Reading Time: 3 minutes Cloth Diaper Basics: How We Got Started
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When Greg first suggested to me that we try cloth diapering, I was very skeptical. It sounded like so much work. I just kept picturing pieces of cloth folded like origami, and then pinned together. I cringed at thinking about cleaning them.
Table of Contents
Erin’s Perspective: Environmental
For me (Erin), choosing cloth diapers was more about not waiting to fill landfills with more crap, pun intended. In doing my research she learned that typical disposables take a very long time, noted at 400 years, but…who’s counting, since disposable diapers haven’t exactly been around for 400 years.
Greg’s Perspective: Money Savings
For Greg it is was mostly financial. When we sat down and discussed numbers and how much cloth diapers would cost once for all of our kids versus the cost of disposable per kid the deal was sealed.
The thought of saving a few thousand dollars is Greg’s dream come true. Plus he just didn’t think kids wants paper and plastic wrapped on them all day long.
Our Cloth Diaper Journey
Before we were pregnant, we didn’t have much exposure to diapers, much less cloth diapers. Some of our family used Elimination Communication (Potty Training from birth!) and the majority used traditional disposable.
We considered all the different types of cloth diapers, our lifestyle, our family, and our childcare provider. We wanted to make sure anyone who was going to care for our child(ren) was comfortable, and if not we wanted to help them become comfortable with cloth diapers.
Twins = Double Trouble!
We had twins when our son was only two. So at one point in our journey all three kids were in cloth diapers at once. Having 3 kids in cloth at once meant we needed a lot of diapers- thank goodness for family who handed us their pre-loved diapers, and Cotton Babies having a previous loved sale.
Our girls were tiny (5 lbs at birth, 4 lbs when we came home,) we choose not to invest in preemie cloth diapers-imagine the number we would have needed for TWINS? We also didn’t use newborn size cloth diapers with our son.
For us, it made sense to use disposable diapers for preemie and newborn. Everyone’s road is different, and this is what worked for us. We also use disposable at night, again it’s what worked for us. But everyone’s journey is different.
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Once the twins were big enough to not have leg gaps, they were in cloth, and we’ve been washing our diapers every 3-4 days since.
Lessons Learned
With all of our kids, we’ve had a lot of trial and error. Trying different ways to snap diapers. Sometimes the snaps don’t need to align to get a good fit. Using different inserts- we started with only microfiber, but research proved that we should try bamboo and hemp.
Trying different laundry detergents to prevent and avoid leaks. The list of things we tried is long. We have learned a lot of what you are looking to learn.
If you have any questions you’d like us to answer in a post, let us know! We’re here to help.
Happy Fluffing!
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