Before getting pregnant, if someone would have told me I'd be one of THOSE cloth diaper moms, I would have laughed in their face. The concept, at first, conjures thoughts of pooped stained white cloth, safety pins, and sloshing around elbow deep in a toilet. Noooo thank you.
After some research, however, I found my above assumption to be one of the past. Today's cloth diaper speaks to a multitude of mommy styles. Cloth diapering caters to the green mom, the organic mom, the cost saving mom, and in my case.....the "I love the adorable cloth diaper prints - I gotta have the cuteness" mom!
While I like to consider myself all of the above, let's face it - they were just so darn cute I couldn't resist!
There are a plethora of cloth diaper options to choose from, and all have wonderful qualities! I found a local diaper store/web site that allowed me to research my options and make a decision on what worked best for us. Itsy Bitsy Bums and Cotton Babies are amazing research and purchasing resources! We have opted for pocket diapers and all in one diapers in our household.
If you clicked on the links above and got overwhelmed....join the club! Take a breath, soak in the knowledge, and choose a few to try! You don't have to cloth diaper 24/7, even 3 diapers a day can significantly reduce your nursery waste! Check out some great financial and environmental stats here.
How to get started?
Once we decided on exclusive cloth diapering, we checked the following off our list. Although an initial investment is necessary, it was nowhere near the up to $2000 the average household will spend on disposables per child! Plus, after potty training, you can resale your cloth diapers and make a portion of that moolah back! Score!
- diaper stash of 25 diapers (approx $20ea) = initial $500 investment in diapers
- diaper pail for dirties
- cloth diaper safe detergent
- anti-bacterial diaper spray
I have learned throughout the process, that cloth diapering is not anything based on strict formulas for success. In a very low key way, we have found what works for us and stuck with it; as well as added a few new tricks along the way. I am a testimony to the easy breeziness of these things. If it was hard girls, I would not be talking about them! We've converted friends, taught the grandparents the ropes, AND traveled multiple times using exclusively cloth. A decision, that was initially made for fun and eco-friendly reasons, has morphed into one of our proudest parenting accomplishments thus far.
We have absolutely ZERO nursery trash at all (we use cloth wipes too, but that's a whole 'nother blog), no diaper rash, no chemicals on bum...and one adorable bum at that! Check out our sweet Tallan Hope, sporting her fluffy butt.
I would love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you have! Happy diapering ya'll!
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| Tallan sporting an Applecheeks pocket diaper |
Ill be calling you when baby #2 is in my womb with a bazzillion questions! ! Lol. These disposable diapers whole pt is getting ridiculous! :)
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DeleteHi Tara-I worked with Matt at Truman and I found your blog from FB. Anyway, I cloth diaper as well and was wondering what kind of antibacterial spray you use and how you use it? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHey Joanne!
ReplyDeleteI bought a huge tub of Bac Out from Amazon, but I've seen local diaper stores and grocery stores carry it too. I use it fully concentrated in a little spray bottle from the cosmetic aisle. I spray the inside of diaper right when we take it off, as well as the insert right after that, when we remove from the pocket. Then, we just place folded dipe in our diaper pail until its laundry time. Bac Out is awesome and uses all natural enzymes and lime juice to kill bacteria and neutralize odor. I use it everywhere! I've added a bit to my first cycle when washing diapers, I've used it to spray and wipe out diaper pail and changing pad...everything! You could clean your whole house with the stuff! Hope that helps! If you need anything else, let me know!
http://www.amazon.com/BioKleen-Bac-Out-Stain-Odor-Eliminator/dp/B004VHEOO6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359519434&sr=8-2&keywords=bac+out+stain+and+odor+eliminator