Tonight I ordered cloth diapers. After diapering six children in disposables, I decided it was time to make the change. It doesn’t hurt that cloth diapers have come a long way since my first child fourteen years ago. I am not a pins and rubber pants gal, but these newer diaper styles are more my speed.
I do not even want to think about the money we have spent and the garbage we have produced over the last 14 years. My conservative estimate shows that we have spent over $500 in wipes alone!
Initially I had hoped to make my own diapers and wipes (perhaps I still will in the future) but with bed rest, my sewing projects have been put on hold for a while. If you are interested in sewing your own, you can find some tutorials on this site.
After much research, emailing, and begging for advice, I finally decided to try a few brands of diapers. I purchased Fuzzi Bunz size small which should fit our little one until she is about 18 pounds. Our babies tend to be on the small and skinny side, so I was afraid that the one size diapers would be way too big for a long time. We will still probably end up using disposables for the first few weeks, but hopefully she will be big enough to move into the small Fuzzi Bunz
soon. I also purchased a few Bum Genius
one size diapers. Several women at my church use these and I am impressed with the ease of use and great fit. I also purchased a few Nurtured Family Contours Microterry inserts
for nighttime use.
It was a lot of money to spend all at once, but after looking at the cost analysis I know I will break even around 8 months. I didn’t have to buy wipes because my sweet neighbor brought me over a huge stack of wipes she made and then ended up not using. I will probably make some more as time goes on, but for now I have plenty!
As for my switch from paper to cloth in the kitchen, it is going very well. I should have pictures up next week of all the changes we have made, plus a make your own compost bin tutorial. The only thing we haven’t done is switch to cloth napkins because dh says he will not make them for me 
. Maybe I can talk my mom into making some when she comes to visit.
For more “green projects” visit Heavenly Homemakers.
Photo courtesy of All Posters.
You will LOVE these! I cloth diapered my second (he is now 2) and the pocket diapers make it easy! The extra step of stuffing the liners in is made up by the super fast drying time and easy disposable-like fit.
You won’t regret it!! I love cloth diapering and wish I would have done it with my first one, too! I don’t have much experience with Fuzzi Bunz, but I use bum Genius and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!
I’m cloth diapering my second baby, and I love it! I never thought I’d cloth diaper, but now I wonder why I didn’t do it with my first. The BumGenius are great. I was able to use them on my daughter after a week or so, and I have skinny babies, too. Overall, I actually prefer my prefolds and Bummis Super Brites covers. You can just lay the prefold in the cover and put it on all in one piece.
Have fun with your cloth diapering!
i’d say I’m almost ‘hard core’ about cloth diapering. I made my own as well as a full stash for my sister, and then enjoyed it so much I started selling them on etsy as well. I make each diaper different and it is so much fun picking different colors and fabrics. Almost every time I finish a new diaper I tell my hubby that it’s my new favorite one. They are really SO much fun.
I hope you have success with the cloth diapers. They did not work for me. They do make better cloth diapers now and some of them are really cute.
We love our BumGenius diapers around here. Even my husband likes them, and he was hard core against the cloth diapers in the beginning.
I just started cloth diapering my 4th child right before her 1st birthday. I sure wish I would have done this sooner also! Good luck with this!
I can’t wait to see the compost bin tutorial, I really wanting to start that here. As for cloth napkins we really lucked out with those…our pastor’s wife had extras that she gave to us because they weren’t the color she used!
Good luck with the cloth – You’re braver than I!
Good for you! I hope you love it! We’ve been doing it for almost 2 years now and are big fans
Haven’t tried the BG yet, but planning on it soon!
I did not use cloth diapers, but have gone with cloth napkins in the kitchen. Since my kids are 7,5 & 4 I wanted to make it easy & have a good amount of them. So, I just bought inexpensive dish cloths, all the same color, that are used only as napkins. It has worked out great for us!
You will have fun cloth diapering. Well, I like doing it. I also got my sister doing it for her 2nd child. I like fuzzi bunz the best. I also use bum genius, but I prefer the snaps to the velcro. A good resource for diapers if you don’t mind second hand is http://www.diaperswappers.com. I have saved a ton of money getting diapers from there. I am also having 6 fuzzi bunz repairs (new elastic) by someone I found on there. I’m crap at sewing.
I should write a post about all my fave cloth diapering stuff. I feel like I’ve tried every brand out there, so that would be impossible there are so many.
Good luck!
Oh yeah, you can often find cloth napkins in the clearance bin at bed, bath and beyond. That’s where I got a lot of mine. I haven’t used paper napkins for yonks.
