cloth diapers: crash course from a rookie

*hi, Alex :) I thought of you when I was editing some of these. Are you rolling your eyes at me, yet?*

So after much deliberation (we are talking months here), we crossed over and switched to cloth diapers :)

Let's face it, cloth diapers are not for everyone...and those who decide to use them have their reasons. My first was I was starting to feel bad adding so much to already heaping landfills :) The second was to save money in the long run. :)

When we decided to go cloth, I wanted it to be as easy as possible. No liners, no pockets, no covers. Simple. I hate laundry, so the less I have to do, the better :)

 Enter the BumGenius Elemental all-in-one.

My sister-in-law uses these. They are the ones I was considering the most and after hearing how much she loves them and hasn't had an issue with leaking, etc....I was sold.

We bought "bulk" packages save a couple bucks (these babies [pun not intended, but I'll go with it] aren't cheap!).

I. Love. Them.

Granted it's been only a few weeks, but I love how EASY they are!

My little man's rump looks pretty cute in them too ;)

One of the biggest deterents from going cloth earlier was all the info out there! It was so overwhelming! There are SO many opinions and ideas and suggestions. They made it seem so hard!

Steph was great and answered alot of my questions (thank you!).

Thankfully, it's not so bad.

The hardest thing about them so far was the first time I put one on Mason. It took me 5 minutes to get it right! I couldn't decide the size I wanted it to be on him. Then everytime I tried to snap the "size" snaps, he would twist or roll over and the diaper would bunch wrong...

grrr...

Then, in a moment of sheer genius, I realized I could snap it to size before putting it on him :)

 *duh*....after a few more times, I am now a pro at putting the diaper on him :)

PS...I love the snaps.

My favorite go-to resource has been http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/

So here is my crash course on cloth made EASY (I love that word). :)

I'm not an expert, but I can tell you what I've learned so far:

Washing:

So cloth diapers need to be run through full washing and drying cycles a few times before use to "jump start" and increase their absorbency :) Organic cotton needs 5-7 wash/dry cycles.

For those initial washes, just do hot wash, cold rinse. Detergent-wise, you only need a TINY bit. Like MAYBE half a tablespoon.

You can dry cloth diapers on medium to low heat (some say even high heat, but I like to play it safe).

I actually line-dry our diapers.

So....now that they are in use, washing/drying is a little different.

I do a pre-wash on cold. Then hot wash and cold rinse. Sometimes I'll do an extra rinse to make sure I got all the detergent out to protect little man's bum :)

You don't want to us ANY additives when washing diapers (fabric softener, vinegar, baking soda, etc) it messes with the absorbency and fabric softeners/dryer sheets make them repellent...which defeats the purpose of the diaper!

Poop Stains:

Baby poop stains nearly everything it touches. Especially the formula/breastmilk poop. My comforter, sweatpants, nursing camis, socks, wall at our old house (our little guy is talented)....

Here is what I've learned helps minimize staining and getting rid of stains:

Spray down the diaper so it's "soaking". Even though you don't NEED to spray off breastmilk poop....soaking it helps keep staining to a minimum.

Set washed diapers in the sun. Whether it is in front of a window our outside, the sun bleaches out the stains. That's a big reason why I line-dry. Our diapers still look as good as new :)

Supplies for CD survival (a little dramatic, but you get the point):

*not everyone needs this stuff....I'm just sharing what I have found helpful and why*

*12-24 diapers (we have 15 and I wash them e/o day) I got mostly white, but a few colors too because we (by "we" I mean Mason)  go without clothes around here alot and the colored diapers are pretty cute by themselves. :)

If we have another girl in the future, OF COURSE I'm going to get some cute pink ones! :)

*flannel wipes we haven't gotten these, yet...but disposable wipes are now a PAIN because you can't just stick 'em in the diaper to toss....flannel wipes work just fine and you can toss 'em in the wash with the diapers.

* detergent for your CDs (I got a sweet deal on Nellie's detergent online)  You want to make sure you use the right detergent to keep your CDs working right :) Here is the resource I used for picking detergent.

*diaper sprayer for the poo (we got the bumgenius one, but Alan and Steph made their own)

*wet/dry bag  (hanging for at home and small to keep in the diaper bag) These bags contain the smell and have a liner to keep everything in the bag :)

I found a great deal online on a PlanetWise hanging bag (in "art deco") It has a zipper on the top that I just unzip and toss the whole thing in the wash. The diapers come out in the wash, so I don't have to touch any day-old dirty diapers :)

Steph has a Fuzzibunz bag that she loves.

*rope/line to hang diapers on (I loop ours to the fence on a diagonal so I can take it down when we aren't using it)

*back up disposables I keep these around, so if I can't get to laundry in time and run out of diapers, I'll have some back up :) I only had to use one so far! We also will use them when we travel because I don't want to have to worry about doing laundry! :)

So there ya go. My limited experience knowledge.
Everyone's CD journey is different. Cloth diapers definitely aren't for everyone, either.

 Choose what works best FOR YOU. :) 

Steph has a lot more info and experience with CDs, you can read more about their journey here, here and here.