{"id":159,"date":"2009-06-21T20:33:03","date_gmt":"2009-06-22T01:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/?p=159"},"modified":"2010-01-09T10:30:30","modified_gmt":"2010-01-09T16:30:30","slug":"not-your-daddys-diapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/2009\/06\/21\/not-your-daddys-diapers\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Your Daddy’s Diapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seriously?\u00a0 Your doing what?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

That is the typical response Beth and I get when we inform people we are using cloth diapers.\u00a0 There are varying levels of shock.\u00a0 Some people think we are absolutely crazy, others are cool with it until we tell them we are not using “a service” but washing them ourselves.\u00a0 Most people can appreciate the idea but insist it is not worth the effort.\u00a0 At least half try to wager with us that we will stop using them within a month or so.\u00a0 Very few are excited about it and open to cloth diapers as a mainstream option.<\/p>\n

To the doubters, I must insist: you simply do not understand.<\/p>\n

These are not the cloth diapers my generation was raised on (my parents started me on cloth, but abandoned early on).\u00a0 Many people blindly assume that using cloth diapers involves rubber bloomers and safety pins.\u00a0 While you can still do it like that, things have come a long way.\u00a0 Beth and I use a brand called Fuzzi Bunz<\/a> that are of a style known as pockets.\u00a0 Basically they look like regular diapers.\u00a0 They have a water proof shell, a fleece liner and a place where you can insert micro-terry pads.\u00a0 Fuzzi Bunz use snaps and adjust to wide range of sizes (other pocket styles use velcro).\u00a0 Putting the diapers on and taking them off is as easy as disposable.<\/p>\n

\"Waterproof<\/a>

Waterproof Shell in variety of colors<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Fleece<\/a>

Fleece Liner and Micro Terry Inserts<\/p><\/div>\n

What about cleaning them?<\/p>\n

That is where admitedly it gets a bit more difficult than disposable.\u00a0 You don’t just throw them away [TANGENT: this is actually the primary reason we went with cloth diapers, we could not stand the thought of throwing away 8-12 diapers a day for the next 2 years].\u00a0 We do it this way:\u00a0 Right after changing Mikayla, we take the daiper to the backroom, rinse the poo off in the toilet and then throw the diaper into a plastic 5 gallon bucket with lid and sprinkle a little baking soda every now and again.\u00a0 At most it takes an additional minute to do this step.\u00a0 When we are on the road, we carry a water proof bag with us and just rinse the diapers when we get home.\u00a0 When we running low (we have 27 diapers now) we take the whole bag to the washing machine, dump it out, run it through a rinse cycle with cold water, and then wash Hot\/cold with Purex Free and Clear.\u00a0 We then pop the inserts in the dryer and let the shells air dry.\u00a0 After they are dry it takes about 15 minutes to stuff the diapers (which I usualy do while watching TV).\u00a0 We do about 2 loads a week.<\/p>\n

Total additional time commitment: (1 minute extra changing time x 10 \/ day) + [(10 minutes to wash \/ dry + 15 minutes to stuff) x 2 \/ week) = 2 hours \/ week.<\/p>\n

2 hours may seem like a lot, but when you think you spend 2-3 minutes per diaper change anyway, you are already looking at 2.5-3 hours\/week on diapers, and if feedings take 20 minutes x 8 times per day you are looking at 18 hours\/week with that.\u00a0 Lets face it, babies take time, and the 2 hours you spend on clothe diapers are not productive minutes you are wasting, but idle minutes.\u00a0 Compare that to the teenage years where every soccer game requires a two hour commitment of prime evening time!<\/p>\n

What about cost?<\/p>\n

Cloth diapers can be expensive.\u00a0 Fuzzi Bunz are around $18 apiece.\u00a0 BUT… we buy our diapers from a diaper exchange site called Daiper Swappers<\/a>.\u00a0 (Be careful… these “mommies” are intense – it takes about a week’s learning curve to understand the forum.)\u00a0 and get them for between $5-10.\u00a0 Yes they are used, but they still have plenty of life left in them.\u00a0 To get us started it took about a $220 investment.\u00a0 However, when you consider we will be able to sell those back and purchase the next size, we will be able to recoup most of our money.\u00a0 If you shop around and are patient you can get good deals and then actualy sell them back for a profit.\u00a0 That is what our friend Michelle<\/a> does.\u00a0 So when you consider it, we will basically get our diapers for free.\u00a0 Compare that to my sister in law who spends $100\/month on diapers for her two boys.\u00a0 Even if you buy new, you are saving money. [NOTE: Fuzzi Bunz come in multiple sizes as well as an adjustable model that allows you to stay in one size for the whole time your baby is in diapers.\u00a0 According to their website, most babies only use two sizes: S and M.\u00a0 There are 4+ size options on each diaper and Mikayla is still on the smallest setting]<\/p>\n

\n

\"Mikayla<\/a>

Mikayla in a fresh Fuzzi Bunz<\/p><\/div>\n

I am not saying cloth diapers are for everyone, but after doing our research and going through the process for 2 months, we are totally satisfied.\u00a0 With Beth breastfeeding and us using cloth diapers, our monthly costs for Mikayla are close to zero.\u00a0 To end, here are some pointers we have learned so far to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Get a dry pail for home use. We picked up a 5 gallon bucket and lid for less than 5 dollars at Lowes.<\/li>\n
  • Have at least two wet bags for traveling (3-4 would be better).<\/li>\n
  • Since we bought used, our micro terry inserts have a variety of thicknesses.\u00a0 We put the thicker ones in the colored diapers and the thinner ones in the white diapers.\u00a0 That way it is easy to tell which have great absorbency when using them overnight, or for a long car ride. [Update: We ended buying more “doubler” inserts — basically thin inserts that can be added when you need extra absorbency — and making all of our diaper thicker”]<\/li>\n
  • Take the time to understand the various styles.\u00a0 Fuzzi Bunz are not the only type, but after comparing different brands, it was obvious this was the right match for us. (others are cheaper, but require more work; others use velcro which is easier to use, but can wear out faster).<\/li>\n
  • Be prepared to change diapers a bit more frequently because there are no chemicals to instantly dry the liquid.<\/li>\n
  • While you could make it with 10-12 diapers, it is well worth the extra money to get 20-30.\u00a0 Not only do you only have to do wash every 3 days or so, but it saves water because you can do larger loads.<\/li>\n
  • We still use disposables on occasion.\u00a0 We have been using them at night simply because we were given so many at showers.\u00a0 It is also nice to have them when traveling, but using a wet bag is not difficult or messy at all.<\/li>\n
  • We haven’t had to do this yet, but the word on the street is that you can get rid of pesky stains by letting the diapers sit out in the sun.<\/li>\n
  • Finally, don’t knock ’em until you have tried ’em.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Seriously?\u00a0 Your doing what? That is the typical response Beth and I get when we inform people we are using cloth diapers.\u00a0 There are varying levels of shock.\u00a0 Some people think we are absolutely crazy, others are cool with it until we tell them we are not using “a service” but washing them ourselves.\u00a0 Most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[138,94,93,132,139,66],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-reviews","tag-cloth-diapers","tag-diapers","tag-fuzzi-bunz","tag-parenting","tag-pockets","tag-stay-at-home-dad"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}