Q: What's the cost?
A: We paid about $350 for our set. The average 2-year diapering period with disposables costs $1500 so we didn't mind the higher start up cost.
Q: How often do you do laundry?
A: Every 4 days. We bought 23 diapers, which was about every other day for a newborn, but he goes through less diapers in a day now (at 6 months).
Q: What kind do you use?
A: We use BumGenius One-Size-Fits-All Pocket Diapers. They have adjustable snaps and fit babies from 8 - 30 lbs. There are lots of other kinds out there, but these were ranked very high from other cloth diapering users.
Q: What's a "pocket diaper"?
A: One piece has a water-proof outer layer and moisture-wicking inner layer. That makes the "pocket". In between those two layers you have to stuff the absorbent layer. For nighttime I stuff in an extra absorbent layer so we don't have leaks.
Q: How does your changing table differ from a disposable set-up?
A: We have a drawer of diapers, a stack of cloth wipes and a squirt-bottle to get them wet. This is easier for us than having a separate trash can for wipes. Our diaper pail is just a trash can with a good lid. It's lined with a plastic re-usable bag rather than a trash bag.
Q: Do you wash with special detergent or procedures?
A: I do a cold rinse, followed by a regular wash cycle on hot with half the normal amount of regular detergent.
Q: What about your diaper bag?
A: I keep a few disposables in there for emergencies, plus some cloth diapers and a specially lined reusable zipper bag for dirty diapers.
Q: How do you handle longer trips?
A: We use disposables on trips that are longer than a day or so. You can use cloth if you're up for it (read On the Go with Baby to hear how one gal does this), but we're not. I do usually bring cloth diapers for nighttime because I find they absorb more.
Q: Can you wash solid waste?
A: For an exclusively breastfed newborn, yes. Once you introduce solids, no. There are flushable paper liners you can buy so that you can just flush that away, or if it's more solid waste, you can just shake it into the toilet. You're supposed to do that with disposables too, but I don't think many people do.
Q: How did you educate yourself about cloth options?
A: There's a lady who runs a cloth diaper store from her home in our town. She offers classes on all the options periodically. That was so helpful! I got to see how it all worked before we chose which kind of diapers to get. There's a start up cost so once you buy, you're kind of committed. See www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com for the online store we used.
A: There's a lady who runs a cloth diaper store from her home in our town. She offers classes on all the options periodically. That was so helpful! I got to see how it all worked before we chose which kind of diapers to get. There's a start up cost so once you buy, you're kind of committed. See www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com for the online store we used.
If you're considering cloth diapers, let me encourage you: you can do it! They're so much cuter than disposables, and not that much more work.
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