I decided in my 2nd trimester that I was going to take on the gross and daunting task of cloth diapering.  At least, I assumed it was gross and daunting.  I am not yet unconvinced that it’s NOT gross and daunting, but at the same time, I find few things gross and daunting anymore.  I’m sure I’ll be singing a different tune once he starts eating solids.  I figure this will be another fun journey to chronicle.

This is only the beginning phase and most of my journey so far has been just prepping and testing.  I didn’t want to buy too many diapers because all the blogs I found on pinterest recommended trying a few first before committing to about 20 diapers.  So the diapers I opted to try out for now are Flip, Best Bottoms, and Bumgenius.  I chose Flip because a lot of my pinterest resources mentioned it.  I chose Best Bottoms because a friend recommended them.  And Bumgenius because they were on sale at Babies R Us and I had no idea what the difference was. It was only after opening these things that I realized – hey, these are very different, shoot.  Flip, an All in 2, lets me insert either disposables or reusables, a straight up hybrid. Best Bottoms aren’t technically hybrids, but google says I can use different disposables in them.  I guess we’ll see.  Bumgenius is a regular pocket diaper and honestly, so far, my favorite.

I decided to cloth diaper mainly to save money.  Having a baby is EXPENSIVE and I figure if there’s a safe, healthy way to eliminate some costs – even if it requires more grunt work on my end- I’m in.  After researching and talking to some other parents, I heard a bunch of other great reasons why such as how environmentally friendly they are and how they reduce diaper rash.  So, I was in.  Plus, the diapers are so cute!

It literally took me forever to prep these things.  I don’t know why I was so anxious, but it sounded like so much prep to get all chemicals out.  The directions said just wash in hot water and dry once prior to first use unless you are using organic or hemp, but I was still terrified.  Plus, we’ve been having some hot water issues in our home where it takes forever for hot water to come out.  For the laundry machine, I noticed that it takes even longer and I was terrified that I’d wash it in a lukewarm load and my first time mommy anxieties got the best of me.  So I prepped by hand…

I boiled all the inserts (not any that have snaps though) twice in water with a little bit of dish soap.  I then soaked them and the covers overnight in my diaper pail in hot water with a few tablespoons of my cloth diaper detergent (sans wet bag, but I just think the wet bag is so cute with those little foxes).

Next morning I rinsed the heck out of them in hot water and then to be extra safe did a quick wash with no detergent with (what was hopefully) hot water in the washer.  Inserts went in drier, covers I laid out to air dry and then I had a cute little diaper for my caterpillar.

After trying out these diapers, I had major blow outs with my Flip diapers.  I think he’s too small for them and I think they’ll be great once he grows into them a bit.  The Best Bottoms and Bumgenius worked the best so far but I just had most peace of mind with the Bumgenius.  With the Ai2s I couldn’t help but get nervous that the pee or poo wouldn’t land in the inserts and spill out (since my guy is still so small) which is exactly what happened with my Flip, with a disposable and a resusable.  But since the Bumgenius was a full diaper with just a pocket for the insert, I knew it would absorb either way.

It definitely takes practice and I still have SO MANY swaddlers that I’m just practicing a little bit here and there.  But even though it does take more work, I do think it’ll “pay out” in the long run (heh).  I did hear that those who cloth diaper have a hard time getting the smell out of the laundry machine.

I guess we’ll find out!