My Cloth Diaper Story: Part 2

As I wrote in my last post, cloth diapering my daughter was easy peasy and we didn't really have any problems. Oh, there was the occasional leak when a diaper got left on too long (what? i never did that!) but really cloth diapers were a piece of cake.

So when I found out I was pregnant in 2011, I was excited to cloth diaper our next child. Really excited, because you know what is cuter than cloth diapers? Teeny, tiny, newborn cloth diapers. I couldn't wait to put those little cuties on a tiny butt.

My newborn stash

After researching, I decided to do a newborn cloth diaper rental* Kissaluv size 0's with Thirsties covers, as well as a few newborn purchases that I couldn't resist. When they arrived, I nearly died from the cute. So tiny!! So when I gave birth to an almost 11 pound baby boy, my first thought (after, "thank god I had a c-section) was "oh no, my diapers won't fit".

They did actually fit and on the day we took him on from the hospital he had his first fluffy butt. He hasn't worn a disposable since.

First Fluffy Butt

The didn't fit for long though. After a month I was finding myself needing to move on from the bullet proof combo of the KL0 plus Thirsties (seriously not one blowout or leak with this combo). He was big enough for my one size pockets but guess what? Boys are different than girls!! All there pee is up front and they pee a lot! My easy peasy pockets weren't so invincible anymore.

Suddenly I found myself in love with the diapers that I had previously had no use for, prefolds. My previous attempts with prefolds were cumbersome and they were so bulky. Why would anyone use those when pockets and AIO's were available? I'll tell you why, they absorb like a MoFo. Also, with a cover they are blowout and  leak proof. I haven't perfected my folds enough that I don't get poop on the inside of the covers but I'm getting there. One more great thing about prefolds, they can take the abuse of washing and drying frequently. This is crucial during the poop constantly phase.

My only problem with prefolds is that Landry will be starting daycare soon and they just aren't an option there. Luckily, I have found that Thirsties Duo All-In-Ones are also blowout and leak proof for us. With the velcro closure they are just like a disposable which makes life easy for my daycare provider.

What works for diapering one child doesn't always work for another. I thought I had cloth diapering figured out but my big boy taught me that there is always more to learn. I'm sure that 6 months from now, things will have changed again.

*I got my rental from Nell's Natural Baby.

My Cloth Diaper Story

In honor of Real Diaper Week, April 16-21, and inspired by the call to cloth diaper advocacy I am telling my cloth diaper story.

There a lots of blogs and websites dedicated to educating readers about cloth diapering so I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of that, this is purely my story.

When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2009, I did a little research on cloth diapers and knew that cloth diapers weren't the old prefolds with diaper pins but I didn't do enough research to know the difference between a fitted and an AIO. I was intrigued but not really interested. It wasn't that I thought they would be gross or difficult. It was the prospect of more laundry that drove me away. I mean, I was going to be a mom who worked full-time outside the home, I didn't have time to wash diapers. Besides, my baby was going to be in daycare so I was going to be buying disposables anyway. Finally, I knew there was absolutely no chance in the world my husband would be on board with cloth diapers. Boy they were cute though.

So I had my baby and like everyone else, I diapered here in disposable diapers for almost a year. I did lots of laundry to deal with those awesome baby blowouts.

But.....but, but, but I knew the truth about disposables. I knew how awful there are for the environment. I knew the chemicals in them were scary. I couldn't stand taking the most biodegradable thing on earth (I'm talking about poop, in case you didn't get that) and wrapping it up in one of the least biodegradable things.

So I researched cloth diapers some more and finally found the fact that put me over the edge. Cloth diapered babies potty train earlier than those in disposables. Well, sign me up.

I wasn't planning to go completely to cloth but I decided to get a couple of cloth diapers for my daughter to wear on the weekends. I excitedly ordered 3 BumGenius 4.0's and the next Saturday I diapered her adorable butt in cloth. And that started the snowball rolling downhill. By that afternoon, I had driven 30 miles to buy more cloth diapers so that I could cloth diaper more. Within a month, I had built a respectable stash and I knew all about pockets and prefolds and inserts and snappis. It was insanely addictive and I was amazed and excited that there was a whole community of women who were just as addicted as me.

Amazingly, the husband I thought would never get on board with cloth, embraced it. He even does diaper laundry without complaint. He still gets a little confused by all the different types and really wishes I would pick a brand and have only that kind in our stash, but that would take away the fun.

Caroline was happily cloth diapered anytime she wasn't at daycare. But at daycare, cloth was not an option. But in October of 2011, we had the opportunity to change to a less expensive home daycare run by a friend and jumped on it. When we went for a visit, I very tentatively pulled out an Aplix BumGenius 4.0 and a PlanetWise wet bag and made my case. Much to my delight, she agreed to use the diapers and my daughter has not had a disposable diaper on since.

Next: Cloth diapering round two

For more info on cloth diapering check out:

www.dirtydiaperlaundry.com
www.allaboutclothdiapers.com
www.change-diapers.com

Wordless Wednesday: Saturday Morning

It starts with one step

For most of my adult life I have been a runner. That was my preferred exercise. While I might not have loved every run, I did love running. I loved racing. I loved, especially, training for races. Planning and mapping out a training plan and sticking to it totally gave me a happy. I was always training for a 10 miler or a half-marathon. As a result, I stayed in pretty good shape.

Not me

Then I had a baby. Now, I wish I was one of those women who could keep running and exercising throughout pregnancy, but two pregnancies have taught me that I am not. I came out of my first pregnancy 30 pounds heavier than I had gone into and it took me a year to get myself together enough to do something about it. In February 2010, I started the C25K program. It was a bit of blow to my pride to be starting from scratch but I easily went through the program, losing about 25 pounds (with dieting) along the way. By May I was running 5 mile runs and then at the end of May, boom, I was pregnant again.

Fast forward 10 months and I once again laced up my running shoes and started Day 1 of the C25K program. I was slow. I felt heavy. I felt old. I felt great. So great that two days later I did it again.

My eating isn't great but I am running. It's the first step on the long journey back to fitness.