Krystal's Journey to Cloth Diapering

August 20th, 2009: That was the day that our lives changed forever. That was the day my little girl ~ Alexa Faith ~ was born and we started buying diapers...and more diapers...and more diapers! Alexa has always had very sensitive skin and we could only use one brand of diapers (of course it was the most expensive brand).

Once Alexa reach 7 months (yes 7 months!! :S), my husband, Shawn, and I figured we were ready to venture into having another little one (Some days I really wonder what we were thinking). Well, it didn’t take long and we were expecting again! On March 14th, 2011, we had a little boy Casey Ezekiel, and we now had 2 little sweet cheeks in diapers. And what-do-you-know, Casey had Daddy’s sensitive skin too!

The cost of diapers was starting to drown us! We were spending over $100 in diapers every month!! (And that was a good month for us). When Casey was only 5 months old a friend of mine suggested that I try cloth diapers and I laughed at her thinking “Yah, right, just what this Mama needs ~ more to do, and as if I want to clean caca-poo outta the diapers! YUK!!”

And that was that. I had made up my mind; there was NO WAY I was going to give a second thought about stinky cloth diapers!

Then in May, just after Casey turned one, I had another friend, who happens to own a fantastic little store called ‘Tiny TreeHugger’ message me about them and me not wanting to be rude figured I’d try to be polite and open-minded, and it went something like this:

May 28th
Pam: Hey Krystal,
Just thought I would send a note and see if you were interested in cloth diapering to save some $$.
Me: I might be interested, but I don't think that we would have money to invest into cloth diapers right now, and Casey will only be in them for about 9 months or so.....although I wouldn't mind getting a little more info on the cost of cloth diapers!
Pam: So right now I have Sweet Pea Diapers on for about $12. They are a one size diaper that come with absorbent inserts. Even if you started with 6-8 and went from there, you could be washing every day [or every other if you diaper part time], then you would just need a wetbag for putting the dirties in. Voila! Just imagine if you diapered for like $100 - $150 bucks until Casey was potty trained?!? Then sold them after or even gave them to a mamma who couldn't afford to diaper! Let me know your thoughts.

Well, that was the end of that. But I started thinking, and thinking, and thinking....how bad could it really be??

I started looking into it a little bit more, and it started to sound a bit better. One fact I learned was that EVERY disposable diaper we use will sit in our landfills for 550 YEARS!! So I decided to get a little more information. Next thing you know my conversation with my friend went something like this:

July 17th
Me: Ok, I have a thousand questions about it. Would I be able to meet with you sometime and actually see they product and what you have to offer?

Well, I went down and checked them out. I spent only $200.00 and got a ton of diapers and fell IN LOVE! It has been such a great experience! It has been so much simpler then I thought it would be. Shawn is totally good with the cloth diapers too, which has been a blessing. I got the flushable liners, so when Casey ‘number twos’ in them I just take the liner out and into the toilet it goes! We have less leaks and WAY less bum rashes! We are helping the environment for our kids and our kids' kids and our kids' kids' kids, and ... well 550 years is a lot of generations! And on top of all that we are saving BIG bucks!!! We have even been able to put extra ‘diaper money’ to the side and take a trip to the States just Shawn and I! How great is that!??!

If you are still using disposable diapers, let me tell you, from a girl who would NEVER have considered it, I’m telling you, “YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON SO MUCH!”.

Pam with Tiny TreeHugger has been fantastic and there for me every step and with every question! It has been overall an unbelievable experience for us and I now am wanting #3 just so I can use my cloth diapers again!

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Thank you Krystal for your blog contribution and sharing your journey with us!  We know that if your babe is in diapers, you're never too late to start cloth diapering...

Applecheeks Tutorial Video

Below you will find an AppleCheeks Tutorial Video
English is the first 3:30 and the French version starts after that.
Enjoy!

Fluffy butts for beginners - Part I

written by Lisa for Tiny TreeHugger

In a previous post on my blog, Conversion story, I wrote about how our family came to choose the cloth diapering option. We were on the fence for a while, and one of the most difficult parts about deciding to switch from disposables was the factor of the unknown. I didn't have any real experience with cloth, and I didn't have any friends who were doing it.  Because of that, disposable diapering was an automatic choice for us in the beginning.  Even when I did consider using cloth I had no real idea what it would be like, and I was afraid we would invest the money, hate it, and hear "I told you so" for the rest of our days.

This is for all those parents who are feeling exactly like that right now. If you can't imagine what the day to day of cloth diapering will look like (and I really had no clue), let me be that 'friend who cloth diapers' for you.  Come spy on our diaper changes, and snoop in my laundry room.  Satisfy your curiousity, and get yourself in a better place to make that choice.

I'd like to start off with a bit of a disclaimer.   There are many ways to cloth diaper.  In our family, we use one-size pocket diapers, and store our diapers in a laundry bag with a waterproof lining, commonly referred to as a wet bag.  If you are reading this as a veteran cloth diaperer, I may describe diapering a little differently than what you may do.  That's cool.  This is what works for us.

So, where to begin?  The first thing to realize about cloth diapering is that once you are using them, diapers are always in a cycle of clean diaper, to baby-wearing-diaper, to dirty diaper, to laundry day. This post describes the first 3 parts of that cycle. Fluffy butts - Part II will talk about laundry, storage, and using your cloth diapers away from home.

