guinness

When I was told that I could participate in a Guinness Book of World Records event, I thought:  cool.  The record we were trying to set/break is: The Great Cloth Diaper Change (the most cloth diapers changed at a set time).  There were locations all over the world (though overwelmingly in the USA) where people who pre-registered could go to participate.  Coincidentally I didn't have to travel more than 3 minutes to get to a location.  The event place on April 23rd.  Only one child per adult, so I left Trent home with Kevin (he's not in diapers anyway) and I took Claire.  Everyone arrived a good 45 minutes early, but there were vendors there selling baby related items and I had some friends there to chat with to kill time. 

The rules were simple, the baby had to be changed into a reusable diaper.

Once the time arrived everyone got set up on the floor.  They took a "before" picture.  The Guinness official counted us down.  We had a few minutes (more than enough time) to change the children.  Then before putting bottoms on the kids they took an "after" picture of all the babies in they cloth diaper.  Afterward, there were several give-away drawings and we all got a certificate and a goody bag. 

Overall it was a very cool event to participate in!

I don't have many pictures yet, but here's me and Claire before the big change.

CD'ing two

Julie asks: now that its been several months of cloth diapering two kids, are you still happy with your choice to switch to cloth? and what would you say have been the biggest pro's and con's for you?

Answer:  more times than not, yes, I am still happy I switched to cloth diapers.  There are some days when I don't want to touch them, but for the most part I'm very happy.  We still keep a supply of disposables in the house for when Trent gets a bad diaper rash.  You see, your standard diaper rash cream can not be used on cloth diapers, and the cloth-diaper-safe rash cream isn't strong enough to cure Trent's rashes, so when we use diaper rash cream we use disposables until the rash has cleared up. 

We also use disposables when we are upstairs in our house.  I keep our cloth diapers on the main floor of our house and the disposables are kept in Trent's room upstairs, so if Kevin or I are upstairs and Trent poops we will throw a disposable on him rather than run downstairs, etc.  Convenience. 

But back to the question.  I would say the rash issue is the biggest con.  Trent gets rashes in disposables and cloth diapers, but they are worse with cloth diapers. 

The biggest pro is the amount of money we're saving.  I hate that I spend money on special detergent for the diapers, but in the end it's nothing compared to the cost of disposables.

Cloth Diapers - The Ugly

The "ugly" goes hand in hand with the "bad". 

Letting a baby sit in its own poop (or wet diaper) can cause a diaper rash.  This is why it's important to know when your baby poops.  Twice so far Trent has pooped in his cloth diapers without us know it.  Both times he playing and we didn't notice or hear his grunts.  We knew he wasn't in the poopy diaper more than 30 minutes both times, but it didn't matter.  He had diaper rash.  And not your typical red butt hole or red patch on the butt cheek - we're talking about white open blistery diaper rash.  This rash made scream like you wouldn't believe.  Wiping his butt was the most unpleasant experience for him for days!  I wanted to cry every single time I changed his little diaper because I knew that pain was something I could have avoided had I checked his diaper a little sooner. 

After the last rash we took a break from CD so that his butt could heal.  We're only just starting to use them again, and I honestly get nervous every time I put him in one. 

I did some research and found out that what happened to Trent is common in the sense that most moms will miss a poop every now and then.  If you kid is off playing and you don't know he's pooping....well, it happens!  The type of rash Trent got, however, is not as common.  It could have been that his skin is just sensitive.  It could have been whatever was in the poop (whatever he recently ate).  It even could have been the poop reacting with the detergent I use.  Or a combo of things.  All I can do now is check his booty more often.  I could also apply a diaper rash cream with every diaper change as a precautionary measure.

I have to wonder if the same rash would appear if I left Trent sitting in a poopy disposable for a while.  I mean, poop is poop, right?  It's not like disposables absorb more poop than a cloth diaper, right??  But then again, there's been times when Trent woke up in the morning with a poopy disposable and no blisters.  So I guess it has to be associated with the CD, right??

