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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Cloth Diaper Update Part 1

EC has been in cloth for about 5-6 weeks now and honestly I love them. I wish I could say that they have been nothing but smooth sailing but as with any new journey there are bumps in the road. Over the next few weeks I want to share with you some of the bumps we have encountered and the lessons learned so hopefully if you use cloth or are interested can learn from them and avoid them!

When we got EC home I was so excited to put her in cloth but the one size covers I bought swallowed her and irritated her belly button. Her newborn clothes did not fit because of her diapers not her size! So we used Pampers until her belly button fell off. Once it fell off and I ran out of pampers I invested in 4 newborn covers and 2 All-in-1s. I already had 4 newborn fitted diapers and 12 prefolds so I was ready to start our diaper journey. I had 4 all-in-2's with 8 inserts and 2 pocket diapers that were just way to big so I put those in the back of the drawer with her one size covers. I started out using the prefolds with a cover because they were the least bulky. My first few attempts were not successful due to operator error. We had a poop explosion in public because I put the cover on wrong and a few leaks because I folded the prefold wrong. So I went into Green Bambino and they showed me a new way to fold. Once I had the fold down and remembered that the cover actually has to cover all of whatever is inserted inside it we were good to go. The fitteds were ok at first but once we switched to formula with some cereal in it the fitteds were great. The all-in-1s I hated from the beginning. They fit for about 2 weeks, took forever to dry, and leaked out the side. As EC's stomach was adjusting to the change in feeding she was not pooping everyday. When she finally  poops it is massive. The fitted just does a better job handling the massive amount! The prefolds with a cover do keep it contained but when cleaning it up it is just messier. With the prefolds I did run into her bottom being irritated. I figured it was because her bottom was not getting air and the material does not wick away the moisture. I asked my fav diaper store and my instincts were right. My solution was to alternate the prefolds with the fitteds and then when her other diapers fit I used those in the rotation as well. And of course I changed her more often and used a cloth diaper friendly cream. So.....the morale of this story is don't just buy all one sized diapers or all of one kind. I will get into the all of one kind in another post but trust me on this one for now. My All-in-1s may not fit but my newborn covers and fitteds still fit and will continue to fit for a good while. They just extend my stash!

Stay tuned for Laundry and why buy multiple styles. I know you are on the edge of your seats for it!!!