Diaper research

I've been thinking about babies and having babies. In particular, I've been thinking about diapers. To be exact, I've been thinking about cloth diapers. For a while, I was an avid reader of "green" sites and one of the big fads among "greenies" were cloth diapers. After the wave of fascination passed, some people cast doubt on how environmentally friendly cloth diapers are after factoring in using harsh chemicals to launder them and the amount of water used to wash them. I say harsh chemicals because you gotta use pretty strong stuff to regularly wash poop and pee off fabric.

For a long time, I couldn't bear the thought of foregoing the convenience of disposable diapers in favor of cloth diapers. As much as I would like not to add tons of disposable diapers to the landfill, I hate the thought of scraping poop every 2 hours and then washing the nasties in our washer. Although, even if cloth diapers are not necessarily the more eco-friendly alternative, I do believe it's better for our future baby because it's more breathable and isn't filled with weird chemicals. So I decided to do some research on cloth diapering online since it couldn't hurt just to learn more about it before making a decision. After a quick search online, I found this site:
http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/

The site has a lot of information on the different types of cloth diapers out there - and there are a LOT of choices! What I learned was that cloth diapers are expensive, with the fancy ones costing about $24 each. Considering that a newborn can go through 12 to 16 diapers a day, getting a decent stash of cloth diapers requires a huge initial investment. The other thing that concerns me is the fact that babies grow, meaning that you may have to invest in different sized diapers, increasing the cost of cloth diapering. There are cheaper options, but every option comes with pros and cons.

So basically, the most basic cloth diaper is called a prefold or flat. Prefolds and flats are rectangular diapers that you fold up and use pins or Snappis to secure into a diaper on baby. When we think of what our grandmothers used, we are thinking of flats. Prefolds are like the newly improved flats. They have a middle section that's thicker for more absorbency. If you're queasy about using safety pins, you can use something called a Snappi, which is a Y-shaped bit of stretchy rubber with plastic tabs that have little teeth to grip fabric. You can see YouTube videos of how to use Snappis with a flat or prefold diaper. It's quite fascinating, actually. The American Red Cross Babysitter's class, if I remember correctly, had an optional section to teach teenagers how to diaper a baby using a flat piece of cloth. Anyways, if using prefolds and flats, you may want to also use a waterproof or water-resistant cover over them.


Next up are pocket diapers ,which don't need a cover because it comes with a waterproof layer. It has a pocket for you to put in an absorbent insert. You can use a prefold or flat as an insert or you can buy inserts made from all kinds of materials like microfiber or hemp.

Fitted diapers have elastic and fasteners. They look a bit more like disposable diapers, but like prefolds and flats, they require a cover. I think most of the homemade diapers on Etsy.com are of this kind. Some fitted diapers come with pockets.

All-in-one diapers, or AIOs, most resembles a disposable diaper. There is no cover needed nor any inserts. These are the most expensive kind, but are super easy to use. Some AIOs also come with pockets in case your baby is a heavy wetter.

From this site, I also learned of something called, "elimination communication." It's potty-training your baby as soon as possible. Babies make signs or faces when they're about to go and when mommies see this, mommies can immediately put their baby on the potty. This causes the baby to associate the potty with going and the baby may learn to hold it until a potty is available. Mommies who have done this say that after hitting the one year old mark, their babies can get to the point where they rarely need a diaper and if they do soil themselves, it's because mommy wasn't paying attention when baby was trying to tell her baby needs to go! Fans of this method really love it and claims that it really works very well because it reduces the need for diapers and gives you another way to bond with your baby.

There is a third diapering option I'm considering. It's a hybrid solution between cloth and disposable diapering. Basically, parents can opt for a cloth cover that can be reused and use flush-able inserts. It's an attractive option because you're not adding as much to the landfill and you don't have to deal with poop.

The most attractive option in my mind right now is elimination communication combined with cloth diapering. The less time I spend cleaning poop, the better. What makes cloth diapering especially attractive, other than for the reasons mentioned above, is that I can use it for more than one child. Plus, cloth diapers come in really cute prints, materials and colors! The consumer in me is very excited at the prospect of shopping! However, the frugal in me says, it's much, much more practical to choose a cheap cloth diaper. For instance, using prefolds with an attractive cover instead of going for fitted cloth diapers.

Unfortunately, many people have had issues using prefolds. Some find them bulky and others have issues getting them fitted around a squirmy baby. Some really love them, but I won't know which camp I fall into until I try them out, I suppose.

Another attractive option is to get a one-size diaper. A one-size diaper can come as a pocket or AIO or AIO with a pocket. The one-size diaper has snaps that you can use to adjust the size of the diaper. Theoretically, you can use this same kind of diaper from birth to potty-training. You just have to use a different combination of snaps or fasteners as the baby grows. The BumGenius 4.0 is a very popular one-size diaper. Kawaii is also popular and is much cheaper than others of its kind. Reviews for both have been very good.

Now, another thing to consider when opting for cloth diapers is laundering. Many parents have installed a sprayer in the bathroom to spray gunk off the diapers before putting them in the diaper pail. I would prefer this over using an old spatula to scrape stuff or swishing the dirty diaper in the toilet. Still is really gross though.

Then there's the diaper pail. Supposedly, there are two ways to go about this. You can either use a wet pail or a dry pail. A dry pail is a pail with a liner. You thrown the diapers in there and when it's time to wash, you dump everything into the washer including the liner. A wet pail is a pail filled with liquid. Usually, the liquid has some soap or other pre-treating stuff in it. Dirty diapers are tossed into the wet pail and soak until wash time. When it's time to do laundry, you just pour everything into the washer. Wet pails sound like they require more work because you have to change the water pretty much every day to avoid smells and nasty buildup. In doing some research, both types can lead to smells.

The last thing I want to mention on this topic is reusable baby wipes, or cloth wipes. If I'm going to go this route, why not consider all my reusable options? There are some really soft and pretty cloths out there and you can make your own wipe solution. Soiled baby cloths go into the washer along with the soiled diapers and can be washed in the same load.

I know this all sounds like we'd be dealing in poop a great deal. That's probably true, but it's worth considering if our baby doesn't do well with disposables or we have the time and energy to devote to it. I admit that the initial investment can be high, but it doesn't have to be and if we're lucky, cloth diapering can actually save us money in the long run. Of course, this is all hypothetical talk and speculation. I'm not pregnant and we're not planning to have a baby for at least a few more months. :-)