Cloth Diaper Breakthrough

Yesterday I was talking to a woman when I noticed a stack of cloth diapers beside her. I asked her if she cloth diapered and she told me she did. I told her I did as well and it opened up a whole slew of other conversations.

I'm finding the same thing happens at church and yoga class when another fellow cloth diapering mama, or a perspective cloth diapering mother notices one another. It's a sort of instant comrade among women.

A few people have recently asked me if we're still cloth diapering. I guess because I don't mention it as often, or post a gazillion pictures of her in solely a diaper, people aren't sure if I gave up.

Surprisingly I didn't.

I say surprisingly, because really, it's a big surprise, mostly to me.

What started as an experiment has become a lifestyle for us.

My mother-in-law came to visit us last month and happily changed Lil' J's cloth diapers, and told me something I didn't know--My husband wore cloth diapers. Who would have thought? I believe she made have even made them, if I'm remembering correctly. Now I'm not that domestic (yet) but I am doing a lot more laundry now, which is a big step in my domestic diva development.

My husband (the champ) is cloth diapering our daughter right along side of me and we've come to find a few things that are making the experience much easier for us.

For one, the smell I mentioned in my frustrated post about in my temporary break up with cloth diapers post, has been eliminated by using some stuff called BioKleen in the wash during the pre-rinse cycle.

That's the other thing. I gave in and added a rinse cycle before the wash like many recommended. It's helped with the smell tremendously. Actually there is none now!

We have enough diapers to get us through 3-4 days but we usually wash every 2-3, or once the pail is full. My line drying stint is over. I gave that up after one try, and we've just decided to eat the extra water costs. Our bill seems to have leveled out to be about $15-$20 more than we were spending before and we are doing 12-18 extra loads of laundry a month so it's more work, and we're not saving tons and tons of money, but it's second nature to us now.

My daughter's poop has gotten more solid so I followed some friends' recommendations and bought flushable (like, won't flood your toilet flushable, I've tried it and they are SUPER thin) liners to go in her diapers. Problem is, I put them in when she pees and forget them before she poops. We're still trying to get the hang of them and remember to put them in every diaper change. I'm also going to invest in a diaper sprayer to spray off pop in the toilet. And we got some wool dryer balls courtesy of The Willow Store has cut back on our drying time, and saved energy as well.

To be honest, I didn't think we'd still cloth be diapering. My daughter didn't get rashes with Pampers. We weren't spending a lot on disposables, I'm not the most eco-conscious person around and I don't think using cloth diapers make us "better" than anyone else. I will say that if I can do it, just about anyone can! The first month was rough to get used to our system, but now, it's second nature. It really doesn't take any thought to using cloth diapers 24/7 just like we did with disposables. In fact, it seems just as easy. NO LIE! But remember, this was after 2-3 months. If you're considering them check out my article 7 Reasons to try cloth diapers on Baby Center.

I've been using Sprout Change diapers as well as FuzziBunz and gDiapers mostly. I also have a couple random other brands but those three are my favorite so far, for sure (in that order).

I like spreading the word about Sprout Change because they're an up and coming, mom-owned and operated cloth diaper company. I think the mechanics of their one-sized diapers are most efficient and I love that they are the only reversible cloth diaper out there!

I intend to cloth diaper our next child, and hope to use many of the diapers we have now. The bad thing is, many of the Sprout Change diaper covers I have now are purple and pink in assortment. The SweatPea, Smoothie, Grapefruit, they are all irresistible. I have a few gender neutral ones but will want to grab a few more. They're about to release a great new batch of gender neutral colors in a highly requested chocolate brown on one side. Since I have enough inserts I'll be splurging on some more covers and I'll be sure to get some of these that can go with a lot, and lucky you can win one!

Sprout Change is looking for name ideas for their new diaper covers. They're reversible, so one side is the chocolate brown and the other is each of the above colors. Leave a comment with a name idea for one of these new diaper shells and one *UPDATE*... THREE winnerS will get a free Sprout Change Shell (one winner for each new color)! Try to keep it food/health related like their other colors if you can. Here's an example... For number 3 my suggestion is Vanilla Bean. 

Winner will be announced on my Facebook Page next Thursday the 14th (contest ends Wednesday at midinght!)