Before I go on my long-winded tear, I have to say that Henry is sooo close to taking his first steps. He's standing unassisted now and will step- holding on- between objects and let go briefly. He is pondering the first step, he'll stand there looking at where he wants to go, then drop down to his behind and crawl to his destination. I suppose walking is imminent, though I know he could do this balancing thing for months.
He still has no teeth! He is eating everything we eat anyway. Bean burritos are a new favorite. He's saying mama, dada, tchat which is cat I think, book, and bye. Sometimes he uses the words, sometimes inappropriately but he has those words. His hair is curlier than ever and he's now been to four states- Kansas was his most recent aquisition as we visited Rob's Aunt Barb and Uncle Chester in Lawrence two weeks ago. Over the next month, Henry is headed to Hannibal, MO and Kansas City to meet the Peris, Schieber Bukatys, and Ruppars. Mama is very happy to be getting out of town!!!
Now back to the baby item endorsements:
3. Cloth diapers. I’ve dedicated at least two long posts to cloth diapers here before, but they are an integral part of our daily lives now. I believe they would be item number 1 in importance if we didn’t live in such a driving city and require a carseat on a daily basis.
We use almost all Bum Genius products. At this point, we have about 50 diapers in our rotation. This is a bit excessive, no one really “needs” 50 diapers if you are diapering just one baby, but Cotton Babies has had THREE sales since Henry was born that featured $1 diapers. I’ve been to each sale and stocked up. I’ve also rotated out the diapers that were in the worst condition ($1 of course indicates “well loved” diapers) and passed those along to my sister and cousin who also plan to cloth diaper. Our diaper stash is now Bum Genius 3.0s, organic all in ones, sized all in ones, bamboo fitteds and Flips. The Flips are a new acquisition and the bamboo fitteds have been just about completely retired because the Flip organic insert is a great overnight diaper.
I also have one Fuzzi Bunz one size diaper and one Pooligan that had a holiday design that I could not resist. Many go for the more decorative diapers and I am a little jealous of the really nice colors and patterns that some diaper makers sell but we’re going for convenience and frugality here, so $30 diapers aren’t really at the top of the “need” list. But it doesn’t stop me from wishing for a red diaper, or maybe a purple or a brown- or some interesting patterns.
My diaper washing routine is pretty down pat by now. We have a diaper pail with liner on each floor of the house. We sent a wet bag to daycare every day along with 8 diapers. At the end of the day, I pull the dirties out of his daycare bag and dump them into a diaper pail, wet bag and all. Every 2-3 days, I pull both pail liners out and take them down to the basement. I put the diapers into the washer one by one, removing the inserts from the 3.0s and making sure the wipes make it into the washer drum. We had an unfortunate (read $175) mistake once when a wipe fell between the drum and motor of our washing machine. That mistake cannot be repeated. The pail liners and wet bags go into the wash with the diapers and wipes.
I run the washer on a cold wash, no soap. I leave the top open as I sort diapers and put the solid waste diapers into one wet bag. I take those upstairs to the bathroom where I hose off the waste with our brand new diaper sprayer (which rocks!!) and then take them back to the basement, throw them into the cold wash, shut the lid and run the wash.
When the cold wash ends, I return and put the washer on a hot wash with an extra rinse. I pour in ¼ of the recommended amount of detergent from an approved list of laundry detergents. I’ve used All Small and Mighty, Charlie’s Soap, and Rockin’ Green so far. I have no favorite at this time.
When the wash ends, I pull the 3.0 shells out and hang them up, along with the Flip covers and any nylon covers I’ve used and line dry them. The rest goes into the dryer along with a dry, clean towel to assist in the drying process. Our Bum Genius all in ones (organic and sized) often are still damp after a full dry cycle, so I hang them on our clothesline or drape them over our dining room chairs for the night.
Once in a while, the diapers start to stink even when they are clean and I will run a wash with just some Dawn dish detergent. This strips the diapers of excessive detergent and ammonia and has helped immensely with the stinkies that sometimes plague cloth.
I estimate we’d have spent close to $1000 on disposables by now, not to mention the environmental cost of the diapers in a landfill for 500 years, so I’d say cloth diapering has been the single most important act we’ve made to decrease our family’s carbon footprint in the last year.
I’ve learned a ton about cloth diapers and have a lot of opinions now on brands, detergents, cleaning, and am really excited to answer any questions anyone has. I’ve become a go-to person for those considering cloth diapering among some friends and family and I want to say about 100 times, GO FOR IT. It is not that hard, it is not as much of a pain as you may thing, it DOES work if you have to have your baby in daycare, you will save money and prevent so many chemicals from hitting your baby’s bottom and our groundwater via landfills.
