There are some awesome perks to disposable diapers. One being that they are disposable and therefore super easy. Another being that you rarely have to touch poop or pee… with the exception of a poopslosion or a leak every now and again.
There are also some serious downfalls to disposable diapers. One being that they are disposable and therefore not so easy on the environment. Tidbit: one baby can rack up a ton of waste in a landfill with their diapers. That’s 2000 pounds of poopy pants that will probably take centuries to biodegrade. Another downfall is the chemicals that disposables use to absorb baby’s pee while still having a trim fit. I’m not super excited about having that stuff near my boy’s junk. Yet another downfall is the cost. Disposable dipes are EXPENSIVE people! I am pretty good at finding diaper sales & using coupons, yet we still spent $700 on diapers in Bug’s first year.
Cloth diapers are something that has been weighing pretty heavily on my mind over the last month or so. After lots of research and a little bit (okay, a lotta bit) of talking Hubby into it, I decided to try it out. We may not switch to cloth full-time for Bug, but if I can at least get the hang of it, it would be a very viable option for baby #2, whenever we decide we are ready for baby #2, of course. Read: NOT YET, MOM.
We’re starting slowly. And by we, I pretty much mean I. Hubby is not real excited about this adventure. So, when I am home during the day I am using cloth. I don’t really have a ‘stash’ to speak of yet, so I can really only take it a day at a time right now.
I ordered one Flip System One Size Diaper Cover and a 3-pack of the Stay-Dry Inserts. Flips are a hybrid system (not that I know what that really means… not quite up on the cloth lingo yet)… you put the insert inside of the cover and that’s it. When it’s time to change, you just take out the soiled insert and put in a new one. You can use the same cover all day, just so long as it doesn’t get poop on it, obvi. Also, because it is a one-size diaper, it can be adjusted for babies 7-35 pounds.
I’ve only used the Flip System for 3 days, but so far I really like it. I keep the dirty inserts in a plastic grocery bag and then wash them at the end of the day. I am finding that poop is actually LESS messy with the cloth diapers. With disposables, Bug’s poop sticks to the diapers and smooshes around and creates an awful mess to get off of his bum. With the cloth, the poop doesn’t seem to stick to his skin OR the insert (weird, I know), which makes it really easy to dump the poo into the toilet.
Buggy doesn’t seem to notice that his diapers are any different. Sure, they are a little bit bulkier, but I really have no issue with that. He’s not a real chunky baby, so it’s no big deal.
I also ordered a Bum Genius 4.0, which is a pocket diaper made from the same company as the Flip System. I have heard a lot of great things about Bum Genius, so I thought it would be a good one to start out with… except for I like the Flip so much that I haven’t used it yet. The 4.0 is pretty much the same exact cover as the Flip, except there is a liner sewed into it that you stuff the insert into… which means you only get one use out of the cover. No biggie, but I don’t have enough covers yet to use this kind of system all day. I am looking forward to trying the Bum Genius for nighttime though… I feel like stuffing 2 inserts into the pocket will stay put a lot better than it would with the Flip.
So, anywho, that’s where I am with this adventure thus far. I’ll check back in at some point in the future and let you know how things are developing. I’d really like to try out some other brands & types of cloth, so if you have any recommendations, let me know!
On that note, Ashely over at Stealing Baby Kisses is doing a giveaway for a Thirsties Duo Diaper. This is one of the brands I really want to try, and she really seems to like them for her baby boy Hudson. If you enter her giveaway, make sure to tell her I sent you!
The Baker Bee 