Cloth Diapering Update

I started this post many months ago and then never finished it. I decided to finally do it in case anyone was wondering how it's going.

Our diapers:

Just out of the wash.

Stuffed and folded.

One of the changes between starting this post and actually finishing it now is that I no longer stuff the diapers ahead of time. We keep them all on a shelf near the changing table. One pile of covers, another pile of inserts. We stuff as we go each time. We've gotten pretty fast at doing it and finding the time to stuff them all when they come up from the wash got really annoying. (Another change is that we have gotten a few fun patterns since this picture was taken!)

Cloth wipes.

We use a wipe warmer for our cloth wipes. I make our wipe solution- using knickernappies baby bum drops- then dunk the wipes in it so they are all wet. Then just add them to the wipe warmer and they are ready to use whenever you need them. It's really easy.

Our wipes are a combination of babykicks, thirsties, and cotton babies. I like them all for different reasons and recommend having a variety, but if I had to choose just one for a toddler bottom, I would choose the thirsties. They are thick and really soft.

We also have some of the Prince LionHeart Warmies bamboo wipes, but I do not recommend them. They started to fall apart after just one wash. We still use them sometimes, but I would never buy more.

I added this picture when I started this post many months ago. Awww....he looks so little!!

We use bumgenius all in one, one size, 4.0 diapers. We used some Fuzzibunz for the first few months, but as he got older we started having problems with leaks. We've found BumGenius to be much more reliable.

For nighttime, we use BumGenius with a regular insert plus a Thirsties hemp insert and we have not had problems with leaks.

We use the diaper sprayer to clean the diapers before putting them in the diaper pail. We haven't had problems with stains.

The only time we have had a problem with smell is when I tried a new detergent once. After a while the diapers had an awful smell, even right out of the dryer. We stripped them using a small amount of blue Dawn dish detergent. We went back to using Rockin Green detergent and haven't had any problems since. We also use Thirsties pre-wash during the cold cycle. We dry the inserts in the dryer and hang the outer parts to dry.

For a diaper cream, we've been using coconut oil! I love that it is cloth diaper safe and it seems to be working very well!

One of the best things about cloth diapering (that I didn't anticipate when I started) is that they help keep his pants up! He grows out of pants in length and the waist is always huge. Cloth diapers are the only things keeping his pants up!

Of course the money we've saved is also a huge positive. When Jayden was sick with a stomach virus recently, we had to buy disposables. I can't believe how expensive they are. I don't know how anybody can afford them!

Overall, cloth diapering has been great...and much easier than we thought. I highly recommend it to anyone, even if you think it would be too much for you. We were nervous going into it, but I am so glad we did it.