Adventures in Cloth Diapering

To cloth or not to cloth that is my question.  First of all you must know that most of my decisions are financially based.  The second thing that motivates my decisions is practicality.  My youngest has/had (we are on the mend thank goodness) acid reflux.  I made the decision to cloth diaper her after numerous diaper rashes.  Her little rear end was so raw from the acid in her "number 2" that we were constantly using diaper cream.  My little sister, who lives in Australia uses and sells cloth diapers.  Her son has been in them from the beginning.  When Clara Beth was 6 months she sent me a set of 8 diapers to try and I decided to go "all in" with cloth for 1 month.  From the beginning, my issue with cloth is that the start up cost is a lot.  For us to be successful, I need to use an All-in-One or a pocket diaper to the tune of about $20-25 a diaper which is a large chunk of change.  I can buy a month's worth of disposables for the same price.  We needed about 6-8 diapers a day and that is without using cloth at night.  With the diapers my sister sent me I was washing diapers every night!!  This is so not practical for our lifestyle.

I started looking for a diaper that was a "grow with me style" and a brand that has frequent sales.  I decided on the Fuzzi Bunz one size, and I liked them.  I ordered 6, so this way we only had to wash every other day.  I had now invested about $200, so I was in for good.  My problem is that our water bill increased by 30% and in the water plentiful area of western NY, this is not a big deal, but when we moved it was going to be a problem!  I needed more diapers.  By chance I entered a giveaway from Mac-A-Doodle and won one of her diapers.  It was the first time I had used diapers with snaps on the rise and I was in love!!  I had a credit to a cloth diapering store from an exchange, and I found GroVia diapers.  They are for the super trim little ones and have snaps in the rise.  Even better they are a company who always is having sales to make their all in one diapers affordable.  I sold all my Fuzzi Bunz on Craigslist and started stocking up on my Mac-A-Doodles and GroVias when I can get them on sale!  Right now both companies are having sales.  Go to Mac-A-Doodles Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/mac-a-doodle/127609236785) and click on her Hyena Cart store.  She is restocking today and has some really cute Fall diapers up!  Enter the code laborday for 10% off your order.  GroVia has just announced some new products for the Fall and currently they are the Baby Steal of the day (http://www.babysteals.com/). 

Here is where I need to throw in my disclaimer.  Cloth diapering is not for the faint of heart and there is definitely a learning curve involved.  We struggled to find a diaper that would fit the little girl.  She is super skinny (weighs under 20lbs at 13 months), really squirmy, and poops all the time!!  I am also not super "green," in fact this is not a motivator at all for me in my decision to cloth diaper (in fact the 2 year old has never been in cloth).  I do enjoy cloth diapers and with a little bit of instruction from those who are in the "know" and a little more "crunchy" than I am I have been able to be successful.  Now, the big question..."does it save me money?"  For me the answer is "not yet."  If I have a third baby and put that one in cloth then yes, it will save me money.  But for now I am finding that I am breaking even as I build my stash with the money I would normally be spending on diapers.  There is a way to really save using cloth diapers (using covers and prefolds), but for us this is soooooo not practical.

I have not been compensated by GroVia or Mac-a-Doodle in any way for the promotion of their products.  I truly love their diapers!!