cloth diapering

Several of my friends have asked for how I do my cloth diapering, and after writing the same e-mail several times, I thought I'd post a blog with pictures to explain it a little easier. Cloth diapering is not for the weak of heart, it takes extra time and you are touching poop sometimes. So get over it and wash your hands afterwards :) But it can save you money, saves trash, saves babies bums- my kids have had ZERO diaper rashes. So it works for us. Here is the routine.

First off my mom bought us 8 small size, and 8 medium size Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers for a baby shower gift. And over Eli's first year my in-laws bought be some more for Christmas, and I found some sales online for more. They range from $12-18 a diaper, but last well onto the next children.

So these are the fuzzi bunz, I also like Bum genius and have tried g-diapers. Right now Ashur at 3 months goes through 4-5 diapers a day and at night we put him in a disposable. This works best for us because it keeps him dry all through the night. I did cloth through out the night with Eli and there were more leaks, or you had to change them during the night.

I keep a bucket in the bathroom that I fill just a quarter of the way with a soapy water solution. I use any free and clear clothes soap, and have also used baby oxi clean.

This is one of the most valuable tools to cloth diapering. Its a toilet sprayer that you can get at any c.d. website or store. It attaches to your water behind the toilet and sprays pretty powerfully to get all the poo off and into the toilet (instead of in your washer). It keeps diapers clean and white so they don't stain.
So everytime there is a poopy dipe, I drop the insert into the soapy bucket and spray off the diaper into the toilet. If it is just a pee diaper, I put the insert into the soapy solution and hang the diaper over the edge of the bucket.At the end of EVERY day, I dump this whole bucket into the washer machine and wash on a Hot/Cold, extra soiled cycle with a Free & Clear detergent. I personally don't wash anything else with my cloth diapers, sometimes I wash burp clothes in with them. I have never noticed a dramatic increase in our water bill. Its 1 extra wash a day on the small to medium load setting. If there is any staining when they come out of the wash I use a spray and wash and put them back into the wash the next load. Or during the summer I hang them outside and the sun bleaches them white.

I dry my inserts, because they are super absorbent, they would take forever to hang dry, but the diapers I hang over our dryer and are dry by the time I get up in the morning