Day 3 in Cloth

A lot of you that I talk to away from the blog know that I decided to try cloth diapers. I'm the type that loves to do my research before jumping in, but I'm also frugal, especially now that I'm a stay at home mom. I found so many awesome looking cloth diapers - I tell ya, these aren't our parent's diapers! But with the awesomeness comes a high price tag...a higher price tag than I was willing to put out not knowing if these diapers would be all they were cracked up to be.

So I found a site that recommended using a more basic setup for 2 months. The mom pointed out that following her advice for 2 months you would spend about the same amount on cloth diapers that you would spend on 2 months' worth of disposables. OK - that speaks to me in dollars. I can commit to anything for 2 months. If it is truly awful, I'll do it for 2 months so I can tell hubby that we didn't "lose" money and then I'll switch back to disposables. However, I have a feeling that if I can do it for 2 months, I can do it for 2 years, ya know? I have just gotten really tired of seeing how many diapers we throw away every week. I don't mind other people using disposables, but I've started to feel major guilt over my use of them. I know, a lot of arguments are made that by the time you wash & dry the cloth diapers they are no better for the environment, but I plan to line dry mine (most of the time) and I have an HE machine, so really I won't be using THAT much water & power. But like I said, this is a choice that is to each her (his?) own. No pressure from me, but I'll speak openly & honestly about my experience with them.

So anyway, I got my package Friday and started the "preuse washing" that has to be done. I was a slacker and didn't finish it up until Saturday, and then we were out doing errands - I didn't want my first use to be while we were away from the house, or overnight, so I waited until Sunday to put the cloth diapers to use. Sunday went great - the pee diapers were super easy and the poop ones weren't too bad either. Unfortunately, Scarlett has been a little constipated though, so Monday I decided she would have prunes for breakfast. Well, prunes + cloth = one YUCKY combination! I'm sure the more experienced cloth diapering mommas wouldn't flinch, but come on - it's only my second day using them! She had 3 poopy diapers yesterday! One of them was a full out explosion that required a clothing change too. I'm confident though that if she had been wearing her regular disposables, the next one would have required a clothing change also. So I'm happy about that anyway! I was impressed with how well the diaper contained everything, really. I didn't invest in the $30 shower thingie that you can use to spray the poop off the diapers, because like I mentioned, I'm frugal and I'm only committing for 2 months. I WILL spend the money on it if I use them more than 2 months because washing that poop off, BLECH!

Because of the 3 poopy diapers and my small initial investment, I had to wash diapers yesterday. I had planned to do it today...but I ran out of covers so I had no choice. I also had to use a couple of disposables while I washed. Hey, give me a break, I'm learning!

Today we've used cloth and it's gone well. I decided to try them on Matthew too. I'm hoping that by being in cloth he'll be a little more inclined to potty train - right now he sometimes doesn't want to be changed, but I'm thinking since the cloth will feel worse to him, he'll probably want to be changed more often and I won't have to fight him during diaper changes. HA! He was REALLY proud of his new diapers today! So proud that even when he pooped, he didn't want me to change him! :( ARGH - this plan might be backfiring! Once he saw that I was going to put another cloth diaper & cover on him, he let me change him without a fight. So far it's going well with him too, so I'm pretty excited.

I know, it's a sad day when my excitement comes over cloth diapers, but I've wanted to use them since before Matthew was born, I just never made a strong enough argument to get David on board. Now that he's on board I'm ready to give it a good effort. Once our 2 months are up, I plan to order some of the fancy shmancy new fangled kind that are supposed to be a lot easier! (Right now I'm using Chinese Prefolds with covers that velcro on almost just like a disposable.)

Happy Diapering!