Faith. Food. & A Little Pirate: Not yo mamma's cloth diapers! Chapter one: getting started

For a while now I've been wanting to write a blog about cloth diapering. There are a few people who have been asking me for advice on what I've learned, liked, disliked or found helpful. So here it goes! First of all I will say this... if I would have known just how easy it is, I would have done it from day one! Cloth diapering isn't as time consuming, complicated, messy, or straight up intimidating as one might think. But if you despise doing laundry maybe cloth diapering is not for you. Keep in mind you will be washing your diapers every 2-3 days!

The initial research of brands and styles of diapers I will say it is very overwhelming at first; Prefolds, AIO's, pockets, hyprid/AI2, fitted. Then there's the secret lingo and abbreviations; Hook & loop, PUL, Snappi, fluffy, inserts, liners, TPU, Stash. What? This is getting ridiculous. I felt like I needed a text book and some serious study time to understand all this craziness.

When my husband got laid off for the second time in less then 5 months I was bound and determined to do any and everything I could to cut corners and save money. My mind was made up about cloth diapers before I even tried them or brought it up to him. He response was fantastic...classic Matt.

Me: "So I'm going to do a 14 day cloth diaper trial to see if I like them, which I know I probably will"
Matt: "What!? Why? No. That's weird, that's like what hippies do, we are not doing that."
Me: "Well it will save us a lot of money. We can't really be picky right now. We're doing it"

Ha ha! Fast forward to now and he is 100% on board. If my husband the hunting, fishing, dudes dude type of guy is totally fine with cloth diapering I think any male can handle it! Easy peasy.

I suggest doing a diaper trial If you are totally overwhelmed and have no idea what type you want to go with and what brand. There is numerous websites that offer this option. I did mine through a store in Blaine MN called All Things Diapers. They are super nice and informative there, and shipping is free in MN, other states free shipping after $20! (this is huge since most of your diapers you will order online. I have no cloth diaper stores anywhere near me!)

The Money Saving Facts:

Does going cloth really save you any money? Short story, yes. Even if you go with the high end pricey Cadillac brand of cloth diapers you will still be saving a worthwhile amount of money
Isn't the start up cost of doing cloth an investment? Yes. To get a decent stock so your not having to do diaper laundry every single day will be a few hundred dollars to invest in 15-20 diapers (depending on the style and brand you chose)
But doesn't your water bill go up from doing more laundry? Yes. A whooping $4-6 on average per month for us. $80 ish per month on disposable diapers or $5 higher water bill? Kind of a no brainer.
I don't machine dry my diapers because I want them to last as long as possible without damaging so I hang dry them.
In the long run is it really worth while? Absolutely. On average you spend around $3,000 on disposable diapers per child before they are ready to potty train and are out of diapers around the age of 2 1/2 to 3. So to me the start up cost of a few hundred for cloth diapers really doesn't seem so bad.

Other Worthwhile Reasons to cloth diaper:

So I'm not a super crunchy earth mamma but maybe I'm slightly crunchy. The amount of waste that goes into the landfills from disposable diapers is kind of outrageous. I like to think that in a small minuscule way I am doing my part to help.
The chemicals that go into disposables to make them turn into gel to absorb 300 times its weight in water can not be healthy for your baby's skin. Google chemical burns from diapers. Enough said.
Earlier potty training- It's said that potty training becomes easier when the child can be more aware they are wet. Sitting in the wetness of a cotton cloth diaper verses the gel of the disposable diaper will feel different.

My Favorite Styles:

For me, I knew I wanted something that was simple, easy to clean, husband and grandparent proof. That is why I choose the pocket style and the hybrid/AI2. The pocket diaper has an opening in the back that you stuff an absorbent liner in between the water proof shell and soft liner that touches the babies skin. I LOVE THEM. I have never had a leak with a pocket diaper, they clean very well, and dry fast. I recommend a one-size style which has snaps down the middle that can make the diaper a small, medium and large size. How great is that!? One diaper can last from newborn to toddler amazing!

The hyprid/AI2 style has a waterproof shell and snap in inserts. They are not as bulky as the pocket style and you can reuse the shell if its not dirty and just snap in a new insert. Not great for sleeping or long naps I have had leaks but I do like them during the day. I will warn you poops in these diapers are a lot more work to clean up!

I also have some prefolds with water proof diaper covers and a snappi! They are a bit putzie and old school but are the cheapest in price!

Snap versus velcro closing: I have both. I prefer the snap because I feel like they last longer then the velcro. Although velcro makes for a nice and fast diaper change for a squirmy baby. The velcro does stick to things and snag occasionally in the wash.

My favorite brands:

There are a lot of good brands out there which makes things nice and difficult! I loved all the ones I tried during my diaper trial! Grovia, Best Bottoms, Rumparooz, Bum genius, Kawaii, Fuzzibunz all fantastic but for me the whole reason for doing cloth was to save money.

For pocket diapers I chose kawaii simply because it worked well and looks similar to fuzzibunz but way way way waaaaaaaaay cheaper. They weren't my favorite but I was able to buy 10 kawaii diapers for $85 were 10 fuzzibunz would cost $199.50! Ummmm huge price difference there. My other pocket diaper I choose was bum genius. I love them! Great diaper and good quality more expensive then kawaii but definetly cheaper then fuzzibunz and rumparooz.

For hybrid/AI2 I preferred best bottoms. Less expensive then grovia and the inserts dry much faster. Grovia inserts are made of bamboo, although extremely absorbent it takes FOREVER for them to dry.