Adventures in Cloth Diapering - Part 1

So I have to admit less than 10 months ago cloth diapering frightened me. I didn’t want anything to do with it. For one the extra amount of laundry along with the cleaning process was a turn off. I mean who really enjoys playing with someone else’s poop. Ewwww. After reading a friend’s blog and being encouraged by my midwife and her apprentice I gave it a little more thought. It is way better for the environment and we would be saving a TON of money. Still for my baby registries I registered for disposable diapers because I still was terrified of cloth diapering. At around 7 months pregnant I began to research cloth diapers. Instantly I was overwhelmed. I had no idea there were so many choices – All in ones, covers, 2 in ones, pockets, prefolds, and soakers just to name a few of the things I came across. Several nights I thought my head was going to explode! I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel and use disposables. At around this point I was referred to a store in Traverse City called Green Island. We didn’t go in immediately. I waited a couple weeks and then finally 5 days before my due date Josh and I ventured in. We were able to touch everything and were able to ask the questions we had. This was nice to finally do. I finally felt like cloth diapering was something I might be able to handle. Did you know that there is no solid poop in breastfeed babies until they are introduced solid food? We were told that this makes washing extremely easy. On my due date (no signs of labor yet) we headed over to Green Island to make our cloth diaper purchase.
This is what we got:
• 12 infant size unbleached prefolds – fits 7lbs-15lbs
• 24 large size unbleached prefolds – fits 15lbs-30lbs
• 6 GroVia Shells – fits newborn to toddler
• 1 medium size wet bag – for diaper bag
• 1 diaper pail liner
• 6 sample packs of Tiny Bubbles diaper detergent
For this hefty purchase we spent less than $240. This should last our entire diapering experience. Eventually we might need to purchase 12 more large size prefolds once the baby gets bigger. With this stock in the beginning will make so that I should only have to do diaper laundry every 3rd day. To prepare the prefolds for wearing I had to wash and dry them using hot water 4 times to insure proper absorbency. After that it becomes a 3 part process when they are dirty. First is a cold rinse. Then it a normal hot wash using diaper safe detergent. Last is a warm or cold rinse. It is suggested to do cold, hot, and warm so if you lose track or if someone is helping you know where you are in the washing process. For the covers you throw them as they are dirty into the hot wash and then air dry. A little extra work definitely outweighs the expensive cost of disposable diapers. Just a 7 day supply of disposables is around $20. In three months I will have spent around the amount I did on the whole supply of cloth diapers that can be use for several children. Crazy!
Here is a helpful website www.diaperpin.com.
As I am able to cloth diaper I will update my experiences. Baby still hasn’t come yet. Until then Happy cloth diapering!