Cloth Diapers

As slightly mentioned in the previous post, Ryan and I have decided to give it a go on the cloth diaper experience. After a bundle of research and confusion about how the whole process works I think I’ve figured it out. It will require a little more “hands on” diaper changing, but shouldn’t be too bad. The environmental and cost impact alone should out way the down side of what you do with the diaper once it’s off the baby’s bottom.

Basically the process is as follows:
- Put diaper on baby
- Baby does his business
- Remove diaper
- Extra Poop step: scrape chunky/excess smooshy contents off of diaper into toilet
- Store dirty diapers in a covered trash can until you acquire a full load
- Toss bundle of dirty diapers into washer
- Start again from step 1

So, other than the “extra poop step” it’s not too much different than the disposable diaper process. Other than the obvious cost savings and environmental impact it’s great because you buy one size and it follows the baby from infant to about 35+ pounds. There are different settings on the diaper that allow you to change sizes as they grow thus allowing him to wear the same diapers through his pre-potty training time (instead of buying new sizes). In addition the little suckers are super cute!

Now, I’m assuming most day cares will not take a baby in cloth diapers (more work for no extra money?? Hellz no! But one can hope!) so we’ll probably have to have Jude in disposable diapers while in day care. In addition, it’s not uncommon for parents to use disposable diapers for long days away from home or vacations which is something we’ll be considering.

Originally before even giving cloth diapers any thought I assumed I’d use Pampers. My younger brothers were in Pampers, I know other people who use Pampers, it just seemed right. Early on I considered the art of buying in bulk and found that Costco doesn’t carry Pampers and read good reviews on Kirkland brand diapers and thought it’d be between them and the diaper of choice. However, after more research I think I’ve decided for those times when our little guy is in disposable diapers we’ll either be using 7th Generation or Earth’s Best (I figured we’d give Earth’s Best a shot first because they’re significantly cheaper and if they don’t work then we’ll go with the 7th Generation).

I feel like such a earthy-yuppy.