Wednesday, August 14, 2013

We are cloth diapering

Posted by Emily at 7:55 AM
We are cloth diapering for many reasons, with the most prominent being to save money. Diapers cost a lot of money, that is pretty obvious but when you add it all up with my conservative estimate using the cheapest diapers I found online I came up with just over $1500 to diaper until 2.5 years old. Now I hope my child is like my husband and I, we were potty trained by 18 months! I thought every one was potty trained at those ages until I became a member of baby communities online. I was initially shocked when 3 year olds still were in diapers, but to each their own.

Currently, I have spent $116 on my collection of new and USED cloth diapers. Yes used, I will go in to that later. I have 83 items in my diaper collection, which makes it cost about $1.40 a piece. I am sure I will be able to sell some and recuperate some of my cots but even if I do not that is still a deal. Yes I know I will have to wash and that will raise the cost to include water and electricity. We will be washing at our families homes since we are moving to an apartment with out washer and dryer connections in the unit.

My collection includes:
24 infant prefolds
6 Bummis small whisper wraps
5 flats
14 premium size prefolds
6 Bummis medium whisper wraps
5 Kushies AIO 10-22lbs
1 happy heiny large pocket
1 bummis large pocket
1 kawaii cover
1 best bottom shell
1 econobum cover
2 WAHM covers
1 Bumkin Dr. Seuss cover
6 Alva pockets
1 off brand pocket
1 kissaluvs size 0
6 fleece doublers
1 wet bag

Why I am fine buying used.
Some people are disgusted with cloth diapering in general. "Eww you have to touch poop!" Really? Have you never had a baby? I am a first time mom but have many nieces and a nephew. I have seen them eat poop, have blowouts, and just the other day hand washed my nephews onesie covered in poop as my sister bird bathed the poop off his back and feet. you have a kid, you will touch poop, vomit, spit up, and get peed on. It happens.

I like buying used if I can get a better deal. We are on a budget, my husband and I are both in school. We recently moved across the country for the second time in a year, and I still do not have a job though I have been looking. My savings from my last job finally ran out after 5 months, so we know how to stretch money. Cloth diapers can be bleach and if you buy used they should be to prevent yeast from spreading. People are not going to advertise their child had a yeast infection and I do not want to ask. When I buy used, I throw them in a hot wash with 1/4 cup of bleach and do two more cycles after. One time I only did one and they smelt like bleach so now I do two. I have done this with pockets, AIO, prefolds, covers, fitteds, and doublers. Mine came free of stains but recently my nephew borrowed some and his poop stained them a little, nothing horrible. I bleached them again and will sun them closer to my due date to get those out. At least that is poop from a known source :)

Other reasons why we are choosing cloth.
Just knowing that a child can use over 4000 diapers a year that just get tossed out and are full of chemicals, kid of just grosses me out. I saw a show about the waste a child will generate in their life many years before I got pregnant and told my husband if we ever had kids we would cloth diaper. I just cannot think of myself doing that when it is a simple change. I also like that there will be less chemicals near my child's skin. Many people say cloth diapered children potty train earlier, or so they say! A downside is finding a daycare to let me use cloth diapers. Where I live is very behind the times, my nurse literally said 10 years behind compared to 300 miles away.  Cloth can be so cute! My wraps are plain white but the Alva's are printed with cute prints. Yes, they will be covered but ladies like to wear cute underwear so why can't a baby where a cute diaper?

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