I am back with a vengance! I am kidding, I'm just back! So i thought to myself that I should attempt to explain cloth diapering a little more than my ranty introduction earlier this week. I do asure you, cloth diapering is not hard.
Your first order of business is to collect up some diapers for your little one. (I am currently taking orders for whomever would like to make some purchases) You will need 10-12 to get through 1 day. If you don't want to wash every day then 2-3 doze should get you through a few days. I do laundry everyday anyway so I just use 10. There are a bunch of different kinds out there. you have AIO (all in ones) AI2 (all in 2) and pockets. AIO and AI2 are self explanitory, a pocket diaper all you have to do is take your desired number of insets, and place them neatly into the diaper and you are good to go. When I pull mine out of the laundry I stuff them so they are waiting patiently to be used. There are literally hundreds of options on who to purchase through. you can get one size diapers or fitteds. One size has an array of snaps along the front of the diaper that adjusts the rise of the diaper allowing it to 'grow' with your baby.
I prefer fitteds because I feel they reduce the bulky awkwardness that is sometimes associated with cloth. I like my son to wear the clothes he has, and not to buy him an entirely new wardrobe to wear around his diapers. One sizes are great for those families who have more than one baby in diapers, or more than one baby in general, or a family on a budget who cannot afford to purchase new fitteds when their baby grows out of them. Cloth diapers are insanely durable. I make my own so I know how awesome they are, but I wash mine every day, sometimes twice a day (depending on how much use I got out of them that day) and they are still holding up like a dream. They aren't even faded. The liner I use for the inside of my diapers is microfleece suedecloth and my son's bottom is always dry. No matter how soaked the inserts are.
Next is the actual application of the diapers. Once you put them on their butts, there is no telling what they will do next! Wrangling your baby is the hardest part about using any diaper. My son is probably the worst. As soon as you lay him down and get the diaper off, he rolls over and crawls away faster than Speedy Gonzales! Once I catch him and tell him a million times to hold still, I get his cloth on. Just like a disposable, only difference here, I use snaps instead of tape or hook and loop. I make sure it's on well, sometimes I have to pull up on the back end or sides or something because my son is a wiggler. and I am all set for about 2-3 hours. Sometimes less than that. After a while of cloth diapering you will be able to feel the diaper and tell when the inserts are wet. But what do you do if your baby uses the diaper for its intended purpose? POOP?
Don't panic! Babies are supposed to poop. And although poop smells bad about 99.9% of the time, and it is often gooey and squishy and gross, do not freak out! This is what these things were designed for! All you have to do is take off the diaper, clean baby's bottom, put a clean diaper on and set your baby free so you can handle the aftermath! Go to the bathroom, dump the dookie in the toilet, use some toilet paper if you have to, this is where most people invest in a toilet sprayer, I just use the one on my kitchen sink and once the dookie residue is gone I drop a few droplets of dawn or some handmade soap I have and rise the diaper out thoroughly and toss it in the washer to await being cleaned. I clean my kitchen sink with some bleach, or cleaning solution or vinegar or whatever is easiest to grab.
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