So I've had the diapers for five days now. I've tried most of them, and I'm not sure what I think when it's all said and done. The laundry doesn't bother me and honestly it doesn't smell at all in my house since I keep the diapers in a trashcan with a lid and wash them often. It might seem like a petty thing but it bothers me a little that my baby's butt looks so huge! It just doesn't look comfortable to me.
Hannah (my two year old) complains about them sometimes, but they don't seem to be bothering her as much anymore. All of them fit her pretty well even if they are a bit bulkier than the disposables. The one size bumgenius feel really bulky and huge on my one month old though. I've also tried a prefold and a cover on her and it feels huge too though. The one that seems the most trim is the Grovia diaper. I also really like how I could just change out the soaker and keep the same cover. That way I would have to touch it I guess which is what bothers some people, but the soakers are cheaper than a whole diaper, so I could just buy several of those and only a few covers.
I also like the fuzzibunz diaper that I have. It's sized for my two year old though and doesn't have snaps to make it smaller because it's only meant to fit a smaller weight range and isn't like the bumgenius that is meant to fit from 8 lbs to 40 lbs. I would need to buy more diapers this way, but I'd only need to buy a supply of smalls and then a supply of mediums, so it wouldn't be horrendous I suppose.
The only one I had any problems with leaking was the prefold and cover and I think that's because the cover was a bit too big on my little one. I do think it's not for me though since she was absolutely soaked when I opened it. If she was that wet, I can't imagine what her bigger sister could do to that type of diaper.
Anyway, I think my main issue at this point is whether or not I like saving the money and all enough to deal with her butt looking a little big. Man, I feel shallow.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
"Normal" people use cloth diapers?
My impression of cloth diapers was always that people used to use them back in the day because disposables were not available or they weren't any good. No rational, practical person used them today with disposables being so convenient and made of such nice materials. I think back to the disposables my sister wore in the late eighties and how plasticey they were and how you could never reseal them because the adhesive tab would pull the diapers apart, and then I look at my Pampers Swaddlers and they seem worlds apart. I can kind of understand why someone would have chosen cloth because it seemed nicer back then, but in a world where these super nice disposables exist, why would someone choose to deal with poop and do more laundry then they have to?
The first time I encountered a what I'm going to term a "modern cloth-diapering mom", it was about ten years ago. My sister-in-law was cloth-diapering my nephew (also she wasn't my sister-in-law yet). I thought it was kind of cool and the diaper covers were cute, but it probably wasn't something I would do. I knew she was doing it to save money and help the environment some while she was at it, but it really didn't seem worth the hassle, even if she didn't have to use diaper pins.
Since then it's become much more of a common thing to cloth diaper. The diapers have changed dramatically and there are so many new choices out there. This is not the cloth-diapering your grandmother had to do. Several of my friends have tried it or are cloth-diapering their children full time. My sister-in-law used prefolds and waterproof covers. For those new to the lingo, as I understand it prefolds are the diapers many people used as spitty rags or if your mom was like mine, she used them later to dust the furniture. :) They need to be folded around the baby and fastened, then you put the cover over them. My college roommate has used a lot of different things, but now uses prefolds with wool pants or covers. Wool is naturally waterproof if taken care of properly. I have two more friends who use pocket diapers. Again, as I understand this term it's a diaper that has the waterproof liner on the outside sewn together to a material of some kind that will rest up against the baby's skin. The outer cover and the inner material form a pocket you fill with a liner (or sometimes two) to add the absorbency. These seem to be the most in vogue type right now since they are easy because the cover has fasteners on it and you really just have to grab the diaper and put it on like "normal," but you still can sort of customize them to be more absorbent or not. A lot of these type of diapers have a series of snaps on them to let them "grow" with your baby so they can use the same diaper from early on to potty-training. I say early on and not birth because I tried one of these on over my newborn daughter's diaper last week, and it was way too big. Anyway, there are also other options, but those are the types that I'm probably most familiar with currently. I'm leaning toward a pocket diaper system called bumgenius since these are the ones my friends rave about and I like the idea of the convenience of them.
