How We Do: Cloth Diapers
Before our toddler was born my husband left it up to me as to whether we would use disposable or cloth diapers. I knew his preference was cloth for both financial and health reasons. I felt the same way, so I researched the different types to see what was out there. I hadn’t changed a baby’s diaper in, well, ever really so I had no idea what I was looking for. Somewhere on some search board I came across these:
These, my friends, are what have made cloth diapering so easy that I find using disposables when traveling rather difficult and quite leaky. These are the Mother-Ease one size diapers. I love these diapers for many reasons, but one is simply because they were designed by a mother from Canada who wanted better cloth diapers for her baby.
The first thought that popped into my head when I thought of cloth diapering was "Oh no, I hope I don’t stab our baby with a pin." These are pin free and so easy. They literally work from 8 lbs. up. Both our 6 week old baby and our two year old toddler are using the same diapers as we speak. Granted, our baby has a huge bum, but it’s very cute and charming on a little guy like him. When we first ordered diapers we ordered the complete package. This supplied us with diapers, soaker liners and covers.
I know it’s a lot of money up front, but it certainly does pay for itself in the long run. I also realize there are less expensive ways to do cloth diapering, but this is what we chose. After a while we ended up ordering 12 more diapers, along with larger diaper cover sizes along the way.
Diaper Covers
The covers are great, too. We have used the air flow covers. We very rarely have leaks, and they generally occur not because of the diaper cover but because our little man is a heavy wetter, especially when he gets a hold of a cup of tea :). As our 2 year old has grown out of them we simply order new ones and save the old ones for the next in line.
Our baby is now wearing the small diaper covers that originally came with the complete package. We have not had a single leak since we put him in these hand-me-down diaper covers about 4 weeks ago. We hope to re-use all of our toddler’s diaper covers for the baby.
Wipes
We also chose to use cloth wipes for the same reasons as cloth diapers – cost and health. To dampen the wipe we use a thermos with warm water and a couple of drops of tea tree oil. This cleans them up with no added chemicals or alcohol and the tree oil acts as both a deodorizer and a disinfectant. We purchased some wipes online and I (ahem) tore some old wash cloths in half and didn’t sew them up. I remember telling my husband "Look, I cut all of those washcloths in half and now we have twice as many wipes." He looked at me and said "You know the edges are going to fray, right?" Whoops :). We still use them, though. Our baby’s bums don’t know the difference. Tomorrow I will post about how we do diaper pails and cloth diaper washing.
I think you all did great picking one diapering system and sticking with it. And that is wonderful that it has worked well with both boys. Are they similarly built? We loved our medium Fuzzi Bunz and Morgan is still able to wear them (except that she has now potty trained) and has since about 4 months, but Micah has thinner thighs and we seem to get lots of leaks with him. So I'm being wimpy and using g diapers right now for him and composting them. I also have six of the new style of Fuzzi Bunz with hemp inserts and can use those with no problems on him.
Although I didn't care for my sample Mother Ease, I absolutely loved the Air Flow cover that came with it. It worked the best over our size 0 Kissaluvs (better than wool, Bummis or another brand I can't remember) and I will be purchasing more if we have another newborn in the future.
On the potty training, I usually wait till they seem to understand when they go in their diaper and can tell me. By then, mine have also been waking up at least part of the time dry after naps. Then we just start taking them potty, and I give a small treat for success (one M&M for pee, two for poop). We also clap and dance and make a big deal out of it that way. If it's nice weather, we usually just let them run around in just a shirt or dress (at home, only, obviously š ) to make things simple and let them very obviously realize when they have an oops. Morgan has just trained. The first couple of weeks she seemed disinterested, then one day it clicked and she does great as long as she is in her big girl undies. Put her in a Pull-up and she lapses.
Sorry for the book.
Cat –
So far both boys seem similar. Both are big boys with giant heads lol. If we have a girl and she is smaller things may be different, but now that I’ve used the mother-ease so much I have found them so easy to adjust and use.
How old is Morgan, she must be around 26 months? Our 2 y.o. seems to know when he goes poo at least and he is figuring out when he pees as well. He gets a bit ashamed about it now as well and hides when he poos and tries to blame the baby for a stinky diaper lol. I am hoping he is ready soon. Glad to hear Morgan is trained!
Mrs. S
Yes, Morgan will be 26 months next week. She trained a bit later (Mal was 22 months, at her own insistence), but a lot of that is my fault. I kept putting it off, first because of our long trip, then one thing after another. š Still, now it’s done. Now it’s just a matter of finessing it when we’re out in public for something. There’s nothing like having to take a 2 YO (and all three other kids) potty in the middle of grocery shopping! š Guess it keeps me humble!
My oldest sister used this method with her younger son:
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/
The gist of it is that even infants can communicate with you about their bodily needs and it is the adults job to listen to those attempts at communication and provide the necessary solution to the needs. Forgive the analogy, but it’s like housetraining a puppy. You think about when they need to go (after a nap, after playing, after eating) and give them an opportunity to go appropriately. The littler the kid the more help they need getting to the appropriate location, but I remember my walking-but-not-talking nephew making it abundantly clear to me that he needed to go.
A good friend of mine did a half-way kinda system by offering the toilet to her infant at appropriate times as was possible, but still using diapers for when life got in the way.
Also, since you are already washing clothes-that-sop-up-body-fluids, have you ever thought about using reuseable menstrual pads? Check out http://www.gladrags.com/
I’ve been using these pads for about six months now and LOVE them. They are soft, they are economical, they are pretty and they are ecological.
When thinking about “how our grandmothers did it”, cloth is the way to go for both baby and mom š