Little Kite Girl

First,  thanks to everyone and your advice!  I’ve reached out in emails and read some blogs and figured a few things out.  I also took a trip to the local hippie mom store to figure it out further.  I think we are now headed towards full-time cloth diapering.

I’ve done a lot of research in the last couple of days, and after months of deliberation, we went out and got the stuff we needed to get started.  But before I launch into all of that, here is some terminology. For those of us who have no freaking clue. (Like me, if any of this is wrong, let me know. I’m still figuring all of this out.)

There seem to be a few kinds of cloth diapers.

Prefolds: These are what our moms used, kind of. Not your run of the mill WalMart brand cloth diapers, they are usually made out of something a little more expensive (but still way cheap) so that they absorb well. They were maybe a dollar or two more for a dozen than the WalMart brand, but you can get a bigger size for bigger babies, and get nice cotton, hemp, or bamboo. Yes, bamboo. You fold them in three, place the baby in the middle and fold up between the legs, flare out the back and attach to the front with a snappy. You need a waterproof cover to go over them. What my dad calls, “plastic pants.”

You can also get something called contoured diapers, a cousin of the prefold, but shaped like a giant squash. A kind of hybrid prefold/fitted. But you still need the snappy. These don’t interest me so much. Maybe they should???

Fitted diapers: These look like disposables but are made of cloth and have Velcro or snaps to keep them closed. They sometimes come in bright colors, and are made from all sorts of materials as well. You need a cover for these as well. It’s worth mentioning that covers can cost you anything you want. You can get cheap ones for like….$3….or super amazing ones blessed by the Pope for $400. Ok that last part was untrue. And a little rude. But they do come in really cute patterns, and I think that NOT buying a dozen covers is going to be the hard part here.

AI2 (all in two) or Pocket Diapers: A lot of moms I’ve read or talked to prefer pocket diapers. You simply insert a piece (or two? or a prefold?) of absorbent cloth into a pocket in a diaper that looks like the fitteds, but that has it’s own waterproof outer. No cover needed, but from what I understand you can stick however many insets in as you want. This would be good to vary the thickness at night, and other than that I don’t really understand why the AI2 would be better than the AI1. Unless it’s that it comes apart to clean, and therefore gets cleaner.

AI1 (all in one): And here comes the BumGenius, and other wonder diapers that people swear by. The most expensive option (but still much cheaper than disposable, as long as you use them at LEAST for a few months) they work just like disposables. Put them on baby, no cover needed. They usually have snaps or Velcro. And you can throw the whole thing in the wash. To amp up the absorption you add a “doubler” (which can be a small, newborn prefold or another piece of cloth designed to double your diaper) and wa-la, they last all night. As long as no one poops. You can add doublers to any of the different kinds of diapers. Although I’m not sure if you’re supposed to put them next to the baby’s skin, or next to the cover, in the case of prefolds and fitteds. Confusing.

Other CDing items:

Snappy: Here’s a picture of the snappys I alluded to before.  The days of pinning are gone, my friends.

Diaper liners: A veritable landing pad for poops. Simple lift out and flush away, they are usually as thin or thinner than toilet paper. Some of them are made of rice paper. Who knew? I didn’t get any of these. I am planning on getting the poop off the old-fashioned way.

Pail liners: A bag designed to sit in the diaper pail and then be used to bring the diapers to the washer. You throw the bag in with the diapers so that it’s all fresh and clean afterward. I did get one of these.

Wetbags: I think there may be a couple kinds of these…or maybe it’s another word for pail liners…but I bought a small one to stick in the diaper bag. It’s a small waterproof bag you can stick dirty diapers in while you are out. I think I read somewhere MAYBE that there exists some sort of wetbag that you can actually throw into the washer with the diapers IN IT? And everything gets clean? This sounds too good to be true. I may have misunderstood.

Detergent: You need special soap so that the diapers stay as absorbent as they need to. One of a million websites will tell you which kind to get. I got the one they had at the store where I got the diapers, because it was $15 and is supposed to last for 80 washes. When regular soap builds up, it adds a wax or something that makes it so that any diaper won’t hold as much, and leak more often than clean or “stripped” diapers. (Stripping diapers seems to be the way you super clean them. I was told to strip the prefolds I bought before use so that they worked well. You don’t have to strip other diapers unless someone washes them with BAD soap or another no-no substance that builds up, or they get stinky…or something. In order to strip by diapers, I was told to wash them on hot and dry them on high 3 times. That’ll be the extent of the crazy care they’ll need, I hope. I also read that you can simply wash them on hot and rinse on hot…or boil them…or something…)

I have not gone into the crazy world of BacOut yet, or things like that. I’m already a diehard fan of baking soda in with my clothes, so I’ll probably do that for washing. And yeah, more on all of that as I discover it.

WITH ALL THAT SAID: I started the cloth diapering this afternoon. So far, so good. They look super cute, the fitted ones I tried are easy to use…and he hasn’t pooped in one yet. So I can’t say I’ve been grossed out with the whole poop dumping situation. I wanted to use the prefolds first, but I found out yesterday (at the hippie mom store in North Hampton, yes we drove forever away to get them) that I have to strip them. This required me to wash and dry them 3 times to rid them of all traces of whatever it is that makes them not so absorbent. Each time I take them out of the washer they are fluffier and nicer looking- so I’d say it’s working. I have one more fitted to get us through tonight, and then tomorrow morning I’ll start with the prefolds (I have 12) that will hopefully be easier to fix on him than I’m thinking. We got ourselves all set up in the bathroom. A changing table mat on the floor, a box o wipes and his diaper pail. I’m wondering about cloth wipes, I mean…how much harder can they be? Just wipe the kid and throw them into the pail, as well, right? I’m also thinking about trying pocket diapers (AI2), since everyone seems to love them so much. We will see. As for now, I’m just using the prefolds and fitteds, alternating my covers (I want at least five to get me through was days) and going to see how that goes.

*Update.  I went upstairs because Camper woke up.  I got all paranoid about his diaper being wet (which is why I want to switch to cloth in the first place, I change him too dam* often) and pulled the cover open.  Sure enough, the diaper smelled wet.  So I changed him worrying that he’d be all wet already.  When I was putting his regular nighttime diaper on him, I noticed that YO, his BUTT IS DRY.  AND SOFT.  He was not clammy at all like he usually is in his disposable diapers.  I’ll have to report how this whole thing goes for the next few days.  So far, like I said, so good.

Just so you know…a lot of my info came from momsmilkboutique.com.  Check them out.  FREE SHIPPING!