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Thursday, July 5, 2012

Cloth Diapering: Info for a newbie!




So I have been meaning to do a cloth diapering update again and just never find the time to blog with a MOBILE very active almost 1 year old!! Anyhow, I am going to just copy and paste my go to info on cloth diapering that I usually send momma's who are considering going cloth. It is kinda a jumbled mess, but now it will be a jumbled mess in one place! If you have any questions about cloth let me know!
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Ok here is the rundown on what I have and what I recommend:
- I have 2 kissaluvs pail liners that I bought on kellyscloset bc they were the cheapest. I would just buy whatever is the cheapest pail liner you can get, and get two so you have one while you wash the other. I just use a regular pop top lid kitchen trashcan with the pail liner. I have several friends that just use a large hanging wetbag though.
- I have 5 wetbags (you don't need that many!). 4 are the medium size and 1 is the large size (for when we travel). I have 2 planet wise ones, which are nice. And I have two Alva, which are not quite as big as the planet wise, but I like them anyhow. And they were much cheaper! More on that in a minute.
- I do not have any fuzzibunz personally, but many of my friends have them and love them.
- here are the diapers I have:
**bum genius 4.0
**kawaii: originals, ultrasofts, goodnightheavywetters, pure & naturals, fun print, round tab, minky, and bamboo
** sunbabys
** alvas
** go greens
** prefolds & some bummis fitteds
- I only have two Velcro diapers. We decided to go with snaps bc we heard they last longer and hold up better. but I know a friend who has used her bum genius Velcro (called aplix now) on two kids and they are going strong. I think Velcro would be much easier for daycare. It took my daycare several weeks to get the fit right with the snaps.
- which would I recommend?:

It's hard to say bc everyone cloth diapers differently. I have some friends that had one kind of diaper and that's it. They had the simplicity of everything being the exact same. Then there are others like me that have lots of different ones and like different things about each. Neither way is wrong, you just need to decide what works best for your personality.

After I bought some bumgenius, I found out about kawaii. They are much cheaper. Later one I found out about sunbabys and alvas. They are chinese businesses, so their diapers are so cheap. Our bumgenius are the best quality we have. But the others are still good quality, so it's hard to justify the price difference (bg are $18ish, kawaii are $7ish, sunbabys & alvas are $5ish). If I had it to do over again, I would probably just get the cheaper ones. The bumgenius and fuzzibunz are super nice and great quality, so you won't go wrong with them.

- I also use my prefolds and covers more often now when I am home and love them!! If I was a stay at home mom, I would prob just stick with those bc they are cheaper and easy! No stuffing involved! But they are not as easy for daycare. 


Inserts:
-I highly recommend bamboo inserts. They absorb more and are much thinner than microfiber. They also are not prone to build up.Really make a difference once you are having to stuff your diapers with two inserts!
-They are more expensive so I recommend getting them thru a coop (see below).

Some websites to checkout:

  • kellyscloset.com (if you are going to buy bumgenius, fuzzibunz tc it is the best place bc they run specials all the time and you earn points for every purchase too)

  • Dirtydiaperlaundry.com another super helpful blog that has lots of videos that actually show you how stuff works
  • Theluvyourbaby.com this is the kawaii diapers page. If you decide to buy those they are way cheaper on their site vs on kellyscloset.
COOPS:
**A big place I am buying my diapers now (well did at the end of completing my stash) is thru coops on Facebook. These are groups that put in really large orders so they get major discounts. For instance, the alvas I got are only $3 thru the coop. And they sell wetbags for $3! I would recommend one called "Sarah's Coop". They have bamboo inserts for only $1.20'a piece, which is cheap! Bamboo is super absorbent and soo much less bulky than the microfiber. I am using it to double stuff my diapers so they aren't so big.


Diaper Sprayer/Liners:
-I highly recommend getting a diaper sprayer. It rocks!
-If not, then I would get disposable liners. They are just laid flat on the diaper and will be in between the baby and diaper. They "catch" the poo and then you can just flush them. Makes clean up a breeze.


Washing Routine:
- I use Tide Original Powder.
- My wash routine is: 1 cold rinse no detergent, 1 hot wash with detergent (i fill the scoop up 3/4 when washing around 24 diapers), 2 cold rinses no detergent, dry inserts in dryer, hang pockets to air dry
- Recommend getting the collapse-able drying rack from walmart. I have a clothesline outside, but since I am a working mom I wash my diapers at night.

1 comment:

  1. I make $20 for each 20 minute survey!

    Guess what? This is exactly what large companies are paying for. They need to know what their average customer needs and wants. So these companies pay $1,000,000's of dollars each month to the average person. In return, the average person, like me, answers some questions and gives them their opinion.

    ReplyDelete