That brings me to my next concern.....overnight.  I just raved about how great my CD's are for overnight use, but I'm so afraid Trent will poop in the middle of the night and wake up with blisters.  It's just not fair to him.  Granted, he hasn't pooped in the middle of the night in quite some time, but that doesn't mean he won't.

Like I said, we're just getting back into our CD groove after a week or so of taking a break.  As long as we continue to be rash-less I will regain my confidence in cloth.  In the mean time I am still a little paranoid and leery. 

This has definitely been the most unpleasant surprise cloth diapers has brought my way.  Now you can see why I said the lack of smell is a bad thing.

Cloth Diapers - The Bad?

When researching cloth diapers I always read that cloth diapers don't stink as bad as disposables when the baby poops.  My thought about that was always "yeah right". 

Well, turns out it's very true.  With disposables you know RIGHT AWAY when baby poops.  With cloth, not so much.  They say it's because of everything that goes into making a disposable - it amplifies the smells.  Gross.

Why do I say this is a bad thing?  Well, it's not bad, not for you and me.  It is bad, however, when mom and dad don't realize baby took a dump and now baby has to sit in it's own poop for any period of time.  Imagine it.

Cloth Diapers - The Good

By far, the biggest pleasant surprised I've experienced with these cloth diapers has been their absorbency.  I knew I would have to change Trent's diaper more often with cloth because they don't absorb as much as disposables, so I guess that had me expecting.....well, I'm not sure.

Around the time Trent turned 1 we had to start using Overnight Disposable diapers.  With regular diapers, by the time Trent woke up in the morning his clothes would be wet with pee.  Because of this, I diagnosed him as a "heavy wetter". Some kids are, some aren't.

The overnight diapers always worked wonderfully, though sometimes he would annihilate one.  Have you ever seen the insides of a disposable when it's wet?  I have.  It's gross.  There are these tiny little gel-like balls filling the diaper.  There's been a couple times where Trent would wake up with a hole in his diaper and these little gel things all over his belly area.  It's gross. 

Fast forward to my cloth diaper research.  Apparently it's very common for moms for buy different cloth diapers specifically for over-night use.  Others will buy inserts made of more absorbent materials (remember I talked about how my cloth diapers are "pocket diapers", meaning you stuff the diaper with an insert?!)  Many moms even use disposable overnight diapers when they can't find cloth that works for them. 

I automatically assumed we'd be one of those parent's using overnight disposables forever because I knew we had a heavy wetter on our hands, and honestly, I didn't want to go through the trial and error process of finding the right diaper/insert-combo that worked for us.  To me, that meant many disrupted nights and middle-of-the-night diaper changes.  Before receiving my order of cloth diapers in the mail I decided to go ahead and order a few Hemp inserts.  Hemp is huge among CD'ing mothers.  It's known to be super absorbent while leaving the diaper trim fitting.   Before the hemp inserts arrived we ran out of overnight diapers so I went ahead and gave my regular Bumgenius diapers an overnight try.  Don;t you know Trent woke up dry!  I mean, the diaper was wet of course, but his clothes were perfectly dry.  Almost every night since then we've been using the Bumgenius diapers (without hemp) and they've worked fantastically! 

Like I said - the most pleasant surprise!

Now I have 4 hemp inserts that have never been used.

BLAST (the poop) OFF

Ok, so some of you have asked me questions regarding my experience with cloth diapers thus far.  Today I want to talk about the art of cleaning a poopy diaper.  I am assuming poopy diapers are the #1 reason why people do not go the cloth route....and understandably so.  There's nothing fun or glamorous about it.  Kevin actually refuses to do it (for now, at least.....give him time.  I'm predicting he will clean his first poopy diaper within the next couple months).  I personally don't have a problem with it.  It's not something I look forward to, but I'm not gagging at the toilet or regretting my cloth diaper decision because of it.  It is what it is = baby poop.

