Cloth Diapering with CrunchyVTMommy
Now that C is here I can finally get back to cloth diapering. P was in cloth diapers until he was about eight months old. I stopped because although P attended a cloth diaper friendly daycare it turned out they really did not know what they were doing. Several ruined $24.95 diapers later we decided to put the cloth diapers on hold. I think I am ready to start back up with cloth again for P during the evenings but will write more about that at a later date.
I use Charlie's soap. I have never had any stink issues and the daycare even commented on it. They wanted to know why everyone else's diapers were funky but ours weren't. I use Charlie's liquid soap as a household cleaner as well. We buy it by the gallon. The stuff is great. Affordable, gentle, and eco-friendly. No complaints whatsoever.
We have a pretty large stash of diapers. Some of them are not pictured. We have 50+ Indian pre-folds which we use with Bummi's or Imse Vimse covers primarily. I think we may have a random cover or two floating around. I like the Bummi Super Whisper wraps because they are pretty much blow out free. The elastic around the legs is comfortable on the baby and the cover can be reused if they do not get dirty. Sometimes you just have to wipe clean and a cover can last all day.
We LOVE Imse Vimse diaper covers. Simply put they are cute, easy to use, and have a really large velcro tab. These covers stay put and the velcro tends to not get gross and gunky as it does on many other diaper covers and diapers.
We also have some 4.0 Bum Genuis One Size diapers with the hook/loop closures. These are nice. They keep the baby dry but we decided that since we were using a diaper that needed to be washed completely after each use (as in the cover cannot be re-used) we might as well be using all in ones.
Our favorite diaper is the Bum Genuis Elemental One-Size diaper with button snap closure. They are expensive ($24.95) but we found them to be totally worth it. They are no nonsense, easy to use, and very absorbent. It is as simple as that.
I do not use a fancy wet bag. A simple bag that can go into the wash along with the diapers is all that we use. I do laundry fairly frequently but that is my choice. Due to the large number of pre-folds we own (and these are super affordable at $1.25 each) we could probably go 5-7 days without doing diaper laundry. I like to stay on top of laundry so it doesn't become a huge monster mountain. I therefore do a load a day before I go to work. Easy.
One need not be poor to cloth diaper as I heard another (ignorant) blogger state. Cloth diapering can fit into almost anyone's lifestyle if one wants it to. Rich, poor, condo living, home owner, white, brown, etc. It is definitely not for everybody and there is a learning curve (don't trust daycare with several $24.95 diapers) but it works for our family. As I previously stated we have/do use disposables too at varying times but I feel much better when I am not throwing away sacks of diapers. I hate garbage. I will write more about cloth diapers later. I think C might appreciate it if I got her some of her own. I can't have the child pictured in nothing but hand me downs :O)
Do you cloth diaper? What are some of your favorites? Any tips & suggestions for me are always appreciated. I am especially interested in hearing about different diapers (more feminine than my current stash) possibly made by WAHMs.