Cloth diapers - one month later

We've been using cloth diapers for a month now.  I feel like I can now write a review of how I feel about them and my methods for using them.

First lets do a little recap:

When the twins were about 3 months old I borrowed some cloth diapers from my sister Emily and tried them out.  Brandon and I got to the point where we were tolerating them, but we didn't really like them.

One problem was that the girls were barely newborn size and the diapers seemed HUGE compared to their little bodies.  I felt a little embarrassed that their diapers were bigger than their heads.

Another problem I had was with keeping up with washing the diapers.  At this point I was still trying to nurse/pump milk for the girls.  Washing diapers was just too much to deal with on top of washing out bottles.

Then Lydia got a horrible diaper rash and that was enough for us to decide that cloth diapers weren't for us.  No matter the cost, we were just fine paying for disposable diapers.

Fast forward a few years and another baby later.

Around the time Derrick turned one I started thinking about switching over to cloth diapers.  I'd been changing diapers for multiple children for 2 1/2 years.  I knew the girls would start potty training eventually, but with another baby on the way there seemed to be no end in sight to the diaper changing.  Cloth diapers seemed like a way to break up the routine.

I also figured this was a good time to switch over.  The kids only needed a few diaper changes a day so it wasn't like I'd be learning about cloth diapers with a newborn who needed 10 plus changes a day.

Being the fastidious researcher that I am (not), I asked my facebook friends for their thoughts on cloth diapers.  I got a TON of positive feedback.  Several women commented with the brand that they use.

One comment by my friend Kira really sparked my interest.  Kira was my college roommate.  She's like me in that she has twin girls and two younger children that followed close behind.  She recommended Sunbaby diapers.  She said that her newborn and her 19 month old wore the same diapers, just snapped differently.  The part of her review that really caught my eye was that the diapers only cost $60 for a package of 12.

The initial cost was one of the things that I was always worried about with cloth diapers.  I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on something and then give up on it.  However, I was willing to spend $60 to test out cloth diapers.

So one day I logged on to www.sunbabydiapers.com, ordered a package of 12 size 2 diapers (that's the size Kira uses), and paid $63 through paypal.  Then I waited and waited and waited.  The website said to expect the diapers to show up within 20 to 30 days.  The diapers come from China so the wait made sense.  Every disposable diaper I used during that 3 week wait felt like a huge waste of money.
I was so excited when the diapers finally showed up.  The kids were all excited too.  The girls had started potty training, and so I'd originally planned on using the cloth diapers just for Derrick, but the girls wanted to wear the diapers too.  Both of them let out an audible sigh when I first put them in the soft diapers.  Derrick didn't seem to notice.

I learned two things right away.

1. Three babies sharing twelve diapers equaled a lot of loads of laundry.  I did at least 3 loads of laundry a day to keep up.  We have free utilities so I didn't have to worry about any extra expense in that department.  Even with all the laundry, cloth diapers didn't seem like much extra work.  (It helped that Derrick had just barely given up bottles so I no longer had to wash out bottles.)

2. Cloth diapers weren't any grosser than potty training.  I'd already had the "joy" of cleaning poop out of underwear so shaking out poopy diapers wasn't anything new.  Most poo was solid enough to just shake out into the toilet.  If the poo was runnier I just threw the whole diaper in the pail and let the washing machine handle it.  (I learned this from my friend Audrey.  Read her excellent review of cloth diapers here).

By the end of week one I was optimistic enough about our cloth diaper future that I ordered another package of 12 diapers from Sunbaby.  (In hindsight I should have just bought the 24 pack for $114 from the beginning.)  Those diapers finally showed up on Friday and I am so excited to have 24 diapers to work with.

Over the next few weeks I've learned some other things about cloth diapers.

3. You don't need to use special laundry soap
Some people recommended using special soaps, but I didn't bother with that.  I just used our regular brand and added baking soda to any extra stinky loads.  The kids haven't developed any rashes or anything out of the ordinary.

4. Disposable diapers are still useful
I decided that we would still use disposable diapers on Sundays.  I figured it's a day of rest so we shouldn't be worrying about laundry (or poop).  Plus I didn't want to deal with stinky diapers in my diaper bag at church.

Along those same lines, we also use disposable diapers when we go on day trips away from home.  Disposable diapers are smaller and easier to pack than cloth diapers.  And it's nice to just be able to toss them in the trash.

I also put the kids in disposable diapers when they are going to the babysitters.  It's asking enough to get someone to take care of my three kids, I don't want them to have to deal with weird diapers too.

5. Wipes are still pretty useful too
One of my facebook friends has been shouting praises to cloth wipes lately.  I'm not there yet.  I'm not even willing to try yet.  Spending $20 a month on a huge box of wipes is just fine with me.  Besides wipes are so useful beyond wiping bums. I use them to clean up spills and sticky hands and faces when we are on the go.

6.  I like feeling "green."
I've always put saving my own sanity ahead of saving out planet so I never let myself think about how many diapers I've added to our landfills.  But it's kind of nice to realize that we aren't adding as much to the landfills anymore.  Fort Hood has a goal to close their landfill by 2020.  As part of that they have an amazing recycling program that accepts just about anything. Most of our "trash" goes into the recycling container.  Our garbage can is basically empty now that we hardly use disposable diapers.    

7. We are saving a lot of money
I NEVER kept track of how much money we spent on disposable diapers.  I never wanted to know.  Every penny was worth it.

But I can do a little math.  Lets say each baby goes through 5 diapers a day and each diaper costs $0.15 (that's the cheapest we ever found diapers.)  5 X 3 X .15 = $2.25 a day.  Multiply that by 30 days in a month and we have saved $67.50 this month.  And that's a low estimate.  It's actually probably closer to 9 diapers per kid each day and $0.17 per diaper.  That puts our monthly savings into the $137.70 range.  Which means we've already paid off our initial investment of $126.00.

When ever I have to deal with an extra poopy diaper, or an extra stinky load of laundry I just close my eyes and think of all the money - and the Honda Pilot that the money is going toward paying for.

To sum things up, it turns out that I really like cloth diapers and I plan on using them for Baby D as well.  And if there ever is a day that I decide they are too much work, then at least I will really appreciate disposable diapers again.