What I've Learned

In the two years that I've been cloth diapering, I feel like I've learned a few things. It is interesting to me how many people are cloth diapering now - just in the two years that I've been doing it, I've gone from the ONLY person I knew cloth diapering to one of several people I know. It's encouraging. =)

I thought I'd share a few things I think I've learned:

1. Keep Trying

I don't cloth diaper full-time. I am at the point now where I cloth diaper most of the time. I have my own personal reasons for not doing it all the time (which I won't go into here), but I currently use cloth at-home during the day, nap time and short trips out. I don't use cloth when I'm going to be gone for hours, we're going to a play date or church and bedtime.

Now, I have had some ups and downs with cloth. There have been times when I got totally out of the habit of using cloth because I was just lazy or when my diapers have seemed to leak all the time and I got super frustrated. It was just easier to grab the disposables and not have to worry about washing them later or dealing with the mess from the leaks. I've seen quite a few comments on other blogs and message boards saying that they just gave up at that point and never went back to cloth.

I say - it's never too late to go back! Or to start for that matter! Sometimes I just have to give myself a little shake and a pep talk and get back into it. Figure out why we're having a leaking problem or whatever - a lot of times I think it was just my skinny son and when he grew a little the leak went away.

2. Aplix vs. Snaps

People are pretty opinionated about which type of closure they like on their diapers. Personally I think the Aplix (like velcro) is easier to use, but many people like snaps. My suggestion: get a few diapers in both types and try them out and find out what works best for your family and your child.

3. Cloth Wipes
If you want to go really green and reduce your baby's exposure to chemicals, use cloth wipes! They are wonderful for your baby's skin and work really well to remove the poo. I use them off and on - not consistently. There are some awesome recipes for cleaners out there on the web. When I am using cloth wipes, I have a stack of dry wipes and a spray bottle with my cleanser in it and I spray the wipe before cleaning my baby's bottom and it seems to work really well.
I've discovered that using cloth wipes is not something I'm very good about doing. Although I DO use our cloth wipes for nose wiping, which is also a wonderful use. haha

4. Wetbags

GET TWO. I am sorry to say that after two years, I am only now investing in a second wetbag. I should have done it a LONG time ago. I have a plastic garbage can with a lid from WalMart that I use as my diaper pail. Then I have a Wahamies pain liner inside. This works great, but when I'm washing and drying my diapers I really need another wetbag to put my soiled diapers in. For my second wetbag, I got a hanging one and placed it in the bathroom where I clean off my diapers for easy access.

If you are going anywhere outside your home while using your cloth diapers, I also suggest investing in a small zippered wetbag. These are wonderful for all sorts of things - including, but not limited too, soiled cloth diapers. I just keep mine in my diaper bag and if there's any kind of messy problem (a blow-out perhaps or puke?) the soiled clothing goes into the wetbag.

5. Diaper Sprayers

Diaper sprayers are a wonderful investment. I'm not really sure how people live by just dunking their diapers in the toilet, but diapers sprayers make removing the poo super easy. The sprayer connects to your toilet and you can just spray the sticky poo right off the diaper. Definitely worth it, in my opinion.

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