Cloth Diapers: The "Ick Factor"

Dear Parent,

We have these friends that we get together with a couple times a year.  They have a kid that's about a year older than ours.  Obviously, we cloth diaper.  They don't.  The wife tells me all about how she wishes they would cloth diaper but her husband is completely against it because "it's yucky."

I just smile and shake my head and tell her that cloth diapering doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing type thing.  1 cloth diaper a day is 1 less disposable not breaking down in a landfill.

Here's what I want to say, but haven't because I can't freak out on him/them.

Newsflash: having kids is yucky.  Kids are yucky.  They crap in a diaper and you clean it up.  They spit in your mouth.  They pee in your mouth.  They wipe their boogers on your face.  They wipe their boogers on their hands and stick them in your mouth.  They slobber on you.  They are filthy and expect you to hug and cuddle them.  Have you not figured that out yet?

Mommy, will you give me a kiss?  source: stevestenzel

Cloth diapering is no more "yucky" than dealing with a kid.  The grossest part about cloth diapering is something you have to do regardless of the diapering method: cleaning up poop off your kid's butt.  This is no different with a cloth diaper or disposable diaper.  Once you clean up the poop and stuff the wipes in the diaper, you do something with the diaper.  If you are disposable diapering, you put that diaper in a Diaper Genie or some other contraption.  If you are cloth diapering, you put that diaper in a wetbag.

The diapers sit.  Disposable: you take out the diaper sausage when the genie gets full (a week? or more?  I don't know...) and throw it in the garbage.  They smell.  Hopefully it's not summer and all hot out.  Cloth: every other day you open the washing machine, unzip the wetbag and dump the dirty diapers in and start a wash.  You never touch the dirty diapers.  You machine cleans them for you.  Because you wash every other day, there really is no ungodly smell that builds up from nasty week-old diapers.

"Ew, but I don't think I'd be able to wash my clothes in the machine after the diapers had gone through!"  Well, if the diapers are clean (and they are after 2 washes and an extra rinse) then your machine is clean.  Honestly, we have a little scuzz buildup at the high water line after 8 months of cloth diapering.  I probably should scrub our washing drum out, but I'm lazy and haven't felt like doing that during my "down time" (i.e. 10 p.m. - midnight).  But did you know (and I did not until researching cloth diapering) that it's actually recommended that you clean your washing machine monthly regardless of cloth diapering or not?  Not sure how to do it?  Here's a good resource to check out.  So if you do what you're supposed to be doing (i.e. monthly machine cleaning), there's no way that your machine is dirty.  Your clothes will be fine.  Even if you're lazy like me, your clothes will be fine.  I have never once ever noticed anything amiss on our clothes after 8 months of cloth diapering.  Even with our scuzz line on our washer.  Our clothes are clean and have never ever even remotely smelled anything like a diaper.

In short, there really is no extra "ick" factor when cloth diapering.  I think it's just a convenient lame ass excuse to give when you just don't want to cloth diaper.  I don't know why her husband is so set against it.  I secretly think it's because it would force them to do diaper laundry every other day and they can't even keep up on their clothes laundry.

Good luck convincing them,

Me

Covers and Pads and Protectors, Oh My!

Dear Parent-To-Be,

I'll never forget standing in Target by myself, 8 months pregnant, trying to finish buying stuff off our baby registry and being completely dumbfounded when it came to the aisle with mattress covers/mattress protectors/changing pad covers/changing pad protectors/sheets.  Holy.  Cow.  There are a lot of pads and protectors and covers.  I had no idea what we needed, how many of each we needed, or even what the hell half of them were.  This is pretty much what I looked like except my belly was the size of a small planet.

I need a protector to protect the cover to protect the pad?

So here's my list of what we actually needed and how many of each and what the difference between these things even are.  Enjoy.

Crib Stuff
1. Zippered mattress protector.  This is basically a zippered bag that encases and waterproofs your mattress.  This is the last level of defense of your baby's mattress.  In most cases, a baby mattress itself is supposedly waterproof, but I don't want to take that chance and I don't think you do either.  You need one.

Note: There is a lot of controversy out there about mattresses and chemicals and SIDS risk.  Educate yourself and decide what you feel comfortable with as far as purchasing a mattress and protector.  There are mattress protectors out there that claim to hold in any toxic gases that may or may not be in your mattress and help reduce the risk of SIDS.  SIDS is scary business and I am not advocating for or against these special covers and/or any type of mattress.

