Alright, here goes nothing. I have been trying to get this post up for forever. Let me first just say, we LOVE using cloth diapers. I was the one who had to convince Kev when I was pregnant that this is what I wanted to do, but once we made the switch from disposables, Kev couldn’t be happier. He hates when she wears disposables now. He hates the way they smell and feel. It took us a little longer to make the switch after she was born than I thought, but I think I was just scared. You do all this reading and think you are ready but it’s kinda scary to make the jump. I wish I started earlier because as soon as you start you wonder why you were so apprehensive about it. We tried a couple brands. We landed on Bum Genius being are absolute favorites with Fuzzi Bunz being the runner up.
Bum Genius: We have the 4.0 One Size diapers with inserts (plus a couple of the 3.0 ones). I much, much, much prefer the velcro over the snaps. This is different for every person but the velcro is so much easier and fits her way better in my opinion. I find the snaps so hard to snap together. If I were going to choose a snap diaper I would pick the Fuzzi Bunz snaps over the Bum Genius ones. Each Bum Genius diaper comes with 2 inserts. The thin one we use during the day time and the thick one we use over night. We have not had a leak yet. Well, once we did, but that was my fault because we were out and went way longer they we should have without changing her diaper (bad mom decision). They fit her snug and look and feel so much more comfortable then a disposable. They are bulkier than disposables, there is no denying that. The first time we put her in one we were like “Whoa! Rowan, look at your big booty” haha but you get use to it and now I don’t think anything of it.
We have a total of 20 diapers. Is that enough? It is for us, but I would like about 6-8 more. I can make it so I do the wash every other night. But, If I forget or don’t get them started and hung before I go to bed, then the next day she is wearing disposables while they are drying. The extra 6 or so would help with that.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenloveskev/5303609642/
Our routine goes like this…
Rowan wears a diaper. When its time to change her we put the diaper in the diaper pail if its just wet or in the potty pail if its poopy (hmm did I really just write poopy on my blog?)
The Potty Pail is really just a pail with a hole and drain stopper at the bottom but I love it. Whenever we have a poopy diaper I take the potty pail into the bathroom prop it on the toilet, open the drain at the bottom and use the sprayer we have hooked to the toilet to spray it all in to the toilet. Yes you could just spray it right in toilet w/o pail but it sprays off a lot of water and that kind of grosses me out to have poop water hitting the floor. So at least with the pail it sprays in the bucket and then it all just flushes into the toilet.
After I spray the diaper I just place it into the regular diaper pail. Every other day I wash them all. I take the diaper pail to the laundry room and I pull all the inserts out of the diapers and place inserts and diapers into the washing machine. I do one cold wash with detergent. One Hot wash with detergent and then just a simple extra rinse on warm. Simple, Simple.
Then I hang all the diapers to dry and place all the liners in the dryer and tumble low. Once a month I add some bleach to the hot cycle to help with odors.
Then we are ready to start all over again.
If you have any questions about the process or about anything please feel free to ask me on formspring and I would be happy to write you back a response. Cloth diapering can seem very overwhelming but it really is surprisingly easy once you get into your groove.
Thanks so much for you honest review of cloth diapers. I know I want to use them when we have kids but I’m not sure about convincing my husband. Honest detailed reviewed like this will hopefully sway him.
““Whoa! Rowan, look at your big bootyâ€
Ahahahaha. Too cute.
Woah! That potty pail is pretty genius! I didn’t even know it existed.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying cloth diapers. We love ours, too. We use flushable liners now that baby E is eating more solids, but that pail is really neat. We also practice part-time EC, so E is learning to use a potty even though he’s only 9 mos old.
It was my hubby who first suggested cloth diapers, and since he’s been the SAHD for the past 9 months, he’s the cloth diaper professional now. I love it when he tells other parents-to-be that it was “one of the best parenting decisions” we made together. He’s such a great guy!
Thanks for sharing!
