Just Like June

Hello Everyone,

How are you all doing?  It’s been a while since I’ve done a post.  My wonderful husband got a second job and as much as I applaud him for supporting us, it does take its toll on my time.  I’m constantly going, going, gone and when I do have more than 10 minutes to myself, you bet your bottom dollar I’m dozing off. 

I tend to like to keep Just Like June baby-free for the most part.  I could go on and on about how cute my child is, how many times he said “gah” and smiled today and all that.  I don’t feel like that should be the focus of this blog.  That being said, babies are a big part of life and a big part of old-fashioned living.  Being a parent now is much different than it was for our parents and definitely different from their parents.  Gone are the days (for most of us) of  walking home from school alone, playing with sticks, pots and pans and only having one scheduled activity a week.  Now, even infants have rigid schedules with baby music classes, story-times, fixed eating schedules, etc.  I don’t know how many tired kids I see when I go on my walks.  These kids can’t be older than 8 or 9 and they are exhausted, talking to their friends about their planners and schedules.  To be honest, it breaks my heart a bit. 

So, this next series is about back to basics living (with some emphasis on kids).  I used to be a nanny, so this won’t be completely infant related.  However, today I’m going to talk about cloth diapering.  There are a lot of different blogs, websites, and even forums related to this topic. 

So how is cloth diapering a back to basics topic?  Well, I’m pretty sure that a lot of you were cloth diapered and your parents definitely were.  Cloth diapering is a true money-saving back to basics thing to do.  There are great perks too!  Less diaper rash never hurt anyone!

Cost:
It’s been said that disposable diapers run about $1,500-2,000 per kid from birth until potty learning.  I used to balk at this figure until I had a baby and realized that it’s probably true.  Little man had a pretty upset stomach for the first few weeks of his life which resulted in even more than the average 10-12 diapers a day for an itty bitty newborn.  An 96 pack of diapers would barely last us a week and ran us $30.  Do that every week if you’re having tummy issues and you’ve got a $120 bill on your hands.  Yikes!  If we hadn’t figured out that Little man was allergic to dairy (sad for me too.  No more cheese!), then we might still be plowing through diapers like that and, voila, you’ve got your $1,000+ figure well before the first year, let alone the potty learning phase. 

That being said, cloth diapers can be expensive too.  There are a ton of different options and some of them can be a bit beserk with the price.  What you need to look for is what works for you and your situation.  If you’re really doing cloth diapering solely to save money, flats and covers are your best bet.  We’ll get to that in a minute.

Reasons:
Besides cost, people like to cloth diaper for a variety of reasons.  For us, cost was the biggest factor.  Also, being able to re-use diapers for future kids was a big perk.  For a lot of people, the environmental factor is huge.  Disposable diapers take a really long time to break down and besides that point, you’re putting human waste into our landfills and, depending on where it goes, potentially into our waters, soil, etc.  Another reason, which isn’t quite as heavy, is that cloth diapers can be cute!  These days the covers have prints, cute colors, etc.  There are even little leggings that baby can wear to show off his or her cute fluffy cloth bum.

What do I buy?
My Mum was almost to the point of being appalled when I was looking for cloth diapers.  She would ask “What do you mean, ‘which ones am I going to buy?’  They’re cloth diapers.  Just get the big ones we used to use.”  But Mum, I would whine, there are so many options, and there are.  Just like shampoo and toothpaste, there are WAY too many options out there for those of us that want to cloth diaper.  It’s actually a bit absurd.  Once again, think of your reasons for cloth diapering and that might guide you a little. 

If you are looking to save money and go uber-cheap, good, high quality birdseye flats with covers are the way to go.  These diapers are super cheap, last forever, and can be used for children of all ages.  They take very little time to dry in the drier and if you don’t have access to laundry facilities, they are great for handwashing and line-drying.  That being said, you do have to fold them and if you already hate to fold laundry, this might be enough of a pet peeve to turn you off of flats.  But I say, hey, they are cheaper than dirt, so try a few out.  You might be surprised.  I love doing to origami folds and the fact that you can fold them all different ways depending on your childs body type, age, mobility, and differences (heavy wetter, exclusively breastfed, etc.)  You do have to use pins or a pin-free device called a Snappi for most folds though, which could be another turn-off, depending on you and your child.

If you are looking to go cheap, but folding and pinning sounds like a pain in the patoot, go with prefolds and covers.  This is the second most economical choice.  This is what we use besides flats and I love them.  They are, as the name implies, pre-folded.  So, you don’t have to do anything too dramatic after you do the laundry.  I pre-load my diapers, meaning that I lay the prefold in the cover, so it’s almost like a disposable on the easiness scale.  You might still need to use pins or a Snappi if your child is exclusively breastfed (we do overnight) to contain the messes, but overall this is a really easy option and economical too!

If you are looking for them to be as easy as disposables, go with all-in-ones.  These are the most expensive option, with sized ones being more expensive than the one-size options.  The easy factor is obviously the perk in these.  However, I see a lot of cons.  One is that they can be bulky on small infants, especially the one-sized options.  They take a long time to dry in the dryer for the most part.  They are expensive and, if they are your only cloth diaper, they probably won’t last longer than one child.  Think about it, if you wore multiple pairs of socks or underwear a day, everyday and you washed them twice each time, would they really last?  I didn’t think so.  I think all in ones are great options for people who want the easy factor and for people whose children are in daycare or have a nanny that isn’t jazzed on disposables. 

Another option for “easy as disposable” use, but a little cheaper: Pocket diapers. Pocket diapers are great because you can add absorbancy easier than all in ones and you can use smaller inserts for smaller babies.  They have the same cons as all-in-ones, with the added con of having to stuff the diapers.  I think that pocket diapers are good for overnights because you can stuff them and your added absorbancy doesn’t move around.  A good stash should probably have a few pocket diapers as they are super easy, dry more quickly than all in ones and the extra absorbancy is good.  I wouldn’t use them all the time though for economical reasons.

So, my opinion of a good stash includes:
Workhorse Items (these will be your everyday, around the house options)
24-36 prefolds or birdseye flats (sized prefolds are awesome, but more expensive as they are sized and don’t last from birth to potty learning. Green Mountain Diapers and Little Lions are our favorites!)
6-8 covers in each size
36 cloth wipes
3 snappis (one for the diaper bag, one for the drawer, and one for the one that you will inevitably lose)
Pail Liner (Get a cloth one and you can toss it in the wash with the diapers)

For added absorbancy/convenience:
4-6 hemp doublers (I like the stay-dry ones with the fleece for overnight)
1 dozen fitted diapers or a mixture of 6 fitteds and 6 all-in-ones or pockets

So there you have it.  A back to basics post on cloth diapering.  Look for new posts in the future on canning and baking.

Cheers,
Just Like June

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 5:40 pm and is filed under Back to Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.