Cleaning newborn breastfed poop is as easy as it comes.  You don't have to dump anything into the toilet - you just wrap the diaper up until laundry day then wash.  period.  Unfortunately for me, I didn't start cloth diapering in the newborn stage, therefore I wasn't gradually eased into the more solid poops.  I'm jumping right into peanut-buttery poop.  The in-between poop.  Some people refer to it as "teething poop".  I've never wished for solid turds as much as I do now.

As I mentioned before, I purchased flushable diaper liners when I bought the cloth diapers.  100 liners come looking like a roll of toilet paper.  You lay a liner in the diaper before you put the diaper on the baby.  When you change the diaper, if its poopy you simply dump the liner in the toilet and flush.  If the baby only peed, you can either flush the liner or wash it with the diaper and reuse it.  I can honestly say I only used a liner once and I'm not sure why I haven't used one since.  It caught about 3/4 of the poop and it really did make for an easier clean-up, but for some reason I just haven't used a liner again.  I guess I forget I have them.

For the first week or so of cloth diapering i was trying to get into a routine - trying to find a method that worked for me.  I found that swirling the diaper in the toilet while flushing was the most effective method of removing poop, though it was often a bit time consuming - especially when dealing with 8-hour old poop from daycare.

Some people will designate an item (knife, spatula-like item, etc) to be used ONLY for scraping poop off diapers.  I haven't tried this yet, but I imagine it too works wonderfully.

Your other option is a diaper sprayer.  This is one of those luxury items that you don't HAVE to have, but everyone who has one loves it and raves about it.  I didn't want to spend the money on it but after a week I decided what the heck. 

Did I mention that Trent poops an average of 3 times a day?  Sometimes only twice, sometimes 4 times.  Yeah.....I think there's a bit of a difference between swishing poopy diapers in the toilet only once a day (or less) versus 3 times a day.  With Kevin's encouraging words, I decided that getting a sprayer would be a logical "splurge" for me (I decided to splurge on a sprayer instead of new shoes, haha, j/k). 

I went ahead and purchased a bum genius diaper sprayer from abbyslane.com. There's another brand diaper sprayer, but the reviews for it weren't as good as the one I went with.  Three days after ordering, the sprayer arrived in the mail.  Kevin had it installed in literally 3 minutes.  The sprayer can be mounted on the wall (as shown in the picture) or off the side of the toilet tank.  We went with the toilet tank mount.  I love it.  I was afraid the water pressure wouldn't be strong enough to actually blast the poop into the toilet - especially not the caked on nasty poop that Trent's been putting out - but it's fantastic!  I still haven't figured out the best technique for using the sprayer and not causing something of a mess, but I'm getting better with it.  The other day I had the head facing upwards and came *this close* to spraying my face with freezing cold toilet water.  Instead the water bounced off the ceiling and hit the floor a few inches from my feet.  I keep making a mess of the toilet bowl too, but at least it's all staying inside the bowl, right?  At least, I think it's staying in the toilet.  Our floor has alot of brown colors in it, if you know what I mean.

I was only cleaning poopy diapers for a week before the sprayer arrived, but the sprayer has, of course, made the poop-removal process much easier for me on many levels.

Again, a diaper sprayer is definitely not a necessity by any means, but if you have the extra cash or if you are squeamish about cleaning poopy diapers I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.  Heck, come on over to my house and see this thing in action....I'll give you a free demonstration.  I could turn into a bit of a Gallagher show, so bring a poncho.

If you use cloth diapers, what technique do you use to remove the poop?

the start of cloth diapers....

The Arrival

 I came home from work last Tuesday and this box was waiting for me.  It felt like Christmas.

enclosed were my baby legs (free and adorable)...

2 beautiful wetbags (I am extremely happy with the quality and durability thus far)....

the newborn covers (tiny and adorable)

the main diapers (also adorable)

...and the liners & snappi's.  Here is everything from the one shipment!

