When people hear or see that we are doing cloth diapers I usually get one of two questions:
"How's that going for you?" or "How do you like that?"
My responses are : "It's going great" and "It's actually kinda fun"
I wrote this up for my friend Becca who is going to do cloth diapers. It's not how everyone does it, and it's not maybe even the best way, but it's a pretty cheap way to diaper (and if you avoid our mistakes, it would be even cheaper) and we like that we don't have to constantly buy diapers and throw away plastic.
Here's the 411 about our cloth diapers. Bum Genius are great. I also really recommend G-diapers. They're nice because as hybrids they can be stuffed with cloth (both prefolds or they have cloth inserts they sell) or with their disposable inserts for when you travel.
We have about 30 cloth diapers (the pre-folds like people make into burp cloths). We also have 5 G-diaper covers (little g-pants) and 5 Bum Genius. For the daytime and going out, we use the pre-folds stuffed into the g-diaper covers. If they get super wet or poopy (the plastic part, that is) we have a few extra plastic inserts that we can swap out. There are prefolds that are a lot more absorbent than the Gerber ones you get at local stores. Find these online at places like diapersetc.
We have a big covered trash can (new, rubbermaid) that we put all our soiled and wet diapers into as well as the used wipes. We use cloth wipes, and they are easy to make, they're great. These are just flannel squares from old receiving blankets that I've sewn the edges so they don't unravel. Scott donated a few of his t-shirts and even sewed some wipes himself. At home we have a wipe warmer that keeps the wipes wet—we soak them in water then ring them out so they aren't drippy, and Anne gets a warm, wet cloth on her bum all day long.
When we're out, we have a wipe spray that we use. You spray their bum or the wipe then wipe as usual. The wipe spray is just water, some baby soap, and essential oils. I haven't made any yet cause we got some with a diaper order, but it wouldn't be hard. You can also buy them online. For transporting wet soiled diapers, we use one of those plastic zippered bags that linens come in. You know, you buy a blanket and it's all wrapped up in a plastic pouch? It's a real zipper, too, like with a pull and everything. It's worked great. If you want to be more discreet or whatever, they do sell "wet bags" which have a waterproof lining and are also washable, so you just toss it all in the wash together with its contents.
Washing the diapers: We wash diapers every other day. At the beginning, we were doing it every day cause she just went through so many diapers. But we're down to every other day, maybe every 3 days if we stretch it. We don rubber gloves and then sort through the diaper pail sticking the ones she only peed in as well as all the wipes into the washing machine. The poopy ones we rinse out in the toilet to get as much of the poo off of them. Then, these too go into the wash. We do two washes. One cold with some soap (not much soap, and it is supposed to be enzyme free, fragrance free, whitener free, basic basic, simple simple soap) then a second wash with hot water. The items that can be dried then go into the drier. The Bum Genius covers are line dried (or in our case, laid out in front of the fan that stays on all night while Anne sleeps for the white noise), all parts of the g-diapers are line dried. Everything else gets dried in the drier until they're dry. You could rinse the poopy ones out as you go, which would make diaper duty less stressful, but we find it easier to do it all at once rather than stop your day all the time to go rinse out a diaper.
Night time: Anne wears a Bum Genius at night and sometimes at the end of other excursions so we don't have to worry about leaks or her feeling wet. The Bum Genius hold a lot of stuff and generally won't leak. They also stay pretty dry next to skin, which is a total plus.
And, I think that's about it. You can buy lots of diaper stuff to make it easier and cuter. You can also keep it really simple. It's actually a lot of fun, I think. In a place like PA where there is no shortage of water, it makes a lot of sense to just wash the diapers rather than use plastic and toss 'em all the time. So there you go.
Here are some good resources I've found:
http://www.zany-zebra.com/ this one is good to find patterns and general info
http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/ this one is good for product reviews
http://ezinearticles.com/?Make-Your-Own-Wipe-Solution&id=118618 this one is for wipe solution recipes
http://www.diapersetc.com/ this site sells everything you'd need and gives you an idea of what is out there
http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=handmade&search_query=wet+bag&order=date_desc&ship_to= this is just to show you how cute and diverse wet bags can be and how many people make them
Happy Diapering!
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