Cloth diapering, one tush at a time...

So after 3 kids and a lot of nagging from my next door neighbor I finally decided to Cloth Diaper!
For those of you who know me you are probably shocked at this information since I look for shortcuts and ease in everything I do considering I have 3 under 5!

What made me decide to cloth diaper you ask? Well sadly,it was the announcement of my last pregnancy which ended in a miscarriage that made me leap off the cloth diaper bridge. I figured I am going to be spending a million dollars in diapers,I might as well try this out and save some money. I called my sister in law who cloth diapered here little girl and she right away sent me a box of her G diapers and Bumgenius(HOOK UP!!!) I will be grateful forever that she did because it helped kick things off.

I am not big on recycling or the environment so that really didn't drive me to cloth diaper,but....

Thinking back it was just a natural progression to a healthier,self sufficient life style. As you may all have seen in my last posts I've been striving to create a healthier lifestyle for my kids,from focusing more on whole foods,less processed foods,adding probiotics and a more natural approach to our lives,this was just a case waiting to happen.. I had dabbled in the idea of cloth diapering a few times but had never "crossed over". However, being a die hard pampers fan I was incredibly appalled when children everywhere began getting chemical rashes because of their new and 'improved" diapers. Bummie didn't get any severe rashes but I did notice that she was having more diaper rashes and major leaking from all our trusted diapers. I was blessed enough to have a sister in law and a neighbor who had both been very successful with cloth diapering(my neighbor actualy cd'erd her twin boys!) The more I began to research information I started realizing that even though disposable diapers are convinient they might not be the healthiest choice for my precious baby.

EWWW
After I began reading the above and started doing research I found out that Disposable diapers contain certain chemicals such as Tributyl-tin (TBT), which is known to cause hormone problems. Trace amounts of dioxine which is produced during the bleaching process of paper and is a carcinogenic chemical. Disposables also contain sodium polyacrylate, which become gel-like crystals when they absorb and lock moisture; sodium polyacrylate has been associated with toxic shock syndrome. There are many more natural diapers one can try but why waste the money on something that will just end up getting tossed away.
So you see these are all my reasons and but I think the most important one is that I was ready to take this leap.

Poop and stinkies
The biggest problem people have with cloth diapering is the poop part. I know,It was a source of contention for me as well but there are so many options to help with that.

The first is this little baby:


A diaper sprayer which you can use to directly spray said poop into the toilet and VOILA! That solves that problem. They are super easy to install and a great little tool!

Next, what about the smell and storage?
Wetbags or diaper pails are the answer. These little guys keep the stinkies and diapers in and you just open and toss into the washing machine.

You also have all sorts of detergents,sprays and what not to help clean the diapers. I literally throw the diaper in my wet bag and throw the contents of the wet bag into the washer and I'm done!

Are you sold?? How do you get started???

There are also an infinite amount of resources out there,support pages, blogs and sites dedicated solely to the purpose of cloth diapering.
My suggestion is talk to friends that cloth diaper or visit the following sites for more information:
Divadiapers
The Cloth Whisperer
Cloth Diaper Blog

Like I said I was blessed enough to get a nice start up stash from my sister in law who was a big GDiaper and bumgenius fan. My next door neighbor was a huge Flip fan. For all intents and purposes I have to say Flips have quickly become my favorite even though bumgenius snaps are at a close second. However, my cloth diapering baby is also 18m old many prefer prefolds for newborns. Some sites give you trial runs for a certain amount of money so you can give a variety of diapers a try once you've figured out what you want to try you can go to one of my favorite stores : Diva Diapers, they have a great yahoo group you can join that automatically gives you 5% off all your purchases after you join and if you click here you can Take $5 off your first order at DivaDiapers with coupon code REF10, What's more Diva Diapers gives you 5%back of your purchase to use on your next purchase...AND every Friday they draw a name from all the purchases made that day and the winner gets one item free from their purchase!!! Plus the ladies there are soo nice and they're a small family owned business from Florida and you all know how I feel about helping out small businesses!!! So check their sites out for all the amazing products and specials!!

Finally here is a great video from dirtydiaperlaundry.com Giving you a run down of the various kinds of diapers.


I am really enjoying myself with cloth diapering and all the fun patterns, articles,and ideas associated with it. Check it out! It isn't for everyone but really worth a try if you have the curiosity :) If you have any questions or comments make sure and contact me if I don't know it, I'll ask :)