cloth diaper update

i'll start off by saying, i really am a fan of cloth diapers.  in the long run it is more economical, the babies have less blowouts (in my experience, 99% of the blowouts from my kids were in disposables), i'm putting so much less crap (literally) in the landfills (and actually, we're not supposed to be putting human crap in landfills, the poo should be disposed of in the toilet, otherwise it can leak into ground water and cause the black plague all over again), i'm using less resources to manufacture disposables, my kids have never had a bad diaper rash, there is not a chance of whatever the hell chemical is in the moisture absorbing gel in disposables to touch my baby's skin, and one of my favorite things is that the cloth diapers i purchased (bum genius 4.0) can be used for years and years through multiple kids.

the other day after the cloth diaper laundry was done, i was stuffing the inserts into the covers and was checking out the cloth diapers more closely.  i was impressed at how well they have held up.  i used them with Z for 3 years, and for about a year so far with Ava.  because i strip mine every 2-3 months and add bleach to the rinse cycle about once a month, they don't really have a lot of stain build up.  the elastic in the leg holes are a little more stretched out now but don't really need to be replaced yet.  the covers still look great, with little to no wear.  the snaps are still like new.  even the inserts, while a little less fluffy than they used to be, have held up well.  i'm just so happy with these diapers!  

when i was pregnant with z, i did a ridiculous amount of research on the different styles and brands of cloth diapers, the pros and cons of each, how to clean them, different reviews, i watched numerous clips on how to use them, how to wash them, dry them, different systems put into place to organize them, even how to rinse the poo out of them, what kind of diaper cream to use, which detergents are cloth diaper safe, how to strip them, what to do if they are stained, etc.  hubs and i calculated the savings when purchasing a certain number of cloth diapers versus disposables over the lifetime of diapering children.  we thought about how many diapers per day we would go through at specific stages of the child's life in diapers and how often we would need to wash them in a week to figure out how many we should purchase initially.  because we are nerds.  but also like to be prepared and educated, even about diapers, haha.  

so we decided 24 would be an ideal number.  i purchased a couple different kinds ahead of time and tested them on my niece to determine which ones i would prefer and decided on the bum genius 4.0 which is a one size pocket diaper.  which means that the diaper adjusts to three different sizes to fit your growing baby from approximately 7-35 lbs.  so you only need to buy them once instead of paying $15+ each and having to buy them again in a bigger size as the baby grows.

and after using them for the first time when z was a month old it took about a week of getting used to and tweaking things.  the diaper laundry was never that burdensome, and even the poo was not that big of a deal.  there were times that it was downright unpleasant, but we have a diaper sprayer and soap and water to wash our hands, so it was manageable.  the few times that we had an issue with baby diarrhea, we just switched to disposables until it cleared up.  and we do use disposables for night time, just because z's skin was very sensitive and irritable and would be very red if he wore the cloth dipes overnight, but i know some babies that have no problems with that.

anyway, we are still going strong with these diapers and i have never regretted choosing this route.  and i have highly recommended them to many friends.

bum genius 4.0...i mean, we use these constantly and have washed them hundreds of times and bleached them and they are still holding up so well