so apparently i have been marked as some kind of cloth diaper expert or something (trust me - more of a surprise to me than anyone else! ha!). a few friends have started to cloth diaper since i have and have all come to me for questions and advice. this is partially what prompted my little series on cloth diapers i wrote up last year (actually, funny enough, right around this time last year as i realized when i went back to look at them) and that has been so helpful! when people come to me with questions i point them to those posts and then answer any questions they still have. i really love it and i really love feeling like i have something to offer by way of advice and suggestions for newbies. i know how helpful that was to me when i first started. but recently i have been back in the trenches of figuring things out all over again for a new bum to diaper and thought it might also be helpful to hear how things might change after doing it a while. so here are my thoughts on cloth diapering 18 months later.
i think the first thing to mention is the fact that things change! diapering is just like every other aspect of parenting, when you think you have everything figured out is when something changes and you have to go back to the drawing board again. there were times when i felt like i had finally gotten a system down with my diapers and things were going smooth for a few months and then low and behold something new pops up and throws a wrench into my system. just go with it! experiment, research, try something different, ask someone for help. this is usually the times that people give up on cloth because they think its too hard. but it doesn't have to be like that. it just means that you have to be flexible and try something new. the same thing happens with disposables - sometimes you have to move up a size, or try a different brand, etc etc - you have to do something different to try and fix a problem. its not that big of a deal. there are things i thought i would love that i ended up not loving and there are things i didnt think i would really care that much about that i now love!
and then, when you add another baby into the mix you're starting at square one again! i'm learning that really well right now. Zeke is different from Chi - things that worked for Chi are not working for him. he is chunkier than Malachi was and so diapers fit him differently, and he seems to be a heavier wetter too. i have had to experiment with different things the last several weeks to figure out what will work and not work for Zeke.
one thing that hasnt changed though is that i still love my pockets! i said it before and i'll say it again - they are my favorite! i have some prefolds and covers and they are great but when you have a wiggly one year old that will barely stay still for a diaper change the speed pockets allow is invaluable! i always have them stuffed and ready to go and so its really no harder at change time than a disposable diaper.
one thing that i didn't expect, however, is my love for prefolds and covers for bedtime. Malachi is a heavy wetter and so when we were having issues several months back with him leaking at bedtime (even with a hemp insert in his pocket diaper) i pulled out my trusty cotton prefolds and we havent had many leaks since. i even have to wrap the prefold around a hemp insert and put all that inside the cover - he wets that heavily! Zeke has been leaking at bedtime the last week as well - even through disposables! so i pulled out some smaller prefolds and covers and we are doing the same thing for him for bedtime too. so far so good! :)
another surprise to me is how much i LOVE my diaper sprayer. i wrote in my original posts that i thought it would be nice but not necessary. well i have since changed my tune! i guess i could cloth diaper without it now if i absolutely needed to but i would not want to go back voluntarily. i absolutely love my sprayer. it has probably saved my diapers from staining like crazy and has helped me to beat the ammonia and rash issues i was having with Malachi last summer. i highly recommend getting one if your baby is past the "exclusively breast fed" stage. Solids can do crazy things to a baby's tummy and then do crazy things to your diapers ;)
i still love my Kawaii diapers, they still make up the majority of my stash, but i am also really loving BumGenius lately. Especially since Zeke came along, they are trimmer and fit a smaller baby better in my opinion than my Kawaii's. It's probably because almost all of my Kawaii's are snap and my BG's are velcro, i can get a much better fit with the velcro. This works well for Zeke right now because he is so young and I am trying to figure out what will work best for him. But i still highly recommend snaps for the longevity of your dipes and use with older babies. Malachi has now figured out if he pulls on the velcro it makes a really cool noise and the diaper comes off! yay for mommy! :-/ so needless to say, he is in snaps all the time! (and thankfully he hasn't figured out or isn't strong enough to pull the snaps off himself - so that's buying me a little more time)
i guess the thing i have learned the most over the last 18 months of cloth diapers is to be flexible, don't be afraid to try something new and think things through when you're having a problem. you'd be surprised how much you can troubleshoot with what you already have in your stash and don't need to go out and buy every little thing out there. i've even heard of people using kitchen towels as extra absorbency boosters! i mean, talk about thinking outside the box!
18 months later and i still love it! i'm hopeful i can still say the same 2, 3, 4 years down the road :)
(but let me say my same disclaimer i said last year, i feel even more strongly about it now than i did then - there are times when i will use disposables without any guilt. and there are times when i think it is wise to not add to your plate with cloth diapers. i know the benefit disposables serve at certain times and we always keep a pack on hand for things like church, all day outings, babysitters and sickness. they are a blessing at those times and i use them without shame.)
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