I love cloth diapers. We tried lots of fancy ones, but settled on prefolds and super whisper soft covers. And the original supply has been good for 2 kiddos. But my son is bigger than my daughter was when she started potty training and suddenly he is too big for the largest we have!
My mom has always used cloth diapers. One nice tip is that she pours a little bit of white vinegar (the cheep kind you can buy in a gallon jug) into the washing machine along w/ everything else. This works to remove odors really well.
I think I am going to use those one day too! they are so soft , and much better for the environment!
This is super-helpful, thanks! I am due with my first child in February and I have been slowly convincing my hubs that we want to use cloth diapers…your post may help him come around…and we are definitely planning on getting a Potty Pail!
Thank you for this post. We have been cloth diapering our son too, but mainly prefolds and covers and I long for a nice collection of all in one diapers like the bum genius you use, sometimes our son is so wiggly or fussy it’s nice to just put one thing on. That pail/sprayer sound neat, we are only breastfeeding so his poop isn’t really anything that needs to be washed off ahead of time but once we start solids I will have to seriously think about getting one.
I think they’re awesome and I don’t know why people make it like it’s such a big deal. I think they’re more convienent because there’s no running to the store if you are running low on diapers. Sometimes if i don’t get them hung fast enough I’ll throw one or two in the dryer just to make it through the drying time. The only times we’ve had leaks is if I wait too long to change him. (Sometimes if he falls asleep I dont want to wake him to change him oops!) I like the snaps, but I’m sure the velcro would be good too. I like that they don’t all stick together when I wash them. The potty pail seems good. I don’t use my diaper sprayer because I hate how it sprays everywhere. I’ve been rinsing mine in the sink. I have to use a toothbrush to scrub poop off because his poop is extra sticky for some strange reason. But sometimes I use the flushable liners, that makes it so much easier.
I’d love to use cloth diapers but we just can’t do laundry enough for that because we don’t have our own washer and dryer. We have to go to my dad’s house to do laundry once a week. If we had our own washer dryer, I would have so opted for cloth diapering.
Thank you for this post! We are expecting our first child in April and I have already started to stock up on Bum Genius. My husband is totally on-board with me on this one, but I think it is so funny how many people are completely aghast when I tell them this is what we are going to do. They seem to freak out that we will be “touching” poo. Unreal! I mean, you touch it either way and it seems to me like babies in disposables have a greater likelihood of blowouts. So, you know, poo everywhere! Anyway, to each his own, but I really appreciate fellow young moms who are doing this and giving their honest reviews. Thanks!
Love these kind of posts. We cloth diaper our 6-month old, and the poop has definitely changed with solids. I just order our sprayer last night actually and am (embarrassingly) super excited for it! People definitely get weirded out about the “touching poop” part but I never had a blow out until he was in a disposable one morning at 5 months. And that is EXACTLY why I love the bum geniuses!
Question for you with bleach – do you put it in with your outer shells too? It doesn’t discolor them at all? I have tried stripping with regular Dawn and just don’t think that gets them as “fresh” as I would like each time.
i am so interested in cloth diapering. i am already starting to talk my husband into it if we have another baby. thanks for sharing
I love reading about how others do their cloth diapering. We’ve been diapering our 8 mo. old since he was born, and still love it! I am going to try your bleaching trick for the odors – we were told not to do that, but I feel like it just makes sense, especially during the hot cycle and only if it’s once a month. Thanks for sharing your cloth diapering technique! 😉
Aah, that is easier than I imagined it would be. The spraying thing didn’t occur to me before, but this brings the ick factor waaay down.
Thanks for this post, we are expecting our first baby in July and have decided to use cloth diapers exclusively. We had it narrowed down to the bum genius all in ones and the G diapers. It looks like Bum genius gets more votes from cloth diapering moms (and dads), thanks for the advice. Oh yeah and Rowan is adorable!!!
