ADVENTURES IN CLOTH DIAPERING

As if life isn't hectic enough, I've decided to try my hand at cloth diapering. Now before I get started let me just say this: Cloth diapering (CDing) has come a LONG way... no more pins and folding (unless you want to). Today's cloth diapers are simple to use, easy to wash, and cheap on the wallet!

I'm lucky to have a fellow clothie - my friend Latrice to experiment and learn with. Together we have researched, diapers, diaper creams, pail liners, diaper sprayers, wet bags, etc. There is definitely a lot to learn, but its all interesting and I feel like I'm doing my small part to help the environment. Plus - its cool. Cloth diapers come in so many cute colors and patterns :-)

Most people know bumGenius cloth diapers - but there are so many others. Major retail stores are starting to carry some different diaper brands now. At Babies R Us you can find G Diapers, Target.com carries Kushies, Fuzzibuns, and their own brand Trend Lab. Even Bed Bath and Beyond is in the game selling the Bummis brand and of course Amazon.com has every single brand you can think of. My source so far for diapers has been independent stores such as Cottonbabies, Kelly's closet, Nicki's Diapers, and Diaper Junction. I have also bought a few new diapers off Ebay.

This is my first stash shot. I started out with only 6 bumGenius diapers. I naively thought this would get me through a day.. hahahah NOT.

These are All in Ones (AIO). They have a liner inside so there is no stuffing needed. If I want a little extra protection I can add another liner. This particular bumGenius style 3.0 came in sizes. The greens are larges for Khyri and the yellows are mediums for Kielle. *crossing fingers* hopefully Khyri will be potty training soon so I bought fewer larges for him. I still use these, but man have I come a long way....

Here is my current stash shot:

I now have 28 diapers of different colors, types and brands! My stash consists of bumGenius, Fuzzibuns, Kawaii, Happy Heinys, Blueberrys, EcoBritches, and BestBottoms. Most of them are pocket diapers - meaning I have to stuff the liner into the diaper shell. Trust me its not as time consuming as it sounds ahahah. I like the pockets because they take a shorter time to dry since they are separate from the shell. Except for my bumGenius 3.0s all of the other diapers are one size. They adjust using snaps in the front to fit a little one from 8lbs up to 35lbs. They are not a trim fit - especially on Kielle right now, but its more economical to buy one size. On Khyri, the one size fits really nicely. I think I need to get my stash up to about 30 to comfortably be able to CD the two munchkins full time. Of course Khyri will still use disposables at daycare - they are not having it! hahahaha, but at home I'm gonna CD as much as possible.

Kielle goes through about 8 or 9 diapers a day and Khyri about 5, so I need to do laundry every other day. Now for some that might be a deal breaker, but for me, Kahlillah Aisha Dotson Mosley - LOVES IT! ahahhaha laundry is my absolute favorite... I know I'm a weirdo. For some reason it is very relaxing for me.


 Anywho, back to diapering... I've been psyching myself up to use cloth diapers for an outing and I finally did it Wednesday 4.27 when we went to the park. I've been nervous about carrying around dirty diapers. So to prepare, I ordered what is called a wet bag. Its a cloth bag on the outside, but the inside is lined with a plastic that locks in moisture and smell.I changed Khyri and Kielle at the park and the wet bag worked perfectly. I didn't smell anything. When I got home, I transferred the dirty dipes into the larger wet bag that I keep near the laundry.

Speaking of laundry, I have learned a lot about what is in different laundry detergents. For CDs we have to use detergent that does not have any fragrance,  dyes, enzymes, or brighteners. We use Charlie's Soap to wash our diapers and so far its working ok. I did have some ammonia issues around week two, but I just put a 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar in the prewash and that got rid of the stinkies. Oh yeah - prewash... so the laundering of the diapers is a little more intensive than normal clothes. after all these fabrics are going on sensitive baby parts. Here's my routine:

Prewash with cold water
Wash with hot water
Cold Rinse
Cold Rinse

The second cold rinse is the mot important step. This ensures that all of the detergent is washed out. After washing, I toss the liners in the dryer if I need them right away, or if its a sunny day, I hang them on the drying rack and stick them outside. Here's a picture of the drying rack before I put it in the backyard.


So far Kielle and Khyri both seem to enjoy the new diapers. Khyri hasn't noticed the difference. I can't wait to put Kielle in the patterned ones under her dresses!

*update* I got some fluff mail!! I forgot that I had ordered some more diapers last week and they arrived finally. This batch had awesome patterns.

more dipes and another small wet bag

hearts and polka dots!

So now my stash looks like this all put away - pretty much complete:

I went to target to buy the Up&Up diapers for Khyri to use at daycare. A box of 82 size 4 diapers costs $14.99 - each diaper costs 18 cents. So I did some quick math to make the comparison:
Khyri uses 5 diapers a day, let's say there are 30 days in the month. So Khyri would use 5 x 30 = 150 diapers a month. Multiply that by .18 and we get $27.00. If we multiply the $27 by 12 months we get $324 per year. Keep in mind that this is for a toddler who has more control of his water than an infant. With Kielle also in diapers, the $324 cost is doubled (assuming that she uses only 5 diapers a day which is SO not the case), so that's $648 per year.

So far I've spent about $375 on cloth diapers. Most of the diapers range between $9.95 and $18.95. I only order from sites with free shipping, so that helps to keep the cost down. I also order seconds or slightly imperfect diapers. Its a high initial investment up front, but if I launder these correctly they should last until Kielle is potty trained and maybe even for baby Mosley #3! ahahhaa

We'll see how this experiment goes.

For more information on Cloth Diapering, take a look at this post by a fellow clothie:
http://www.exposuresbynoel.com/ClothDiapering/