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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

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The Gift of Cloth Diapering

On 9/9/09, my daughter was born. She weighed a whopping 9 pounds and 5 ounces and as her slimy, beautiful little body was placed on my belly, my world changed forever. When a friend came to visit us in the hospital bearing the kind gift of three one size bumGenius One Size 3.0 cloth diapers, my diapering philosophy was also irrevocably changed.

The thing is, I had the intention to cloth diaper while I was expecting – I intended on using prefolds because I didn’t know that there were any other options. Then, I talked to a friend of mine who was using FuzziBunz; they sounded so cool I had to look them up online for myself. WOAH! I couldn’t imagine myself shelling out $15-$20 per diaper—especially since the reason I wanted to cloth diaper in the first place was so I could save money.

I resigned myself to stick with Gerber prefolds and rubber pants I could find at Wal-Mart, Target, and BabiesRUs, although I was less inclined to use them after seeing how much cloth diapering had changed. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to buy them. I registered for some Kushies but unfortunately no one bought them for me and I knew my husband and I would never be able to shell out that amount of cash at one time on our own.

Thankfully my friend walked into our hospital room bearing the gift of three, adorably amazing diapers (along with a special coupon), and I was hooked. Seriously, it was the one of the best baby gifts I received, and that’s after four—no seriously, four baby showers.

My daughter was big baby, as mentioned above, so my bumGenius diapers fit her right away—though the rise was a little high. As soon as her umbilical cord fell off I started using all three of her cloth diapers. I loved them so much I’d wash them twice a day just so I could use them more. Obviously, though, full time cloth diapering wasn’t an option at this time. What I discovered, though, was it wasn’t necessary to shell out the big bucks for these amazing diapers all at once. Sure, $13-18 a diaper seems steep when you look at all the diapers a baby needs at once, but if you take small bites out of that chunk just a little bit at a time, it really isn’t that bad; and that’s what we did.

With each paycheck, we bought 1-3 diapers. At first, I was unaware of all the different types of diapers that were out there. I was only aware of one website that had bumGenius diapers - so I gradually bought all of their great colors. One day, as I was online, I decided to do a Google search for “cloth diapers.”

I was delighted to find the Smartipants One Size diapers for only $14.95 each. I bought a 3-pack, bringing the price down to only $13 each. I wanted to pay it forward, so I kept two of those diapers and set one aside for a friend of mine who was expecting and interested in cloth diapering. I didn’t know what kind of diaper she’d prefer, so I went ahead and bought her a bumGenius and a Happy Heinys One Size diaper as well the next time I made my orders so that she’d have three different diapers to try. Once I touched the Happy Heinys for myself and saw how stinkin’ adorable they are, I had to have some for my daughter, so I bought a couple of them with my next paycheck.

I finally discovered websites like Kelly’s Closet that offered tons of different types of diapers; searching through these sites to find the perfect cloth diaper for my family became an obsession. I now have a stash of 24 one-size pocket diapers (26 once my recent order arrives) including many different brands such as Haute Pockets, Knickernappies, Gro Baby (which I thankfully won from Kelly’s Closet), FuzziBunz, Tweedlebugs, Rocky Mountain and even some Indian prefolds (which I have yet to master). And yes, I have found the perfect diaper to suit my needs. I absolutely adore the FuzziBunz One Size diaper because of its durability and great—no I mean great—fit.

It’s funny. Originally my husband and I never intended to cloth diaper fulltime. We fully intended on using disposables outside of the house. However, with the purchase of a small wet bag, I discovered cloth diapering while outside of the home is surprisingly easy! I’ve even gone so far as to make my own baby wipes—double sided flannel wipes stitched together with a zigzag stitch that work better than any disposable (see The Cloth Diaper Whisperer Tutorial for DIY Wipes). I wet the wipes with wipe solution I make from wipe cubes I bought online. After I made some for myself, I sent a couple of these homemade wipes to two friends who cloth diaper.

To make a long story short, our Diaper Genie is officially retired and gathering dust in the basement, and it’s been weeks since my daughter donned a disposable. To tell you the truth, my husband and I have never wasted a dime on disposable diapers ourselves. The ones we have are still left over from my baby showers! And as for the $6+ I was spending on wipes every week? That money is now saved for better purposes as well. Our daughter is happily diapered in cloth diapers all the time, and we’re so pleased that she has the best material imaginable next to her sensitive skin. I’m sold on cloth diapers 100% and I will never go back!

