Getting Started

It's hard to believe that I have been using cloth diapers for a little over a year.  My oldest was 2.5 years, and my youngest was 2 months when a friend sent me a message asking if I had considered using cloth diapers.  My initial thought was Heck no!  But with 2 in diapers, it was getting very expensive buying 2 boxes of diapers every week.  So out of curiousity, I checked out the link she sent me.  I was amazed at how far cloth diapers have come!  I still thought they were the old prefolds and plastic pants that my mom used on me.  I was way off.

I talked it over with my hubby.  I decided to order just a few, since I still was very skeptical.  I bought a Flip single pack, a BumGenius (3.0, since the 4.0's weren't out yet) pocket, and a gDiaper.  I was so excited to actually see them once they arrived in the mail.  I was unaware of any local CD shops, so I had to order everything online.  If only I had known....



Eli (3 months old) wearing a Flip.

 Flip was the very first CD Eli wore.  I loved it!  I wasn't crazy about the BG, but later it became his night time diaper and I ordered more.  I did not like the gDiaper, and soon sold it online.  I bought more Flips, and found Smartipants.  The appeal to Smartipants was that I didn't need to remove the insert prior to washing, since the sleeve design allows it to agitate out in the wash.  I quickly fell in love with the whole idea of cloth diapering.  As soon as we got our tax refund, we bought a full stash.

Riley was only in CD's at home, and in disposables while out of the house.  Soon, it was time for potty training, so I bought 2 cloth trainers (for out of the house, he was in undies at home).  But Eli was in cloth full time as soon as we had a full stash. 

Eli and Riley wearing Doodle Dypes.

The laundry was so much easier than I expected.  I decided to go with Tide original powder, since that is what was recommended to me on the Cloth Diaper board on BabyCenter (which is where I spent a lot of time when we started using CD's, trying to absorb as much information as I could).  I explained that I wanted something I could pick up while grocery shopping, that I didn't have to order online, and many people recommended Tide.  So I tried it, and it worked great.  The most difficult part of CDing was not a problem for me.  My husband was unsure at first, since I hate laundry.  He was concerned that I would fall behind on diaper laundry, like I tend to do with regular laundry.  But I have found that I actually enjoy doing the cloth diaper laundry.

I have since tried many different types and brands of cloth diapers.  I sell the ones I'm not crazy about, or that just aren't used much.  In keeping with the saving money idea, I try very hard to stick to my self imposed "buy one sell one" policy.

My family and friends are pretty supportive of our choice to use cloth diapers.  My mom and mother in law will change them, no problem.  Even our church nursery is fine with them.  I do get a lot of "What do you do with the poop?" and related questions.  But I just explain the benefits of cloth diapers, and no one says anything else (even if I can tell they still think they're gross).

I wish I had known about the modern cloth diapers when Riley was born, but I didn't.  We are hoping for another LO sometime in the next couple of years, and I am already trying to decide what newborn fluff to use!   

Eli showing his American spirit in a Little Flower Minkie OS pocket.

We started CDing to save money.  I honestly thought (at first) that everything else was just a bonus.  I did like that we dealt with fewer diaper rashes.  And of course, no more dirty diapers stinking up the house, or diaper trash to take out.  And then I started reading about all of the chemicals in disposables.  We may have started to save money, but we continue to cloth diaper for so many reasons. 

Brenda is mommy to 2 boys, ages 3.5 years & 16 months.  She started using cloth diapers when her youngest was 2 months and her oldest was 2.5 years.  She founded the DFW Cloth Diaper Group in August 2010 to meet local CDing families, and to help those interested in CD's get started.