Not a mom, but I love the idea of cloth diapers. Sounds like you guys have really streamlined the diapering system! 🙂
I loved my bum genius dipes! 🙁 My little guy is 33lbs by 1yr , so we had to give them up to his new cousin a few months ago. I’m still looking for bigger cloth diapers.
i couldn’t agree with you more!
have you seen The Business of Being Born? I think every woman needs to see it. It’s an amazing documentary. if you have netflix it’s on the watch instantly right now
Thanks for the review of cloth diapering! I have always planned to cloth diaper and had no idea how many choices are out there until recently! We just received 6 fuzzi buns at our baby shower this past week. Could you tell me any specifics you did or didn’t like about fuzzi buns?
My son is only one week younger than Rowan and we are cloth diapering as well. I have been thinking about blogging about it for a while too. Well, we love it. It saves us money, which is the whole point. I bought 30 diapers which has been the perfect amount. I also have a diaper sprayer, but we have yet to set it up since he is not on solids yet and it doesn’t seem to make much difference. everything has washed just fine every time. I’m also using bum genius and I agree with you that I prefer the velcro (it also fits him better) but I have heard that it wears down sooner, which could be bad when we have our second child in the diapers! I would like to try the all in one bum genius which eliminates the liner part.
Recently I just went into a cloth diaper store and found out that it was a manufacturing office for a smaller brand. They informed me that you do have be careful with bleach, make sure you wash the diapers once first, because bleach and urine will break down the water proofing of the liners. Other than that, it is perfectly safe. They also informed me that you can really use any detergent with them and probably wash the liners and be just fine. I guess those are experiments they have done as mothers themselves. Basically if you find a way that works for you, then keep it up. Cloth diapering is so easy and wonderful and saves bucko bucks! I enjoyed your post.
My little dude is 13 months and he has out grown his bum genius diapers. Now we’re using only pre-folds and Thirsties covers…they work just as well.
I have to say, I always thought cloth diapers would be way too much work…but you’ve convinced me! if I ever have kids I’d definitely like to go the environmental route.
[…] about using cloth diapers for her baby and includes a very helpful overview of their daily routine here on her blog Jen Loves […]
I’m sorry I missed reading this… Thank you so so much!!!!!!:) helps ALOT:)
~Krystal
So backed up on my Google Reader – JUST getting to this post! Emerson is two and we have been using cloth diapers pretty much from the get-go. I used disposables for one weekend at the beach and found them so unreliable, smelly, icky. Can’t imagine not doing cloth.
We too use the BumGenius diapers, they are our favorite in our stash. We do laundry every 3-4 days, I have slowly added to the stash when I can find them on sale. Diapers I bought before Emerson was born are still working great and it’s so cool that I only spent $40 in all of 2010 on diapers and related accessories. 🙂 Thanks for writing this and showing how amazing, easy, and eco-friendly cloth diapers can be!
I was relieved to read this post shortly before I had my son as I was feeling anxious about a lot of negative and skeptical feedback that I was getting on my decision to use cloth.
Now that I have had my son (he is 12 days old today) I could agree more completely! The switch from disposables was a little scary but only for the first diaper. We are using a combination of Mother-Ease Sandy’s diapers and cotton prefolds. My husband prefers the Sandy’s and to tell you the truth…I think I do too, but prefolds are inexpensive and still relatively easy.
For any new parents that are thinking about going with cloth but are worried about start up cost and following through with the decision, I suggest you do what we did and buy used diapers (off of Kijiji). It will be cheaper to get the diapers you will need, they are usually very well cared for, and really… new or used, the first thing your baby is going to do is poop in them.
we haven’t tried this kind yet, but i’ve heard load of good things about them. we’re stuck on gdiapers. i love them. but i double love anyone who cloth diapers.
for a review on our gdiapers check out my post http://ardentlyone.blogspot.com/2011/04/doth-cliapering.html
thanks for your informative post!