Second Time's a Charm

My name is Erin and I live in sunny Florida with my hubby and two little lovelies: Leonard (nearly 3) and Isabela (20 months).  I am a SAHM and a full-time Elementary Education student as well.  I am also the author of a little blog called The Hesitant Domestic.  I blog about everything under the sun, but mostly crafting, faith, and healthy living.

My first experience with cloth diapering was when I was pregnant with my son and I got it in my head that I really wanted to cloth diaper.  I wanted to find an affordable option so I purchased a prefold kit from Bummis.  Once my son finally got here, I kinda freaked out about using the cloth diapers.  He was a few weeks old when we started with them and I was completely unsure about the fit, how I put them on, would they work right, were they comfortable, etc.  They seemed so bulky on him and I just didn’t know what to do.  Being the only person in my group of friends who cloth diapered and with no one to ask for help, I sold them on Craigslist and continued on with sposies feeling pretty defeated.

When I was pregnant with my daughter I was really fortunate to be a part of a really great mommy message board and it seemed as though many of the moms were going to be cloth diapering their babies.  With the thought of buying sposies for TWO babies looming over my head, I figured some serious research was in order.  I would no longer be working once my daughter was born and anywhere we could save money would be a good thing.  After much research, questions, I tried out a couple used Haute Pockets from a mom on my message board, I was HOOKED!

I am not going to lie, cloth diapering two children is NOT easy at first, especially when you are just starting out and building a stash.  I didn’t have a ton of money to buy fancy diapers so we bought a lot of Kawaii pockets.   I really love them and recommend frequently to CD newbies.  We also use Bumgenius pockets and I even bought some prefolds and covers as a desperate attempt to expand our CD supply on the cheap.  I actually LOVE my prefolds now and am so thankful for a little contraption called the Snappi!  It’s a little overwhelming at first, but after a month or so you get the hang of it.

Here are some tips for the mommy with two bums (or more, yikes!) in fluff.

• Build a stash.  You will be doing laundry every single day if you don’t have an adequate stash.  My kids were a bit older when we got started so they weren’t going through a ton of diapers a day so we were able to get by with a stash of 50 diapers, maybe a bit more.  Decide how many you use a day for each child and multiply by 2 or 3.  That’s how many you will need.  We had to CD part time for a little while to build a stash, but it still made a huge difference.
• Keep up with the wash!  Nothing worse than 5 days worth of stinky diapers.  I washed every 3 days when mine I had two in cloth.  Try not to stress about all the stuffing, just separate the pockets from the inserts and be on your way if you are too busy.
• Try prefolds!  Even if they scare you now, give them a shot once you are comfortable in your routine.  They are cheap and so much easier to use than you think!  Plus, no STUFFING!
• Get connected!  Keep up with blogs, message boards and websites where you can learn from other CDing moms and get tips and encouragement.  

Now that I only have one in diapers, it’s a breeze!  My stash is half the size and while I still wash every 3 days (it’s just a good idea to prevent stinkies) they are much smaller loads.  Cloth diapering has been such a special experience that I am a little sad that my daughter is starting to show signs of wanting to potty train!  What will I do with no fluff?!?!  I guess I will just have to keep spreading the word and hopefully help other mommies choose fluff.