Sunday, January 10, 2010

Deciding Which Cloth Diapers To Use

After my husband and I made the decision to use cloth diapers, we undertook the daunting task of deciding which kind to use.

The only kind of cloth diaper I’d ever seen or heard about were the good ol’ prefolds, fastened with diaper pins, and covered with plastic pants. I was ready to take on the task of rinsing poopy diapers in the toilet, learning how to pin without poking my baby, and wiping down the plastic pants with a washcloth so they could be worn through multiple messes.

There’s no doubt about it – cloth diapering with prefolds is cheap. However, talking with friends and family and looking up cloth diapers on the web opened my eyes to a whole world of cloth diapering that I never knew existed!

There were so many brand names and terms to learn: Fuzzi Bunz, bumGenius, Thirsties covers, Snappis, and diaper sprayers. Those words meant nothing to me before I started my search. Paying 17+ dollars for one diaper? I would never have dreamed of doing such a thing.

And yet, as I read and researched, those words became common household terms for my husband and I, and $17.00 didn’t seem so outrageous. Yes, prefolds were the cheapest cloth diaper available, but they seemed like they required the most effort. Would it be worth the money saved if I gave up on cloth diapering altogether due to frustration? A diaper sprayer seemed like a luxury item, something totally unnecessary; however, it also seemed like it might be worth its weight in gold!

We did hours of research, and I really mean HOURS. After weighing pros and cons and comparing costs, we decided to go with the bumGenius 3.0 One-Size Pocket Diapers. This was our reasoning:

  • 1. Compared to prefolds, they were much more expensive ($17.95 a pop!), but compared to disposables, they were much cheaper.

  • 2. Because they have expandable sizes and supposedly fit a child from birth to potty-trained, this would be a one-time purchase.

  • 3. They seemed very easy. We wanted to be sure to stick it out when it came to cloth diapering, so it seemed wise to pick a system that we knew we could deal with.

  • 4. Other parents loved them. It’s hard to find a bad review on bumGenius diapers.

  • 5. They were SO CUTE! Just LOOK at the adorable colors! (Okay, this wasn’t a deciding factor, but still important in my eyes.)

We also decided to get the diaper sprayer. This coincided directly with reason number 3 for going with bumGenius. I was okay dipping my hands into the toilet to rinse dirty diapers, but the idea of being able to neatly spray the poop off seemed so much nicer.

So, here we are, a frugal couple with a limited income, owning a huge stash of top-of-the-line cloth diapers and a diaper sprayer. To me, it was worth it. We’re saving tons of money because we don’t have to buy packages of disposable. Our daughter’s health is better off because of it. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, because we don’t feel overwhelmed, we’re sticking with it!

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