We'll start the diaper cycle with clean diapers. I mean, those are the best kind anyway, right? So let's say you have your clean diapers, folded and ready to go, sitting in a laundry basket, and your baby is ready to be diapered.

Diapering your baby

Pocket diapers like I use are easy to diaper with. They go on just like disposables, and close with either velcro or snaps. I like snaps, because the diapers won't "chain" together in the wash, like velcro ones tend to, but velcro is more adjustable, so there are advantages to either choice.

Thanks to my 80's childhood, the classic "My Buddy" is going to be our baby today, just to keep this post as clean as possible. ;-)

Lay baby on top of an open clean diaper,

fold it up and over baby,

and do up the snaps, first the right side and then the left (because the right flap has snap "receivers" so you can make it as tight as you need to).

Voila! One cloth diapered baby, comfy-cozy.

Changing Diapers

During the daytime, I generally change diapers every few hours, or whenever there is a dirty diaper, which I change just as soon as it is discovered. When you go to change a wet diaper, just open the snaps and replace the wet diaper with a clean one.  You can wipe and dry baby, if that is what you are used to. Then turn the diaper so that the opening between the fleece and the waterproof shell points down, and pull the inserts out of the diaper, to get the diaper ready to wash.

This photo shows a diaper with the inserts partially pulled out, so you can get the idea.

Pull the inserts all the way out, and lay them on top of the waterproof shell in your hand (pic on the left). This minimizes the amount that you actually have to touch the wet inserts. Fold the diaper cover shut (pic on the right), and you are ready to store it until laundry day.

"Sure," you might be thinking. "That's wet diapers. If all diapers were just wet, this wouldn't be that difficult of a choice. Get to the disgusting stuff."

Well, with a dirty diaper, there are just a few extra steps, and the first step is not much different from dealing with a dirty disposable. Just like with disposables, you will have to clean baby before replacing the diaper. Cloth diapers usually mean cloth wipes. I use baby washcloths, the cheapest I can find, and just keep a stash of 30 or so folded in a container in my diaper change area.

Make your cloth wipes wet with warm water from the tap, and away you go.  Even babysitters have commented to me that cloth wipes are far better than slippery disposable wipes for wiping away poo, and clean cloths don't leave anything extra on baby's skin (like perfumes or lotions that can irritation).  Still, if you are hooked on disposable wipes, you can use the flushable kind, and toss them into the toilet when you are done.

Once baby is clean and rediapered, you are left with the dirty diapers and wipes.  At this point with a disposable, you tie it up and toss it in the trash until garbage day, when it gets trucked off to the local landfill, along with all the other dirty disposables in your area.  That is a lot of human waste incubating in plastic at our dumps. And people say cloth diapering is gross.

Getting a dirty diaper ready for the laundry pile is really not that bad. Turn the diaper pocket opening down, and pull the inserts out above the toilet. Throw them directly into the laundry, or leave them for a minute in the sink or on your change pad. If you have an older child, another great place for anything dirty is an empty potty. 

When the diaper's waterproof shell is empty, turn it upside down above the toilet. If you fold it in half, dirty side out, you can hold onto just the diaper tabs and your hands never need touch the waste or the toilet water.  Holding onto the top and bottom of the folded diaper, dunk the dirty part of the diaper in the toilet water. Swish the diaper in the water a few times, and most of the waste will fall off into the water, ready to be flushed away. What's left can go into your laundry bag, along with the inserts and cloth wipes from this diaper change.  Wash your hands, and you are all done.

That takes care of everything your babysitter will ever need to know about using cloth diapers. Of course, we know that as the parent there is still the issue of dirty laundry to deal with. Also, some people might feel comfortable cloth diapering at home, but don't know how they will do it with baby at the mall, or at grandma's house. In my next post, I will talk about washing diapers, and diapering on the go.

Tiny TreeHugger Editor's note:  
Most velcro diapers also have laundry tabs to fold over so they don't chain together!  

Some diapers like the AppleCheeks and Sweet Peas are made so the inserts come out with the agitation in the wash! No need to pull the insert out.

Also - exclusively breastfed baby poop is water soluble, so no need to put in the toilet, just make sure there is a first rinse in your wash cycle before the hot wash with soap!  Many don't swish in the toilet, as there are diaper sprayers or flushable liners that can be used...

Thanks Lisa for being our FIRST guest blogger!  If you are interested in contributing to our blog, please email us info at tinytreehuggerdiapers dot com...

Recommendations for starting cloth?

We are 'taking it to the streets' so to speak and asking YOU the question:

What one recommendation would you give someone just starting out with cloth?

A Twitter follower says: @tiny_treehugger try a variety of styles first to see what fits best. Friends with cloth stashes who lend them out help too :)

PamJ says: don't give up! it is something that you either love or you don't & it may take longer than a day to find the love for it, if you don't feel it yet...

PamC says: You don't have to commit to doing cloth full-time right away.  If you're not totally comfortable with it, you can just do it during the day, or while you're at home, or whatever works best for you.  Using a mix of cloth and disposables is okay, if that's what works.  It's better than nothing.

What is your answer?