Thursday, May 27, 2010

Cloth Diapering: Day One

I'm trying not to get frustrated...really I am. I understand that these things will take time to get used to, but if any of you out there have some advice I am more than open to it.

I should point out that we have always disposable diapered Parker. We have talked about cloth diapering our next baby, but after an incident that happened with Parker this week we thought we might start cloth diapering him part time. We are still planning on using disposables for bed time and long trips up to Boise, but want to start using cloth during the day.
Today wasn't a complete failure. I can see how, in theory, this could be a good thing for us.

But...

...To start off with we didn't want to buy super expensive diapers, just in case. So we have some pre-fold cloth diapers by Gerber. For some reason, even though I am following the directions, I can't seem to make them fit correctly. I am sure that there is just something simple I'm missing, but it's very frustrating, and not made any easier by my wiggily, squiggily, baby! This is compounded by the fear I have of sticking him when I put the pins in to secure the diapers. (I know they have safe, plastic clips instead of the poky diaper pins, but they didn't have any where we went to get diapers. I'd have to go up to Boise and see if I can find any there.) Being so afraid of sticking him, and his constant wiggles during a diaper change doesn't result in the best fit, even if I was confident that I am doing it correctly.

Of course, 5 minutes after I got the first one on him today, he pooped...and it went everywhere. Luckily, I had the little plastic diaper covers on, but still. I changed him as quickly as possible, and threw the soiled diaper in the wash. I set a load to soak, since I was sure that I'd have more diapers before the day was through. 

I was right. In fact, I think that my son pees more than any other child on the planet. Every 15 minutes or so, he potties. At that rate, I'm changing him every 30-45 minutes to keep him from leaking, even with the diaper covers. (Which is another story all together. I hate the stupid plastic covers. I know they have cute covers with designs and different materials, but I didn't want to spend a bunch of money up front if we end up not going with this cloth diaper thing.)

I just don't know. I'm at a bit of a loss. This is something I'm very interested in for both Parker and any future children we have, but we aren't off to a very good start. I don't have anyone around here I can ask about it, and all the stuff I've looked at online is so expensive. I understand that it's cheaper in the long run, but I don't want to spend a bunch if it ends up not working out. Isn't there some cheap way to do some kind of trial period? Is there something better than the pre-fold diapers? Where is a good place to get them? What are some good covers? Like I said before, any advice is welcome. In fact, I'd love it!!!

On another note, tomorrow is Michael and my 5th wedding anniversary! It's also Michael's 3rd anniversary of joining the Air Force. (He left for BMT on our 2nd anniversary. What a gift!) I love him so much and am so blessed to have him in my life! 

God bless and thank you for reading! 

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3 comments:

Danielle @ We Have It All said...

OMG OMG OMG! That sounded exhausting! Ok. Here's the deal. Someone very experienced explained to me how to buy prefolds. They need to be about $1-$2 per prefold. Anything cheaper will be cheaper quality. The cheaper quality - the less liquid they will hold. Gerber is awful. Next is the pins and covers. NO PINS girl!! You don't need them!! I didn't want to spend too much either. You only need about 2 or 3 diaper covers. The covers should be able to be wiped clean & then you reuse them for the next diaper. I would alternate 2. Take one dirty one off. Put the 2nd one on. Then wipe the first dirty one clean & get it ready for the next change. Here is a cheap place to get NICE covers: you only need 2 of these: http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=1610
Here are some prefolds: you only need maybe 12 if you want to do laundry ever other day: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/diapers.htm
This last site explains the actual cloth diaper material in DETAIL and why one material is better than another. And I know you said you are doing disposal for night time... but I just wanted to let you know about the 'diaper doublers'. I would put 1 inside of the diaper along with the prefold at night time. You only need 2 of these to do wash every other day: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/doublers.htm#many
I loved all of this stuff & I wish I didn't quit. I gave away all my stuff. I have been thinking about re-buying all of it. I know I will be potty training soon. But I can always give it away after and it is not too expensive. Total for you might be about $45. But if you think about it... you will most likely be happy. And this is around the same price as 2-3 boxes of disposables. Right?
Good luck. I hope this helps.

Lindsay said...

Wow, that does sound like an exhausting experience. Just to let you know, we use G-diapers with inserts I got from scire4 on etsy for about $2-3 each. When we go out, we sometimes use the g-diaper disposable inserts...sometimes Huggies or Pampers.

You can get a starter pack of g-diapers with 2 covers/liners and a bunch of disposable inserts for about $20. You can even use your prefolds in them if you like.

You should also look on diaperswappers.com for some deals on used cloth. HTH

Danielle @ We Have It All said...

Lindsay - does scire4 sell the G-diaper starter pack for $20? Or if not where did you get that? After posting my comment last night, I seriously am thinking about getting my cloth back. Even if I were to go through 3 more boxes of disposables until I potty train my daughter - it will be the same amt. of money to buy cloth. Sooo... I am either gonna re-buy what I had or I might check out the seller you posted about. Let me know if you can about the starter pack. Thanks!