Why am I even considering cloth diapering? Well, mostly it comes down to money. I currently have two children in diapers (two and a half and one month) and I'm thinking that it could save money after I have made the initial investment. I know it sounds a little crazy, but I think it might actually be a little bit more convenient too. I tend to forget how close we are on diapers and end up having to run out to the drug store late at night so I have diapers to send to daycare the next morning or searching the house to find a diaper to put on my daughter before bed. I know the same thing could happen in that I won't have any clean diapers if I don't keep up with the laundry, but for some reason I think it might be easier to keep tabs on since it will just be part of my routine to wash diapers every other day. Another reason, which isn't a huge thing for me but something I appreciate about the cloth diapers, is that they are more natural. I am not the mom that buys organic everything, but there is something to be said for having cloth against my babies' bottoms instead of plastic and chemicals.
Even with these incentives, I'm not completely sold that cloth diapering is for me and my girls just yet. The initial cost to even try it has kept me from trying it earlier with my eldest, but I decided to give it some more thought with the second one coming on the scene. So I ordered a sample kit of sorts from an online retailer. Since I have friends who use different types of diapering systems and I'm not sure what I'll like without actually using them, I want to try each of them before committing money to one type of diapering. The kit I ordered has a few of each type of diaper in it and I can use them for 21 days before either returning them and getting a refund or keeping them. I should get the kit in a few days and I plan on documenting my thoughts here on this blog. Hopefully my experience can help some other mom out there who is also on the fence.
The first time I encountered a what I'm going to term a "modern cloth-diapering mom", it was about ten years ago. My sister-in-law was cloth-diapering my nephew (also she wasn't my sister-in-law yet). I thought it was kind of cool and the diaper covers were cute, but it probably wasn't something I would do. I knew she was doing it to save money and help the environment some while she was at it, but it really didn't seem worth the hassle, even if she didn't have to use diaper pins.
Since then it's become much more of a common thing to cloth diaper. The diapers have changed dramatically and there are so many new choices out there. This is not the cloth-diapering your grandmother had to do. Several of my friends have tried it or are cloth-diapering their children full time. My sister-in-law used prefolds and waterproof covers. For those new to the lingo, as I understand it prefolds are the diapers many people used as spitty rags or if your mom was like mine, she used them later to dust the furniture. :) They need to be folded around the baby and fastened, then you put the cover over them. My college roommate has used a lot of different things, but now uses prefolds with wool pants or covers. Wool is naturally waterproof if taken care of properly. I have two more friends who use pocket diapers. Again, as I understand this term it's a diaper that has the waterproof liner on the outside sewn together to a material of some kind that will rest up against the baby's skin. The outer cover and the inner material form a pocket you fill with a liner (or sometimes two) to add the absorbency. These seem to be the most in vogue type right now since they are easy because the cover has fasteners on it and you really just have to grab the diaper and put it on like "normal," but you still can sort of customize them to be more absorbent or not. A lot of these type of diapers have a series of snaps on them to let them "grow" with your baby so they can use the same diaper from early on to potty-training. I say early on and not birth because I tried one of these on over my newborn daughter's diaper last week, and it was way too big. Anyway, there are also other options, but those are the types that I'm probably most familiar with currently. I'm leaning toward a pocket diaper system called bumgenius since these are the ones my friends rave about and I like the idea of the convenience of them.
Why am I even considering cloth diapering? Well, mostly it comes down to money. I currently have two children in diapers (two and a half and one month) and I'm thinking that it could save money after I have made the initial investment. I know it sounds a little crazy, but I think it might actually be a little bit more convenient too. I tend to forget how close we are on diapers and end up having to run out to the drug store late at night so I have diapers to send to daycare the next morning or searching the house to find a diaper to put on my daughter before bed. I know the same thing could happen in that I won't have any clean diapers if I don't keep up with the laundry, but for some reason I think it might be easier to keep tabs on since it will just be part of my routine to wash diapers every other day. Another reason, which isn't a huge thing for me but something I appreciate about the cloth diapers, is that they are more natural. I am not the mom that buys organic everything, but there is something to be said for having cloth against my babies' bottoms instead of plastic and chemicals.
Even with these incentives, I'm not completely sold that cloth diapering is for me and my girls just yet. The initial cost to even try it has kept me from trying it earlier with my eldest, but I decided to give it some more thought with the second one coming on the scene. So I ordered a sample kit of sorts from an online retailer. Since I have friends who use different types of diapering systems and I'm not sure what I'll like without actually using them, I want to try each of them before committing money to one type of diapering. The kit I ordered has a few of each type of diaper in it and I can use them for 21 days before either returning them and getting a refund or keeping them. I should get the kit in a few days and I plan on documenting my thoughts here on this blog. Hopefully my experience can help some other mom out there who is also on the fence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)