Welcome Theresa! This guest blogger mamma is cloth diapering three children, ages two and under.
Have you thought about cloth diapering your babies, but were too overwhelmed by it all to even bother? I totally understand. I definitely felt that way when I had my first child. But, I decided to take the plunge because:
1) I felt really icky about putting thousands of paper/plastic pee and poop filled diapers in landfills where they will stay and fester for who knows how long.
2) They are super cute.
Those were reason enough for me!
So, I researched my options. Did I want All-in-One (AIO) diapers, Pocket diapers or All-in-Two (AI2)? Did I want to go with one size (OS) covers or sized covers? What kind of inserts did I want? Prefolds, bamboo, hemp, microfibre or cotton? Organic or not? Regular thickness or extra thick?
Seriously overwhelming.
After some deliberation, I invested in mostly one diapering system. Most people will tell you to buy a few diapers of many different styles and brands to find out what you like. But I went basically with one system, and I haven't regretted it.
I liked the the simplicity of an AI2 system, where you basically lay an absorbent liner inside a waterproof cover. If the insert doesn't soak all the way through, you can re-use the cover. But I also liked the pocket diapers because then there was a layer of soft fabric between the baby and the liner, and you could stuff more than one insert in there and it would all stay in place quite easily. So, I went with AMP OS covers and hemp liners because they can be used either way, and they are made locally [in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada]. Since then I've tried a few other brands and styles, but it's still my favourite cloth diapering system.
I also found some cloth diaper accessories to be essential – a diaper pail (I just bought a step garbage can), pailliners, wet bags, a diaper sprayer and cloth wipes.
Enter: twins.
[photo by Theresa]
When my son was 17.5 months old, and no-where near potty-trained, I gave birth to twin girls. With three kids in diapers (3 kids under 2), some might assume that I would just switch over to disposable diapers. But, here's another great reason to use cloth diapers.
Saving. Money. Bigtime.
I mean, I have probably spent close to $1000 on my cloth diapers. Maybe more. I honestly haven't kept track. I don't think it's much more than that though, even with all the accessories. And I managed to mostly spend money that people gave us to spend on babies, some diapers were gifts and a few were second hand. My stash includes 12 Small AMP covers, 24 OS AMP Pocket covers, 2 other pocket diapers, 1 handmade cover from my friend, 5 other one size pockets, 36 Regular Hemp inserts, 10 Triple layered Hemp inserts (for the toddler), 4 Bamboo inserts, 2 Cotton/Hemp inserts, 2 Microfibre inserts, 6 regular Hemp boosters and 8 triple layered Hemp boosters. This is plenty enough diapers to have 3 kids in cloth diapers. I wash a load of diapers once every 2 -3 days.
Now, I'll be honest, there are a couple of short-cuts that I take. For one, I'm pretty sure I don't always change their diapers often enough. With my toddler, it's pretty hard to convince him that a diaper change would be a good idea sometimes. And other times, I'm just busy with all the OTHER children who need my attention RIGHT NOW. I also use disposables at night. I just haven't found a cloth diapering system for night time that stands up to my heavy wetters. And believe me, I've tried everything. And I actually don't just use a disposable: I also use a cloth cover over that. Disposable soaks up insane amounts of pee, and cloth cover protects from potential poop and pee leaks. Also, if I get behind on diaper laundry (which happens often enough, because I'm a just a bit BUSY), then I'll use a few extra disposables on the kids. I try not to beat myself up about it. I have three kids under two, after all.
[photo by Theresa]
Oh yeah, so back to COST. IF I was using disposable diapers full time, how much would it cost? Well, a package of diapers costs $16 (the kind that I buy anyway). With the three kids, we go through at least 2 packages of diapers per week (I discovered this when we went to Mexico for a week with all three). So that's $32 per week (at least) times 52 weeks in a year. That equals $1664 in one year. And that doesn't include wipes.
I've had three in cloth diapers for 6 months. The investment I made on diapers has already almost paid for itself. AND I haven't thrown thousands of disposables into landfills.
Cloth diapering is SO FULL OF WIN!!!
I'm Theresa. I'm the mother of an almost 2 year old boy and 6 month old twin girls. My life is CRAZY, but awesome at the same time. I blog regularly at “Confessions of a High-heel Wearing Hippie Mommy,” about Attachment and Gentle Parenting my three small children, living as “green” as possible, and trying to find balance in it all. And my husband is actually pretty tolerant of my ways, and very happy I have the blog so I can stop talking his ear off about all this stuff I have on my mind. Come join me on my journey!
You can also follow me on Twitter (@hhhippiemommy) and/or “like” my Facebook page.
Thank you so much for guest blogging for Tiny TreeHugger Theresa!
If you are interested in being a guest blogger here please contact us.
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