I thought in honor of Earth Day I would finally do an update on cloth diapering. (Sorry to all who asked forever ago!)
We have been using cloth diapers for almost a year and a half now, specifically BumGenius 3.0. I love them as much as when we first started. Since we made the switch when Jasper was four weeks old, he has only been in a disposable once. (The night I was a bad mom and forgot to pack diapers in his diaper bag before leaving the house.)
The diapers are holding up remarkably well considering they are worn and washed every three days. We have a few liners that are slightly stained but nothing major. Some of the Velcro tabs are curling but still stick. BumGenius will actually send you replacement tabs if you want to sew new ones on. I have also found a place online that will replace all of the Velcro with snaps which I am considering.
We currently are using the regular liner and newborn liner that come with the diapers during the day. At night we use the regular liner and a special absorbent liner(s) to go with it. This makes it possible for Jasper to sleep all night without needing a diaper change.
Jasper has never really had too much diaper rash. Occasionally he’ll get a little red but nothing too bad. AND… we have NEVER had a blow-out. Not once! Seriously, that alone makes the diapers amazing.
I do a load of diapers every three days or so. I love the Sanitary cycle on my washer. It washes with extra hot water and I do extra rinse. The diapers take 60 minutes to dry and about 10 minutes to stuff all of the liners in. I would honestly say that I don’t feel I’m doing a lot of extra work.
Considering our diapers have long since paid for themselves, I would say they were well worth the investment. Now it’s just our way of life and I can’t imagine doing it differently.
Glad to see they are holding up so well. The velcro on ours is curling a little as well but still works. I hear ya on the fact that it is just a part of your everyday life now. I can’t imagine it any other way either. The few times that Lucy has been in a disposable instead of cloth have really bothered me. I only wished we had switched to them sooner! What will you do with adding another baby to the equation? How many more diapers would you get if any?
Jess – Good question! It all kind of depends on Jasper at this point. He is showing some signs that he’s ready to start potty training. I’ll probably give it a try and see how it goes. If we get close to October and he’s not trained then we’ll be buying more diapers. If he’s not out of diapers at all then we’ll have to buy 24 more. So we shall see!