Cloth Diapering 101

This is a highly requested topic from people who know me. Everyone wants to know about our cloth diapers and if we like them, what it's like using them and where to get them from. Well they will all be answered in this post so get ready!!

When we were expecting Baylor, John and I realized that we would soon have TWO babies in diapers..a very scary thought for us! Trying to figure out how to cut some costs became a major subject of ours. We started to brainstorm, I already planned on breastfeeding again, so buying formula wasn't a problem, and then after some researching we decided to seriously consider cloth diapering.

We were met with lots of hesitation from family and friends, who warned us that we wouldn't like them at all. They were all thinking of the old school cloth diapers that you had to pin on and then put a cover over, little did they know that there was a newer, more modern cloth diaper.

So after all of our research on all of the countless brands and types, we finally decided on a brand called GreenBees Cloth Diapers. You can find their website here!!

The most popular diapers that she has are the one-size pocket cloth diaper, these are diapers that will fit the average baby from birth to potty training. The same diaper that fits my 1 year old will still fit my almost 3 year old with just a little adjustment with the snaps.

We purchased a few of the newborn size when Baylor was born, just because he was extra tiny and the regular size was just a little big for him. Little did we know that those "newborn diapers" fit him all the way through his first birthday, he weighed just over 20lbs when I switched to the regular one-size.

This photo shows the difference in size of the original one-size and the newborn size.

 A little bit about the diapers...

So basically its called a "pocket" diaper because there is a pocket in the diaper where you slip your insert in. The inserts are microfiber inserts that absorb all the moisture and wick it away from your baby's bottom very quickly. If you have a baby that is considered a "heavy wetter" then you can put two inserts in the diaper, we did this at night when they go longer between changes.There is elastic around both legs and on the back of the diaper and multiple snaps along the front so you can adjust the fit in both the rise and in the waist.

 These pictures show the different snaps that make the diaper so adjustable.

Cleaning the diapers is also a breeze! If the diaper is just wet, you just take the insert out, and throw both the diaper and insert into your dirty diaper bin (we just use a small trashcan in the bathroom). If the diaper is poopy, you take the insert out, and throw it in the bin, drop the solids into the toilet and then use a diaper sprayer (a little attachment that looks like a kitchen sprayer but attached to your toilet, you can find a similar one here) to spray off the rest and then put it into the bin too. Once the bin is full, you empty it into the washing machine, rinse them on cold, wash them with hot water and a special diaper detergent (regular detergent is too harsh) and then run an extra rinse cycle on hot. You can dry them in the dryer on low heat, or air dry them, and they are ready to reuse!

Example of a diaper sprayer

How many diapers will you need for the average baby?

I would recommend having about 10 diapers per day, if you had 20 diapers you could go about 2 days without having to wash them. It's all a personal preference and depends on how often you want to wash the diapers and how frequently your baby does the doo... I can tell you that we have about 40 diapers for Baylor and we only wash about once every 5-6 days.

Next thing you are probably wondering about is the cost of cloth diapering. When compared to a case of Huggies or Pampers, which will run you anywhere from $18-$20 a case or $0.20-$0.25 apiece, depending on where you shop, these diapers will pay for themselves within the first few months. If you purchase one of GreenBees package deals, you can get these diapers for as low as $5 apiece.

We LOVE our cloth diapers, we find that we have less diaper rash, we haven't had ANY blowouts while using them, and I personally love all the colors and prints that there are to choose from.

If you are considering cloth diapers or know someone who is, recommend that they check out this brand, it's very affordable and high quality for the price!

If you have any questions that I didn't cover please let me know in the comments below!

Until next time!!
Codi