some babies get diaper rash, we actually always clear up diaper rash with cloth (it's the disposables that seem to cause it for us). And 'nothing glamourous' summs it up perfectly! ;)

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  3. That bottom poof is almost Victorian!

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  4. I have used FuzziBunz one size with both kids (admittedly - not till 4 or 5 mos. on baby #2) 50% of the time this time around and you can totally get them replaced they have a lifetime warrantee - I've done that twice when a snap broke. My 3 yr old is equally stubborn - needs to be trained in the next month for pre-school. Bribes of chocolate, science museum, chucky cheese NOTHING is working for no.2, he is pretty good with no.1 Kind of hoping school peer pressure does the trick.

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  5. I loved using cloth, but I did switch when Rowan came around. And that was even with using a diaper service. Oy, I am NOT great at laundry, let me tell you. Hang in there with the potty training. Fletcher didn't get fully potty trained until 3 1/2. Rowan was thankfully earlier and easier. There's a little hope on the horizon!

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  6. Not sure if this will help with the potty training, but when we potty trained we bought a travel potty from amazon and took that potty with us wherever we went. It really helped enforce potty training because the potty was right there when you needed it and we didn't have to worry about big scary or dirty restrooms at the park. The travel potty we used was made by cool gear, and I just checked on amazon and it is no longer available... but maybe you can find something similar. The one we had required the use of gallon sized ziplock bags which made clean up and disposing of the urine fairly easy. We did three separate potty training attempts (each with two month breaks in between), it wasn't until the last attempt, with the help of the traveling potty, that it finally clicked.

    Good luck!! :-)

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