Here's a picture of the newborn covers next to a standard bottle of water.  see how tiny they are

Here's a close up of one of the Bumgenius diapers. you can clearly see the snaps that you use to adjust the rise of the diaper, depending on the size of your baby

and here is a Bumgenius diapers alongside the 2 inserts that are included.  There is a pocket inside the diaper where you stuff those inserts

said pocket

First Day

Yesterday was the very first time I put Trent in his new diapers.  He didn't seem to care one way or the other about them but it didn't take him long to christen them.  I was scraping poop into the toilet within an hour.  It's not the most pleasant experience, but it doesn't bother me too much. 

Kevin hasn't warmed up to the diapers yet, but it's only been 24 hours - he needs time. 

We put Trent in a disposable overnight diaper last night (like we always do), instead of a cloth diaper, because Trent is a heavy wetter and I'm not ready to see if these cloth diapers will get him through the night.  I'll do a trial run this weekend when I don't have to work in the morning.  If he leaks through the diaper overnight then I will have to invest in some different inserts for the diapers.  Hemp inserts come highly recommended, as they are trim yet super absorbent.  I have a feeling there's going to be some trial and error but we should eventually find a system that works for us. 

Daycare - take 1

I sent some cloth diapers to daycare this morning.  Trent was wearing one, I gave her a wetbag, 2 spare outfits (in case of leaks), and 3 additional diapers.  I sat down with her and briefly showed her how to use them, and that was that.  I'm lucky she's open to using them - I think some daycares have a Disposable Only policy.

I just sent her a text asking if she's had any problems with the diapers so far and her response was, "no, not at all".  That's a good sign.  She said she hasn't dealt with cloth diapers in about 15 years (prefolds) so I'm sure she was relieved when I gave her easy pocket diapers to deal with.

we're switching diapers

If you are friends with me on facebook you may already know that we are making the switch over to cloth diapers.  We originally said we'd always be disposable diaper parents, but after a year of paying $41.99 per box of diapers, I decided I've had enough.  My records show that we bought 14 boxes of diapers in the last 14 months - and this doesn't include the 5 boxes that were given to us on different holidays/occasions as gifts (I can think of 5 big boxes and several smaller packs off the top of my head that were given to us).  We're looking at roughly $650 in diapers a year.  Now we're about to have 2 in diapers - which means we have to buy twice as many diapers!  Kids are usually potty trained between ages 2 and 3 years old.  You do the math. 

Choosing a cloth diaper(s) is very overwhelming and intimidating at first.  There are so many different styles, brands, and opinions out there, it's hard to know what will work for you.  Some companies offer a trial pack where they send you a dozen or so different styles and brands for you to try for 30 days.  At the end of the trial you send them all back and get a refund of all but $10 - it's a great deal.  Most women recommend doing the trial before purchasing your diaper stash, but I personally said screw it.  I did enough research on my own to eliminate certain styles (for cost reasons) and brands (based on terrible reviews).  I'm going to cross my fingers and take my chances.

It really is amazing to see how far cloth diapers have come over the years.  You can still purchase the classic prefold style our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers used.  Pins and all.  Yup, they still sell the big diaper pins.  Of course there are alternatives to the safety pin nowadays.  The most popular is called a snappi - it has little "teeth" that grab the fabric and hold everything together.  Safety pins are your cheaper option, running $0.50 each - snappi's are roughly $4 each

Then you have "all in one" cloth diapers in sizes xsmall, small, medium, large & extra large that operate exactly the same as a disposable diaper (except you don't throw them away of course).  These diapers are the easiest to use and by far the most convenient cloth diaper.  Fool proof essentially.  These are also one of your most expensive option.

There are, of course, options in between these two.  Options that vary in price, quality, convenience, absorbency, etc. 

I personally decided to go with a couple different styles:

The main diaper I will be using is called a "One-Size Pocket Cloth Diaper" made by Bumgenius.  The "one size" part means this diaper will fit a baby from the time it weighs approximately 10 pounds until it weighs 30 pounds.  Actually, the manufacturer claims that the diaper fits from 7-35 pounds, but research and reviews has taught me that they fit best when the baby is between 10-30.  Essentially, this diaper could be only diaper the baby ever wears.  It is recommended you have between 12-24 of these diapers.

