Let me just go ahead and put it out here. We love cloth diapering! Husband enjoys it so much that I’ve only had to wash diapers about a handful of times. I respect all orders to stay out of the laundry room. By all means, have at it honey. Have your own way.
We have a rhythm that works for us now. It took some learning in the beginning as we were trying to figure out what would work best for our family. Cloth diapering is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. It is definitely a different experience than using disposables (which I am not against at all). It’s a good different. You just have to figure out what works for you.
During pregnancy, I started researching the topic and quickly became overwhelmed. Don’t know if you know, but cloth diapers have made a come back folks. So much so that the market is booming. People are coming out of the woodworks with their versions of cloth diapers and accessories. Rightfully so, little bums are so cute in them. Not to mention the potential to save money while decreasing your contribution to landfills.
We chose cloth diapering because I am able and willing to do it, and I love finding ways to make our money stretch. Cloth diapering can be intimidating in the beginning because you need certain products on hand before you can even get going with diapering your baby. It’s not as simple as going to the store and grabbing a big box of diapers and packs of wipes. I’m sure cloth diapering can get a lot more complicated than what we have going on, but I’m all about keeping things simple. I’ll share what has been working for us.
One thing that helped ease our transition into cloth diapering was asking for cloth diapering products at the baby shower. Yep, I incorporated this request right into the invitation. Most people were not familiar with the idea, but were able to find products at some of the major retail stores. We were given flat and prefold cloth diapers along with diaper covers, diaper pins, and detergent.
I went out and purchased a snappi as I could not imagine myself sticking my poor little baby with that diaper pin. I had to give myself time to work up to that. Now, I use them with no problems.
During my research, I came across a pattern for a fitted pocket diaper. It’s called fitted because it has elastic around the legs and sometimes the back. It’s just simple fabric with elastic added. It does require a diaper cover as it is not waterproof. I knew I had to use the pattern to make some fitteds for my baby boy. Hmmm, needed some flannel fabric. Oh yeah, I got these at the baby shower.
Babies get lots of these, so I’ll just go ahead and turn this set into fitted cloth diapers. Not to mention they have cute matching t-shirts.
The process was pretty simple. Rita, the lovely creator of the pattern, made this project quite easy with her wonderful directions. It also helped to read comments from others that have tackled this project. After pre-washing and ironing the fabric I traced it onto the fabric. I knew I would have to get a little creative since my fabric squares were only 30″X30″. No way I was getting two nice diaper cuts from one blanket. I needed a cut for the inner and outer layers of the diaper.
After doing a little piecing together, adding some elastic, and doing some turning and topstitching, I came out with these…….
Crazy, huh? I know. Cute and functional. Good thing I had some extra fabric once the diaper cuts were made. What good is a cloth diaper without these to match?
and these….
These items come in handy for wiping up all kinds of baby fluids. I have even used the burp cloths as the absorbent stuffing for the pocket of the diaper. Although I didn’t photograph it, there is a pocket opening on the back part of the diaper that can be stuffed with whatever you want to use to catch the urine and waste. The cool thing about this particular pattern is that it grows with baby. It can fit most babies from very small through potty training. That’s a plus. We’ll have to see how the fabric holds up to constant washing/drying.
Here is how we are keeping things simple as far as the storage of these items. Gotta keep’em handy for frequent changing. Not like a disposable that can be left on for longer and baby have no clue what’s going on. With these things, they feel everything. That may or may not bother them depending on the child. I hear the result is earlier potty training because as they get older they do not want to feel wetness or waste on them.
And for my wonderful model…..
And this is how we are cloth diapering. Lots more I could have said, but I probably would’ve never gotten this post up had I kept typing. I hope things continue to go well for us. I have another set of blankets I’ll be turning into cloth diapers. I seriously like these a lot, and it’s easier than folding the flats and prefolds although I don’t mind that at all.
clouds full of rain 
Tamika, I’m glad you are doing cloth diapering and that the hubby is excited about it too. I had every plan to do cloth diapering complete with diaper service. Things were so tight at the time that we couldn’t make the initial investment, and I didn’t properly announce my cloth diaper intentions before my baby shower. There is still a BIG part of me that would love to avoid putting chemicals on my baby. You are inspiring in so many ways. Maybe I’ll dust off my sewing machine and give it a try 🙂
Thanks Candace! It turns out that my first experience with cloth diapering happens to be the least expensive. I’m glad I started where I did. Moms can end up spending so much money on something that should be saving them money all in the name of cuteness. You should most certainly dust off that sewing machine. If you can sew a straight stitch (which I’m sure you can), you can make this diaper. Unless your little one is potty trained, there is still time. They are easy to wash at home, so you won’t even need to get the service. Just start simple. An item here, an item there kind of thing. You’ll have a stash in no time.
Tamika, I used cloth diapers with my son (who is now almost 30…) and it was all just part of the “routine.” Sounds like you’ve hit your stride! And how cute are those print ones you made? Great idea for recycling receiving blankets!
Kim, you know I’m often trying to take one thing and turn it into something else. That’s so cool that you cloth diapered your son. I agree, those prints are cute. Sure beats going to the fabric store and having to pull out several bolts of fabric to find coordinating prints. I better slow down over here, otherwise the baby will have no flannel blankets because I would have turned them all into diapers.
Started when my 3rd baby was 4 months old. I considered it before, but the cost always held me back (and I don’t have a sewing machine). But this time around I found an amazing diaper at incredibly affordable prices (gogreen pocket diapers). I agree that a lot of moms wind up not saving ANY money (probably costing themselves more!) “in the name of cuteness” but I decided 20 diapers was enough for my “stash” and I stopped there. I love it. It’s not the cloth diapering of our parents’ generation! My dad thought I was crazy when I told him I was going to try cloth diapers!! 🙂 The cloth diapers paid for themselves within a few months. And guess what? I don’t have to worry about running out of diapers and having nowhere to get more (we don’t have any 24 hr. stores in our little town!)!!
Isn’t that cool how they pay for themselves after a short time? And yep, I don’t have to worry about running out of diapers. Now that I have the basic skill, I can pretty much make a diaper out of anything that will absorb. There may come a time when disposables are just not accessible. I don’t know, but if so, I’ll be ready to help. Thanks for your comment Jenn.