For the love of cloth diapering....

I figured I would talk a little about our experiences in cloth diapering...because we get a lot of variety in questions, comments and concerns...
People from my mom's generation tend to say "good for you, I cloth diapered all of my babies and we even used pins!" People from our generation and in between all tend to think cloth diapering is inconvenient, difficult and disgusting. Also its hard not to be spoiled by the ease and accessibility of disposable diapers. Moving on....cloth diapering works for us and we have no regrets on our decision.
Also, what made the biggest difference is that Jonathan and I made the decision together. In fact, he is the primary washer of the cloth diapers! He even created special cycles on the washer and the dryer just for the diapers!
So this is how it works:

• We change Declan
• We rinse the cloth diapers in the utility sink
• we place the rinsed out diapers in a 5 gallon bucket filled with soapy water
• We use a product called "Rock N' Green" to soak our diapers   http://rockingreensoap.com/
• At the end of the day Jonathan dumps the bucket into the washing machine
• The diapers have a special cycle which runs over 2 hours
• After we dry them in the dryer on low heat for two hour

We have two different brands of diapers and three different types of liners. 24 diapers total, to give us a bit of cushion on the washing. We use bumcheeks diapers http://www.bcheeks.com.au/ and Bumgenius diapers http://www.bumgenius.com/
 We didn't buy any of our diapers from these websites, we used websites like www.ecobabybuys.com, www.greenbabybargains.com and www.mamabargains.com/ On these websites you can get the diapers for about $12 a piece when they are on special! Jonathan and I estimated that our cloth diapering start up cost was about $450. But that is it. We bought the one size diapers, which mean they grow with Declan. You just adjust the snaps according to the babys size.
Also the other thing we do that is different from the norm in the cloth diapering world, is that we don't stuff our cloth diapers in the pocket. We put the insert next to Declan's skin. This means that when you change him sometimes just the liner is wet and not the shell, so you just replace the liner!

What do we do when we are out and about? Well we usually just bring our wet/dry bag and our supply of cloth diapers. Occasionally we use a disposable diaper. There are also these great products like G Diaper disposable inserts http://www.gdiapers.com/environmentally-friendly-diapers/biodegradable-disposable-diaper-inserts
or Flip disposable inserts. Both are biodegradable! These inserts just take the place of the cloth inserts and you can just toss them into the trash can.
Why sometimes cloth diapers are annoying:

• They take up more space in the diaper bag
• They make certain outfits a little more challenging, sometimes he has to wear a bigger size
• Cloth diapers means an extra load of laundry

However, these things are not things that can be fixed. In fact we have found solutions to all of those problems. And for Jonathan and I, who have traveled and seen the global impacts of our waste. And also as people who really love and appreciated our environment, the extra load of laundry in our super efficient washer is worth it!

Why we love cloth diapers:

• It is easy! Really!
• Environmentally friendly
• Little to no diaper rashes ( definite plus with all of Declan's sensitive skin genes!)
• He really really doesn't like to be wet or dirty...we are hoping this helps with potty training
• No blow outs yet!
• The cloth diapers are adorable!
• They make an outfit all by themselves