Filed under: cloth diapers

Cloth Diapers and Wipes

Since the average baby goes through 5,000 to 6,000 diapers (about 1 ton of waste), we decided to do our part for the environment and go with cloth diapers and cloth wipes.  Plus, they're both way gentler on your baby's skin since there are no potentially harsh chemicals. 

Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers have come a long way since the days of safety pins and diaper washing services.  Now you can get beautiful and fitted diapers that you can easily wash at home in your personal washer and dryer.  There are plenty of these new cloth diapers on the market and everyone has their own preference, but we decided to go with the BumGenius brand.  You can read diaper reviews here

Some notes on cloth diapers: 
  • All-in-one diapers:  These are diapers have the absorptive liner integrated with the outside shell.  So it's a single diaper that you just use then wash and dry.  Easy to use, but sometimes they can take longer to dry because of the integrated liner and you can't really double up on liners if you want extra protection. 
  • Pocket diapers:  These diapers have a "pocket" where you put the absorptive liner in which gives you flexibility to use thicker ones or more than 1.  Also, when it comes to drying you can dry them separately to dry them faster.  
  • To make cleaning easier, we use Kushies Flushable Wipes that "catch" the poo and we can just toss it in the toilet.  Makes life way easier.
Initially we bought a bunch (28) of the BumGenius one-size fit diapers but then once baby came one we found that the diapers were way too big even on the smallest setting so we bought 20 of the extra small all-in-ones to hold her over.  The one-size diapers are the pocket kind and the extra smalls are all-in-ones.  So far the extra small all-in-ones are doing great.

Cloth Wipes

For cloth wipes we got ours from Sewing Mom Just Accessories Etc. (SMJAE).  They have some really cute handmade stuff and extremely personal service.  We got a bunch of the bamboo velour and flannel wipes and a couple of the wet bags to store the diapers.  We put the dirty diapers and cloths in the wet bags then just throw all of it in the same wash cycles.  Easy cheesy. 

Justin

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Detergent Chart for Use in Cloth Diapering

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If you're cloth diapering, you'll want to get a laundry detergent that is free of any additives or enzymes, both for your baby's sensitive skin and to preserve the waterproofness of the diapers. We're trying out both Charlie's Soap and the Planet detergent. Will post again if we find one much better than the other. (FYI, you can find Planet detergent at your local Whole Foods)

Justin

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