The "pocket" part of the description means there is a slot in the back of the diaper where an absorbent pad is inserted prior to diapering the child.  This pad is what absorbs the pee and keeps the baby dry.  The downfall to pocket diapers is that you have to physically remove the pad before washing, then reinsert it after its clean and dry.  The benefit is that you can insert whatever you want depending on the absorbency you need (meaning, you can use inserts made of different material [wool is a big one, or fleece] or you can put multiple inserts in at a time if need be).  Bumgenius sends 2 inserts for every diaper ordered - a newborn insert and a regular insert.  Both are a suede material but the newborn insert is shorter.  Once the baby outgrows the newborn insert you switch to the regular.  The newborn insert can still be used in addition to the regular one if you need added absorbency. 

My plan is to use these Bumgenius diapers on Trent and the new baby at the same time.  Since the diapers are "one size" I will be able to easily and quickly adjust the diaper to fit either child.  You might be wondering how this is possible?!  Allow me:  there are buttons down the front of the diaper that adjust the rise and there are stretchy velcro tabs used to adjust the waist.  Here's a descriptive picture:

Most cloth diapers these days are very stylish.  Bright colors, cute patterns, etc.  Bumgenius offers a variety of colors to choose from.  I find myself drawn to moonbeam, ribbit, clementine & butternut, but they are all oh so cute!  I ordered a couple white ones in addition to the colors I just mentioned.

More about Bumgenius:  It's hard to find these diapers in Delaware stores.  I believe target keeps some in stock, and maybe some other small baby shops, but not BRU.  These diapers also rarely go on sale.  Majority of reputable diaper websites, however, will offer you a discounted price if you buy several at once. 

They retail for $17.95 each
if you buy 3-5 they are $17.70 each
if you buy 6 the price drops to $17.50 each
if you buy 12 or more the price drops to $16.95 each. 

This is generally the lowest price you will find (unless you buy used or from ebay, amazon, etc).

As I said earlier, the Bumgenius diapers fit best on babies 10 pounds or more, so it's pretty safe to assume they won't fit my newborn right away.  Because of this, I decided to order a second style of diapers for the first few months - until the baby is big enough to fit into the Bumgenius diapers.  I'm going old school and getting prefolds.  I will be using the snappi things I mentioned earlier (in colors white, light blue & dark blue) rather than safety pins because, well, safety pins scare me.  I ordered a couple dozen newborn sized "cloth-eez" prefolds from greenmountaindiapers.com. 

This is by far the cheapest option out there.  They run $1.75 each (getting more expensive the bigger you go - maxing out at $3).  The catch is, you have to buy covers to put over top of these prefolds or else the baby's clothes (and yours) will get wet with pee, or worse.  The covers range in price from roughly $6-$16**.  The perk is that you only need a few covers.  After the baby pees you replace the pee soaked prefold with a whole new clean prefold but you only have to wipe down the cover, then reuse it.  Wash the covers in the washer every couple/few days when you do a load of diapers.  Again, covers come in a variety of colors and patterns.  The brand I decided to go with is Thirsties.

**wool covers can be purchased for $30 each or more

Thirsties covers are a thin waterproof cover whose sole purpose is to keep moisture contained - a barrier between prefold and clothing.  They are not padded or meant to absorb anything.  These covers come in different sizes - unlike the Bumgenius diapers I ordered - but they still have stretchy velcro tabs that allow you to get the fit you want.  Since I only plan to use them during the newborn phase I ordered a few extra-small covers (in red, sky blue & melon - but I will admit it was very hard to decide on colors).

Some other brands offer very fun patters - they get super super cute!  Check out some of the cute cover patterns by clicking here and here and here.

Well, That about covers the actual diapers.  Now let's talk about the accessories that go along with them.  I'm only going to touch on the few accessories I actually purchased but feel free to do a quick search to find out what accessories are available to you.

