This is just the post I know you all have been waiting for. Well, alright, maybe just the handful of people that actually care, but I find it an important enough subject to put up on this ole blog. What is it that we are going to be talking about? Poo poo. Yep, you heard it right, we are talking potty talk today.
Now let's get down and dirty and talk about our adventures in cloth diapering!
Aren't these just the prettiest? The colors just make me swoon each and every time I open up the drawer. We started Eden on cloth diapers one month ago, and honestly have loved every minute of it. Have there been some drawbacks? You betcha. I will get to those in a minute, but first lets talk about the details.
We ended up ordering Eden's cloth diapers from Squishy Tushy (haha...that name never ceases to make me giggle). Why did we choose them? Well, we had trouble finding a local shop that had them in stock, we were using an American Express gift card so we needed to find a place that accepted them, and we LOVED their policies. See, cloth diapering is a fairly large investment and the greatest thing about Squishy Tushy was that they actually had a return policy on the diapers...honestly this was amazing since you rarely find that with cloth diapers companies (or at least that was our experience). The owner was extremely nice and accommodating and we highly recommend the company. In summary, Squishy Tushy, you rock our diapers off!
How did we choose the type of diapers? Well, the true answer is that we are lazy and completely new to the whole cloth diapering extravaganza so we wanted something easy. Our stipulations were: snaps (most are velcro and we hear they wear out quicker), organic, and no stuffing required. Well, we really only found one option that fit those needs (and had great reviews to boot), the BumGenius Elemental. So far they are everything we had hoped for. You can tell they are very well made and should hold up all through Eden's diaper wearing years as well as any future baby Crain's. In short, we LOVE them. Is it normal to love a cloth diaper? Hmm, well, moving right along...
(Hey look! There is a cloth diaper peeking out of there...)
Alright, let's get down and dirty. The number one question we get relates to the cleaning process. Yes, this is where some difficulties lie, but honestly we haven't minded it one bit. We chose to buy a diaper sprayer to wash off the ones that, well, are dirtier than the others...you know the ones. We purchased a cute white pail from Ikea which holds our diapers until we are ready to put them all into the wash. There have been no hints of smell that come out of the pail which is quite fantastic. In the pail we also added a laundry bag that fits right over the pail and then when we are ready to wash we just pull on the handles, place it in the wash, and unzip the bottom for a mess free process. Seriously, no poo poo on the hands!
We are still experimenting with our wash routine (we actually had our first case of diaper rash with cloth diapers, BOOOOO), but I think we have almost perfected it. In case you are curious here is the routine that we have found to work with our LG HE washer and dryer: 1 scoop Rockin' Green, Cotton/Towels setting, Hot/Cold, Extra Rinse, Heavy Soil, and then we toss in a soaking wet bath towel (to trick the washer into adding more water). We then dry the diapers on warm for 1 hour. The whole process takes 2 hours and 42 minutes and we start a load when Eden has one diaper left. Right now we are having to wash them everyday which is fine now that I am a stay at home mom, but we definitely recommend buying 18 versus the 12 that we bought. I think 18 is the magic number.
Okay, as I mentioned we did have a case...or two...of diaper rash when we switched to cloth diapers. Yes, I had a sad moment over this because here we were trying to do something great for our baby and now she has an icky looking rash on her bum. Not awesome. The biggest suggestion we have to everyone is to persevere and try different wash routines. We are still happy with our choice of Rockin' Green and love their customer service. We chose the Classic Rock Smashing Watermelons, but I think I should have gone with my gut and chose Soft Rock Bare Naked Babies. We will definitely be using the latter when it is time to make our next purchase. Oh and we ordered them from a local company so it didn't have to travel far (it can even be picked up for free in the store, sweeeet!). We actually also believe that part of our problem was in the cloth wipes we were using. We loved the idea of using cloth wipes so that they could be tossed right into the wash with the diapers, but I hadn't yet perfected a wash for the wipes. We just started back up on the cloth wipes again (filled a spray bottle with water, added 2 drops of baby oil, a few drops of Dr. Bronner's, and a small drip of baby wash). Time to cross our fingers that this is a good solution that won't hurt our baby. Honestly the rash situation is much better and we just make it a point to let her "air it out" on occasion. This is her favorite time of day. Weirdo.
In the photo above Eden is wearing a "clementine" diaper. Seriously, I know I already said it, but I am IN LOVE with the colors. It is so fun to pick colors to coordinate with her outfits. When we ordered ours we just asked for a variety and specified no pink (so that we could use it on a boy later). The colors we received were:
1 Twilight
2 Butternut
2 Ribbit
2 White
1 Sweet
2 Moonbeam
1 Grasshopper
1 Clementine
Hopefully I covered everything for those of you that are curious about cloth diapering. Honestly, we are so happy with our choice to cloth diaper. We cannot believe how much we are saving already! We do buy some disposables, but this is only for vacations or moments of desperation. I actually get upset when I have to use a disposable. The cost is quite high when buying cloth diapers, but we like to think of it as an investment. We can use these for years to come, as opposed to disposable diapers that just get tossed in the garbage. It is also refreshing to know that we are not contributing as much to landfills. It was kind of sickening to see how many were being dumped. We also have noticed that cloth diapers are quite bulky, but for us it was a good thing because Eden needed a little help holding her pants up and these do the trick.
Cloth diapering is definitely a decision that has to be made with careful consideration, but I am so thankful that we were able to make it happen. If you have questions, ask away in the comments or email us at thecrainsnest[at]gmail[dot]com. I think I secretly get a thrill talking about poo.
*Nobody paid us to be nice about their products. We bought each item with our own hard earned money and just really like to brag about products that we love. Mmmmkay?
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