My thoughts on cloth diapers

We have been using cloth diapers since Cohen was a few weeks old. Jon and I have always tried to be relatively green, so we knew we would be using cloth diapers as soon as we knew we were pregnant. I researched all the types of diapers extensively before we finally purchased ours. It is so confusing, really. There are so many different brands and types. I am no expert, but I have had a good experience with cloth diapers so far.

 (Cohen in a flip diaper around 2 months)

We decided to go with the Flip diapers. We ordered them from here because they had free shipping in Canada. I read about a million reviews, and people had good things to say about the simplicity of this system. And the diapers are one-size-fits-all, which seemed better than having to buy a bunch of new diapers every time Cohen grew out of a size.

When Cohen was a newborn, we used disposable diapers for the first few weeks, since we had been gifted a few packs of them, and because Cohen was so tiny when he was born. After Cohen was a few weeks old, I started using the cloth diapers when we were at home. They were still big on him, but we had so many fewer leaks and blowouts compared to disposables. These are some things we like about cloth diapers:

- Less diaper rash. We started to notice diaper rash on Cohen when he was just a few days old. At the same time we started to notice these weird little gel-like granules coming out of the disposable diapers, especially when the diaper was really wet and heavy. When we switched to cloth, the diaper rash went away within a day or two. He hasn't had a bit of diaper rash since.

- Less garbage. I really don't like creating a lot of garbage. I just don't. And when we were using the disposables, we were creating so much garbage!

- Less shopping. I can't tell you how much I dislike going in to Walmart. You can easily buy diapers online now, so this one isn't as huge an issue, but still, I don't have to be shopping for diapers all the time.

- Cheaper. Maybe. I am not really convinced it is that much cheaper, since we also buy disposables for traveling. And we do laundry every single day now. Maybe in the long run it will be cheaper. I think we paid around $400 for our stash of cloth diapers, wet bag, and reusable wipes. The last time I had to buy diapers we were in Twillingate, where a pack of 75 diapers cost me over $30. Steep, I think. And the eco-friendly wet wipes I buy for on-the-go are like $8 for a pack of 80. Also, steep.

(part of our stash)

Other things about cloth diapers:

- The whole laundry thing is really easy while bubba is exclusively breastfed. You just pre-rinse, then wash normally. When Cohen gets into solids we will have to buy one of these diaper sprayers and/or use disposable liners that you can throw in the toilet with solids.We sometimes use funk rock just to keep the diapers really clean.

- We have a really good wet bag that zips, and you can throw the whole thing in the laundry, so you never have to touch the dirty diapers.

- I went all in with the reusable wipes once I saw how easy it would be to just clean them with the diapers. Plus, I don't love the long list of ingredients in most wipes solutions. I mix my own solution every couple days with olive oil, tea tree oil, burt's bees baby wash, and water. There are a ton of wipes solution recipes online. I just chose one with the ingredients we had at home.

- Jon is as big a fan of cloth diapers as I am. I think it probably works better if you are both wanting to do it, like anything really. Our sitter uses them too with no issues.

- Some people switch to disposables at night. I really don't find that necessary yet. Cohen has been sleeping through the night (8 hours straight) since 3 months, and we have never had a problem with leaks with the cloth diapers. If I think of it, I'll switch to an overnight liner, but usually we just use the microfiber liners he wears all the time.

- We have 7 outer shells and about 20 liners. I think having a few more would make laundry a little easier, but this is a perfect number for us. I typically use one disposable a day when we are on the go, then switch to all disposables when we are traveling.

- Writing this out makes me feel like such a hippie! I just want other moms to know that cloth diapers are no big deal. Totally do-able.