My aforementioned friend had her baby and is also cloth diapering with a preference of Indian unbleached prefolds and some Thirsties Diaper Covers. Cloth diapers are truly the gift that keeps on giving. I’m certainly glad someone thought to give some to me!


By Rebecca G.

16 comments:

Nikki said...

wow, that looks like a huge diaper collection! my son is 14 months old, and i only have 2 diaper covers for him and 24 prefolds. i realize in the long run that using cloth is cheaper than disposables, but i still think getting the covers and diapers are spendy. can't afford to keep getting more. thats why i only have two. but i agree with not imagining myself shelling out $15-$20 per diaper. But I think cloth diapering is so worth it. even if you just get a couple covers. I think i may need to get a few more dipes since our next baby is due in june! 2 babies only 19 months apart.... we even recently switched to using cloth wipes.

Minnie said...

How wonderful that your friend got you started. We started late with my daughter because I just didn't know. And then I met someone in my church who did cloth and she introduced me to this who world I never knew existed! (I guess that's why I have become so passionate about sharing my love for cloth with others).

I love, love, love that aqua color your daughter was wearing. I recently got that one for my friend who just had baby # 2. :)

Amanda G.

Melissa N. said...

I'm expecting my first in April and I've bought 3 BG one size myself but I have received 2 BG one size and 2 Rumparooz as gifts from friends and family who cloth diaper. I haven't had any of my showers yet, so I'm holding out on finishing the stash in BIG hopes that my family and friends will help build it more, leaving me with only a few more to buy. I'll have to look into making my own wipes that's a great idea!

Dani said...

great article! I always ask my friends what they would like for their baby shower and 2 of them said cloth diapers, much to my delight. It was so fun putting together cloth diaper start up baskets and sharing my love of cloth with them and the shower guests who are always curious. Kelly's Closet is my favorite go-to site for the baskets since it carries so many different brands and products.

Crystal said...

I totally agree about the FuzziBunz OS diapers - they are my favorite so far, and I also have a diverse collection. I bought two BG OS dipes for a friend of mine who was expecting and gave them to her at her baby shower. She didn't say much about them at the shower, but the next thing I knew, she was emailing to say that she had "taken the plunge" and bought 20 more BG's and wanted to know how to wash them! I love being able to pass on the cloth diapering gift!
aboverubies15 at yahoo dot com

Arizona Girl said...

Giving cloth diapers as a gift I think is a great idea. I gave a set to my sister as a gift. She told me she had no intention of using them. I just told her that they are nice to have around if for no other reason than an emergency. We'll see if she ever gets brave enough to try them.

Anonymous said...

I love cloth too! I wish I would have used them with my oldest. I didn't know all the options until I got pregnant with my daughter. We cloth diaper her full time and love it!

Jamie said...

I good place to check out is diaperswappers.com. I have gotten different types of diapers to try on my little one and the ones that did not work out for us went back on diaperswappers to sell. They also have forums to talk about all kinds of things.

Megan said...

I now have 15 pocket diapers for my 23 month old, and it's more than we need at his age. Now...surprisingly, he's wanted to go potty a lot lately making diapers last even longer. I still wash every other day just to avoid stink issues, and I only have 2 overnight solutions.

Rose said...

This is a great post that shows how you don't have to spend a big bundle at once to get into cloth diapering. I remember thinking the near $20 per diaper price tags were crazy - "how are you supposed to save money?" I thought. But when you do the math, you are saving a lot in the long run even with the more expensive brands. Plus, you can sell them or use them on a second child sometimes!

Unknown said...

Way to go! Hooray for the cloth-diaper-switch!

Michele said...

Thanks for the link to the cloth wipes tutorial. I plan on making that switch in the near future.

I can relate to just buying a few diapers at a time - that is how we plan on fully switching to cloth diapering. It really is an investment for our family because we plan on having at least one more child.

Erin G said...

I'm with you, it's a cool present. I bought them for any friends who used them, even before I was CDing myself. They just seemed so fun and sweet and also practical (I am not into useless gifts).

Jill said...

This is a great gift idea for new moms! I love the picture of the diaper stash!

Rene said...

Isn't it amazing how your stash grew? I just starting out and have a bunch of bumgenius and smartipants. I'm hoping to add a few more and was thinking about the new cloth insert gdiaper option. Do you have any suggesstions?

Melody Mom said...

I can't wait to give the gift of cloth diapers! It's definitely what I will give as the baby gift for my next friend, if I think they're open to it. It's both a useful and a fun present.