Oh, I have the BumGenius One size and LOVE them. I mention them here:
http://beautifulcalling.blogspot.com/2009/02/ne
w-cloth-diaper.html
I used a couple different brands with my first and ended up not liking them (and reverting back to disposable). John is 7 months and I am still using our bumgenius because they are so great.
Welcome to the realm of cloth diapering!!
http://beautifulcalling.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-cloth-diaper.html
Sorry
What a blessing cloth diapers are! We just got 3 organic bum genius and love them, but my all time favorite diaper company is Loveybums. I wish I had started out with them 3 1/2 years ago. Hope you enjoy your new adventure in cloth diapering. Blessings.
We are cloth diapering for the first time too, with our 4th child. We had tried fuzzi bunz but they didn’t work for us. We are using just good ole’ prefolds. So far so good! I’m excited to see your switch to cloth in the kitchen. We’ve been wanting to make that switch too.
I’ve used cloth on and off for 10 years. All six of my kids have worn at least some cloth.
If you have skinny kids then the Bumgenius will probably fit until potty learning. My skinny dd didn’t potty train until 4 and they still fit her until she trained. My 2 yo dd is chubby with chunky thighs and they were starting to leave red marks on her. I ordered her some of the large Fuzzi Bunz and they fit on the tightest setting so they should fit until potty learning. My 1 yo son is fairly skinny and still on the snap down of the Bumgenius. I’m pretty sure they’ll fit until he potty learns although I’m kind of wishing I hadn’t ordered some of the Bumgenius in pink. I had 2 girls in diapers at the time but now they are his. lol I just make sure I cover them up when he wears them.
I have made my own but I generally buy them. They are pretty tedious to make and I’ve kind of had my fill. I’d rather make actual clothes when I can squeeze in sewing time. There is a mom in my homeschool group that sews her own and loves doing it. I think she uses the Darling Diapers pattern. I tend to just trace diapers I like.
You know you have a 14 year old daughter right? She most likely could make napkins. I- er, she probably wouldn’t have too much of a hard time…
I’ve been cloth diapering for over two years now and I love it. I’ll never go back to disposables!!!
I also use cloth diapers and really like them for various reasons. I’m using them on son #1!
We have been cloth diapering for over 14 years. And boy have they come a long way. Our youngest is two and we love our fuzzi buns and thrusties covers. I also made a bunch of wipes out of the excess of flannel receiving blankets we had. Baby washcloths work great for wipes and many families have an abundance of those as well.
I love using cloth diapers. I love the money it is saving us and I love them in general.
We just started using BumGenuis for overnights. They work great. Good luck with it all. I concur with the person above who said to check out diaperswappers.com I have bought a lot from them and thus saved tons of money. Plus if you follow my instructions here – http://ourlifeupstate.blogspot.com/2009/03/super-cheap-diapers.html you can get three BumGenuis or Fuzzi Bunz for under $28. It’s a great deal. 
I am now going to check out the instructions on how to make my own.
Welcome to the light side. Or maybe the green side. I did research and after the package from the hospital ran out we went to cloth. And we have been in it ever since.
You will almost definitely have leaking (like around the legs) for the first couple of weeks. We got several options including cotton prefolds with wool soakers (grandma is a knitter, not me) and those worked great for the first 6 weeks or so. After that my (thinner) baby had round enough thighs to fit in the leg holes. I also have to say that the soakers were great for folding down when she still had her belly button stump. It just wiered me out to cover it, we even avoided onesies. (I am totally a first time mom.)
Also I have made a couple of one size stuffable ones that we close with pins, if you want I can make you a couple…you know before the year is up…or maybe even before the gestation is up if I don’t get distracted by the garden.
Rebecca
Wow that is a lot of butts you have changed! Great move to cloth diapers, I am still contemplating it.
after disposables with 7 kids, I too am going to try cloth! I will still use disposable the first week to get through those first yucky diapers. my kids don’t seem very excited, so I hope it works for us!!
Fuzzi Bunz are great. I used those and Happy Heinys with my second baby. Good luck!
YAY!!!
My comment is too short? I just wanted to say “YAY!!!” haha
Way to go, you will love it. remember to keep an eye out at thrift stores, I just picked up three brand new bum genius one size diapers for $3.
I am so glad you posted this. I have been thinking of cloth diapering for a little while now, and hope to start asap. I gotta get the toddler trained and no. 2 is on the way.
http://www.diaperswappers.com has so much information about cloth diapering. I have learned so much from those veteran mammas.
I have also come across some really cute and slightly less expensive diapers on Etsy.com. I particularly like BumJoy and Monkey Snuggles diapers. They both have one size pockets.