Things we love, vol. 2: diapering

If there is one thing in which I've become more fluent than I ever imagined or wanted, it is diapering. Yes, the gerund, because it goes way beyond mere diapers. The world of cloth diapers is strange, wonderful, creative, and offbeat. All with a veneer of green do-goodery. Just the way I like it.

First, a note about the myriad diaper styles out there (and you thought cloth diapering was all about big napkins and safety pins). We've used three basic styles. We started out with fitted diapers, because d.w. found a boatload of Mother-ease at a garage sale for like 40 bucks:

They are made of either cotton or hemp (hemp holds more, so it gets a big thumbs-up from me) and require a diaper cover. Most diaper covers are waterproof PUL, but I prefer wool. Yes, wool. Surprisingly, it doesn't wick urine. Even more surprisingly, it doesn't smell. Well, that's not entirely true. You know it's time to for a change when the baby smells like a wet sheep. Pretty good system. By far, my favorite is the Wallypop cover, which is very trim, well made, and (for us) local:

Most of the diapers we've used (and pretty much all the ones we've really liked) have been pocket diapers, which add a bit of convenience because you don't have to wrestle a separate cover onto a wiggly baby. A second saved is a second earned. You just slide an absorbent insert in between the outer and inner layers of fabric, and you're ready to go. Inserts are most commonly made from microfiber, but again I'm partial to hemp because it is crazy absorbent and a lot less bulky. We use these ones.

And let me tell you, the variety of pocket diapers is astonishing.

Animal prints? Hell yeah.

Here, and I never thought I would ever say this, are the diapers I really like. These aren't even all the ones I've used...just the ones I like best. Yeah. And please forgive some of the ridiculous names. I don't get it either.

Green Acre Designs. These are the current faves at chez zygote. They come in awesome colors, they're well made, and most importantly they only have two snaps on each side. That's 33% fewer snaps, for a 33% reduction in stress at diaper change time. Chins just got a fleece one, and it's pretty awesome. You know, for a urine receptacle.

Preston's Pants. I love these, but maybe it's because the one we have has frogs embroidered on the bum. Oh, and it's minky. Who wouldn't want minky underpants? Seriously, this kid is living large. And she does a lot of custom made and embroidered ones, which infinitely expands the possibilities. But no, they aren't actually THAT waterproof:

Baby Kangas. These are among my favorites for one reason: unlike every single other diaper I have seen (and I've seen more than I would ever like to admit), the "pocket" is in the front, and it has a zipper on it. Why is that a big deal, you ask? One word: blowout. That's right, no more shit-smeared hands when you go to remove the insert after an...episode. Brilliant. Why has no one else figured this out again? Chins' favorite when he sits down in the evening with a little Henry James:

Wallypop. Mentioned before for her awesome covers, mentioned again for her pocket diapers. Really trim, which is important with a beefily-thighed boy like ours.

Happy Hempys. We use these at night, because they are a pocket fitted diaper, meaning they use an insert and have a cover. No more puddles in the bed when I wake up in the morning. Hooray!

And lest you think diapering is just about the diapers, I haven't even gotten to all the diapering accoutrement: wipes, wipe solutions, sprayers, etc. But I'll leave all that for a future post. I think we have enough to digest (no pun intended) here already.

Comments

[samantha jo campen]

Now bust out the math: how many dipaers/inserts a day do you go through and how many washings do you do a week? How much would you say your initial investment was overall?

I'm also curious about what kind of diaper pail you use and what kind of diaper bag you have. But I guess that would fall under diaper accoutrements, so I'll be patient. But hurry up :-)

[zygote daddy]

Ah yes, I forgot to add all that!

Our initial investment was a little unusual, only $40 at a garage sale. We bought 24 Mother-ease one-size fitted diapers, snap-in liners (for at night), and I think 4 or so covers, all of which runs around $250 or so new. They had already survived through two kids, so they got a little threadbare by the time we retired them when Chins was about 5 months old or so.

Diapering a newborn @ 12/day with 24 diapers meant washing them every other day. Not totally unreasonable to do, but it gets old. Breastfed poop is totally water-soluble, so you don't need to spray off the diapers or anything; just drop them in the pail and you're done.

For a diaper pail we use a regular 13-gallon metal trashcan with a step-operated lid, and line it with one of these:

http://www.thestorkwearhouse.com/pails.htm#wahmies

d.w. and I just put our heads together, and we think we currently have 19 diapers (15 pocket diapers of various types and 4 Happy Hempys for nights), which we wash about every three days. I think we'll pick up a few more, because Chins has recently outgrown a few.

Pocket diapers run anywhere from $15-30 each (and up, for fancy custom work). It really hasn't hit us that hard financially, because we've been able to pick up one or two at a time, as we've retired old ones he's outgrown. We've bought a total of about 30 diapers in addition to those first garage-sale-procured ones, and spent something like $400-500. Over the course of a year, that's not too bad. MUCH less than even the cheapest disposables would have been. And now they'll be there for #2 when s/he eventually arrives.

We could have saved even more money by only buying one-size diapers, which theoretically fit from newborn to toddler. Of the ones listed above, only Baby Kangas are one-size. Bum Genius are also good one-size diapers, but with velcro tabs, they don't stay on a curious baby very long. And they have a little flap over the pocket that makes removing the insert after a blowout a very nasty experience.

I hope I answered your questions!

[d.w.]

Another way to save money is to buy used. Online a good source is diapertraders. There is also diaperswappers, but they have been giving people viruses so I would not recommend them right now. I have picked up some really good deals here and there by buying used. Also I have sold off some stuff I did not like and am saving the money to get a nice pair of shorties for this summer (wool shorts that serve as both pants and a cover, such a great thing.). I have bought some fun stuff as well which does add up our cost. It is not unreasonable to start up in the 200-300 dollar range. For instance prefolds and covers are a great way to start out with a newborn (what I plan to do next time) and cost a lot less. Also how we budgeted the money was to put aside a little bit each month for diapers. It was the amount we would have spent on disposables. This way we never had to come up with a huge chunk all at once.

[natalie]

Great post! And hooray for cloth diapers! We've been much less adventurous with our diaper choices and have stuck to Kissaluvs, Fuzzibunz and bumGenius. We've got about 25 one-size bumGenius right now and love them. Here's my post on CDing: http://growingacritter.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/greenin-it-up-for-the-critter/

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