As many of you know, Matt and I decided to go the cloth diapering route with Orson and I thought I would fill everyone in on how it is going (some were very skeptical).
When Orson was first came home we tried the cloth diapers out right away but because his legs were so thin, we ended up using the swaddlers instead (he kept blowing the cloth diapers out). This made us worry that we had made the wrong decision, but once he put on a little weight, the cloth diapers began to work wonderfully.
There are now so many options out there for cloth diapers that I was a little overwhelmed trying to decide on one kind, so in the end I gave multiple kinds a try. The normal prefold diapers worked great and I would recommend then to anyone. But Matt had a harder time with them since you have to put them on and then a cover over them. If you do go this route (it is the cheapest and the diaper services use these) make sure to always get covers with gussets on them That extra bit of fabric really keeps everything in with only the occasional leak.
I also found some bumgenius (BGs) 2nds online and decided to but a few and give them a try (since they were discounted). BGs are one-size fits all (they have multple snaps that make the diaper bigger or smaller depending on the baby) insert diapers. Matt always does the night time diapers for me, so I would reserve these for him to use since they are as easy as paper diapers and pretty soon he had me convinced that the all-in-one/one-size fits all was the way to go. So we decided to make a large perchuse to bring our diaper count up to 18 total.
Before I completly commited (all-in-ones are expensive) I decided to do some more online research and found out that there were multiple one-size fits all options out there (from our baby classes I thought that bumgenius was the only option in this catagori). After doing a lot of reading I narrowed the field down to BGs and happy heinies (HHs) (this was based on price, reviews and yes I will admit it, color choices). I knew that the BGs worked but I loved the colors and print available with Happy Heinys. I scoured that web but I could find no deffinate answer on which kind was better, so I decided to order 9 of each kind. After using them for about a month I can honestly say that I like each kind equally. The BGs have a great flap in the back that holds the insert in better but the HHs have better velco to fasten the diaper on with....the BGs tabs to fasten the velcro to in the wash work better but the HHs prints and colors are more fun. Both wash easily and well and both are just plain easy to use since they work pretty much like paper diapers. So for all of you out there trying to make a decision between the two, go with the ones you like the look of best, I think you will be happy.
As a side note we also are using cloth wipes instead of throw away ones. We keep a thermos of warm water and a spray bottle of bum cleaner at our changing station and just throw them in the pail with the diapers...if you use disposable wipes with cloth diapers you have to keep a diaper pail and a trash can in the nursery and you have to be awake enough to remember which one goes in which pail :)
I know that paper diapers seem super easy and cheaper (if you are thinking short term) but I definately recommend going the route of cloth diapers and cloth wipes if you can, sure I do luandry every other day (if you don't want to do this there are multiple diaper services out there) but Orson has never had diaper rash, except for our long weekend in Denver when he wore paper diapers (we had multiple blow outs and he ended up with a rash....he actually smiled when we took off the papers and replaced them with the cloth ones when we got home) and we have saved a ton of money (we aren't spending $50 a week in diapers which means our big upfront spending has paid for itself in 2 months).
The best way to clean cloth diapers is to pre-rinse them off in the toilet using a Hand Bathroom Bidet Sprayer. So convenient and if you are trying to help the environment (and your pocket book) you can give it a double whammy by virtually eliminating toilet paper use at the same time as you benefit from using it on the diapers, by using it on yourself. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: "if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn't wipe it off with paper, would you? You'd wash it off" Available at www.bathroomsprayers.com they come in an inexpensive kit and can be installed without a plumber. And after using one of these you won't know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. Now we're talking green and helping the environment without any pain.
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