Cloth diapers are generally washed every 2-3 days.  So where do you put the used ones in the mean time?  It is recommended that you use a diaper pail w/ liner or a wetbag.  These items are designed specifically for cloth diapers, meaning they help contain smell, are waterproof, and are meant to be washed with the load of diapers.  How many you buy and what size(s) you buy is totally up to you.  Women use them for all different things, some need more bags than others because of daycare, some like to have one on each floor of their house, etc.  I personally bought one large wetbag that I plan to use for diapers around the house.  I also purchased a medium wetbag for my diaper bag.  I probably would have gotten a size small for the diaper bag if I only had 1 baby in diapers, but I figured it's better to have too big a bag than one that's too small.  I found one brand that has great reviews AND great designs!  Planet Wise Wet Bags

I originally wanted my large wetbag to be the front right design (green blue and brown geometric shapes) but they were sold out so I went with the cute one behind it.  My medium bag is the daisy design - 3rd from the back on the right side.  There are so many cute patterns it was hard to choose!

The large bags come with a strap - I plan to  use this strap to hang the bag from a door knob

Lastly, flushable liners.  Flushable liners are a piece of material that is put between the baby's fanny and the diaper.  After the baby poops you simply dump the liner into the toilet and flush.  This will be GREAT for Trent.  His poops are someplace between runny and solid turds - much like the consistency of peanut butter, if you will.  (I've heard it referred to as Teething Poop).  Very unpleasant to clean.  The liners are not a requirement at all but they should reduce the amount of scraping I have to do.  People who don't bother with liners simply scrape the poop into the toilet or spray it off. (more on cleaning cloth diapers some other day)

I ordered the prefolds from greenmountaindiapers.com but I ordered everything else from kellyscloset.com.  Greenmountain diapers was the only place I could find the prefolds I wanted and they came highly recommended.  I was disappointed in how expensive it was to ship the diapers, but I am happy with how quickly they shipped and arrived!  I ordered them on a Monday and they arrived that Thursday, When it came to everything else I literally researched a dozen different websites before deciding which one(s) to order from.  In the end I chose Kellyscloset.com for the everything else because that site had almost everything I wanted in stock, it offered a number of perks*, and it was among the lowest priced.  I placed this order on Wednesday, everything shipped the very next morning, and I received everything (to be filled out when I receive the package).

I almost used Nickisdiapers.com (another reputable website for cloth diapers) because that site offered the same perks and was $2 cheaper, but they didn't have any clementine colored Bumgenius' in stock, and I really wanted the clementine color.

*Perks:  free shipping, free baby legs, pretty sweet return policy (in comparison to similar sites), rewards points (aka free money). 

I normally don't like to put financial stuff "out there" but I already told you how much we spend on disposables, so why not give you a price comparison. 

24 cloth-eez prefolds $42
4 thirsties covers $46
3 snappis $10
24 Bumgenius OS $406

1 large wetbag $16.5

1 medium wetbag $19

Yup, I spent roughly $550 on my diaper stash.  Sounds like a whole lot, i know!  Trust me, I KNOW!!  It took me a couple weeks to muster up the courage to actually hit "submit order".  What pushed me over the edge was when I wrote a friend of mine an email telling her that I'm switching to CD (cloth diapers) and why I was switching. Actually seeing how much we spend in disposables vs. how much I'd spend in CD made me realize that in the long run CD's really are the best thing for us financially. 

$550 one time on cloth diapers OR
$650-ish per year, per kid on disposables

Aside from the cost of the actual diapers, here are other factors to take into account: The environment. Water bill. Detergent. Additional Laundry.

Additionally, when I'm all done with my cloth diapers, and if they are still in good shape, I can sell them.  Believe it or not there is a huge demand out there for used cloth diapers.  Ebay, Craigslist, diaper swappers, swap spot, spots corner.  You won't make every penny back, but you will get back a good bit.   This also means I could have spent much less money on my diaper stash if I went the used route.  I know a few moms who buy used and swear by it, but it isn't for me.

If you have any questions about why I chose a certain style, brand, or website to order from, just let me know and I will gladly elaborate.