Monday, June 25, 2012

Cloth Diaper Trial

A lot of people I know on Facebook cloth diaper. I've been kind of curious. But with working full time outside of the home and only getting to the laundry on the weekends, cloth diapers were not an option. But then when DS started day care and they would send his clothes that had poop in it just wrapped in a paper. I had to shout it and wash his clothes when I got home from work. I decided maybe I could do cloth diapers, but after we moved. I did not think the daycare did cloth diapers and I did not want to bother with that since they had other children to take care of.
I placed a query on facebook and a friend mentioned a website called Jillian's Drawers. This site offers a 21 day trial. You pay $150 up front, but if you decide you don't think cloth diapers are for you, you return everything and are reimbursed for the diapers, except for shipping and $10. Not a bad deal. The deal sends several brands of diapers along with kinds of diapers. They provide pre use instructions and the website has a lot of helpful information from how to clean the diapers to how many one would need. Shipping was very quick too.
I received the following items:
2 OsoCozy Indian Prefolds
2 OsoCozy Better Fit Unbleached Prefolds
Snappi Diaper Fastener
Kissaluvs Fitted Diaper
Thirsties Duo Wrap
bumGenius v4.0 One-Size Pocket Diaper w/ Inserts
Rumparooz One-Size Diaper w/Inserts
FuzziBunz Elite One-Size Pocket w/Inserts
Smartiepants One-Size Pocket Diaper
bumGenius! Freetime Diaper
5 Flushable liners


The first one we tried was the bumGenius! Freetime Diaper. The insert is actually attached to the diaper, so everything is just one piece. This diaper seemed to be pretty easy to use. It has velcro fasteners, which I've heard people say they don't like, but they seemed easy to use. I guess that after a while, the velcro loses its hold, but they make replacement velcro that you can purchase. I'm not a seamstress, so I don't know if I will buy velcro or just a new diaper.



The next diaper we tried and used through the night was the Rump-A-Rooz. It came with two inserts. I read that for sleeping, it is best to use two inserts. It made his diaper look bulky, but he was not bothered by it. He actually does not care what he's wearing... he'd probably prefer nothing, but that's not happening. This diaper has the snaps instead of the velcro. The snaps are easy to use, but take a little work than the velcro with a wriggly baby The diaper worked overnight, no leaks in our bed!



In the morning, I put the FuzziBunz on DS. I knew he was due for a poop, so I placed the flushable liner in the diaper as well. The flushable liner seemed a bit too big, but I folded it in a bit. I later found a YouTube video where a lady actually cuts one liner into thirds and they fit longer and her stash lasts longer.  He had his poopy and I was a bit worried because there was poop on the regular liner. I flushed the poop and soaked the diaper in the toilet to get the other cling ons. And then I rinsed the diaper in the sink and threw it in the wash. On another video, when the lady was showing how to dispose of the poop, there was poop on the reusuable liner, so I knew the flushable one worked.  Because DS is mostly breastfed, his poop is still runny instead of solid.


After his morning constitution, I put on the other bumGenius diaper, the bumGenius 4.0. This one was easy to use, just like the other one, except I had to place the liners inside. And because it has the velcro, it's like using a regular diaper.



Next up was the Smartipants. It too came with two liners. It has the snaps, but again, very easy to use.



For nighttime, I used the OsoCozy Better Fit prefold. These ones are a bit shorter than the other pre-folds and will fit the diaper better. I also had the Thirsties Duo Wrap on the outside. At first, the prefold bunched in the back, but I readjusted it because I did not want to wake up to a wet bed. The diaper lasted all night with no leaks. It was kind of hard to get the prefold to fit into the wrap, but it might have been because DS was uncooperative, but we got it to work. The Thristies has velcro so it was easy to put on.




In the morning, I tried the last sample, the Kissaluvs. It was just a cloth and so I placed the Thirsties Duo Wrap over it. DS had his morning poop. I decided not to use the flushable liner. I dumped the poop in the toilet (beans from the day before) and soaked the diaper in the toilet for a few minutes. I then rinsed the diaper and washed it.

As I am writing this blog entry, I notice the bumGenius FreeTime is coming off DS, I don't know if he pulled the velcro of I did not put the diaper on snug enough... oh well, he needed to be changed anyways.

I have placed an order for a few more diapers, since I only have enough to last a day, which means I have been doing a lot of washing! I like them all, but I did order more bumGenius since they were having a sale. I do like the kissaluvs, so I ordered some wraps. I will order more Kissaluvs when finances allow it.

So all in all, cloth diapering is not as difficult as I thought it would be. DS seems content. I think DH may have me change the poopy diapers until he feels comfortable... but it took a while for him to eat organic, and once he did, he liked it better!


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