2. Crib pad.  There are two options: fitted and flat.  This pad goes on top of your mattress (in the zippered cover) and under the sheet.  This is probably the pad that is going to absorb the majority of wetness that "appears" in a crib under your baby.  When I was shopping I completely missed that the fitted and flat things were two options of the same thing.  I bought the flat versions.  They work just fine but they just lay on top and don't go over the sides of the mattress.  But the fitted versions don't really have an absorbancy down the sides either.  And crib sheets are so darn tight that if you have to do a sheet/crib pad change in the middle of the night, the fitted versus flat crib pad isn't going to make a bit of a difference as far as an easier/quicker change.  You need at least 2 of these.

3. Above sheet protector.  A mom friend told me that she used changing pad covers as an extra protective barrier between the sheet and her little one since he was a heavy wetter.  These covers are flat smaller versions of the flat crib pad and are waterproof.  I can see how they would be very nice to use if your child is a heavy wetter.  It's much easier to just whip this off the top of the sheet and plunk down a new one in the middle of the night (after changing your kid) if you have a leak instead of changing the sheet and the crib pad too.

Note: The American Academy of Pediatrics warns against loose bedding in a child's crib.  Use common sense if you decide to put anything between your child and the sheet.

Changing Pad Stuff
1. Contoured changing pad.  This is the long U-shaped ubiquitous white changing pad.  It's sort of soft and U-shaped to hold your kid sort of in one place.  Most are covered in a plastic waterproof barrier that wipes clean if wet.  If you are going to use a changing table you need one of these.  If you decide that you don't really need one and will just use a bed/floor/sofa as a changing station, please see #4 for on the go changing pads.

2. Fleece changing pad cover.  These are the covers you think of when you hear "changing pad cover."  These are the soft and fluffy and warm and pretty covers that dress up the changing pad.  These go directly over the contoured changing pad and protect it from getting soiled during a diaper change.  You need at least 2 of these.  More if you don't get something to act as a changing pad cover as outlined below.

3. Changing pad cover.  Ok, here's where the cover/protector for another cover/protector starts seeming crazy.  But hear me out.  Changing the nice fleece changing pad cover sucks because you have to pull those seatbelt straps through every time.  And if you're a good parent and have the changing pad strapped down to the wall/changing table, you also have to pretty much unbelt that too. And the changing pad cover will get dirty.  A lot.  Like multiple times every day, especially with a newborn.  I think newborns are programmed to pee the instant the diaper comes off.  It happens every time.  Sometimes three times during one diaper change.  I wish I was joking.  The smartest thing we did in the whole cover/pad/protector realm was to invest in some lap pads and use those as an extra barrier between the fluffy changing pad cover and the diaper/baby.  So we have our nice fluffy fleece cover and then a little lap pad that's about the size of a paper towel (but waterproof!) right where the baby's bottom goes.  So when the diaper comes off, the lap pad protects the fleece cover.  And in the event of any messes, we just pick up the lap pad and put down a new one.  I think we had like 8 of these in the beginning, but after the first week at home with our newborn, we made a very quick purchase on Amazon (thank you two day shipping!) for more.  I think we have somewhere in the 12-16 range.  We went through those things like butter at first.  It saved us time and time again from having to take the fleece cover off and change it.  Those things were just big enough to contain nearly all the messes (and sop up all the pee) yet small enough where you could still actually see the pretty fleece cover and the baby could still lay pretty much on the soft cover.  We use less now because

4. On the go changing pads.  I think these are also called "changing pad covers" but the size of them throws me way off.  If you put one of these on your changing pad, it will cover your entire changing pad.  That means you will not get to see your pretty fluffy fleece changing pad cover because it will be buried.  Maybe that won't bother you.  Maybe it will.  But even if you decide not to use these on your actual changing pad at home, you still want some of these to serve as on the go changing pads.  Like mentioned before, you can use these as an above sheet protector in the crib or as a changing pad around the house for a quick diaper change in a different room.  These are also really nice to use as the changing pad in your diaper bag when you wash the one that came with your diaper bag and it falls apart (not that that's happened to us...).  I also like these a lot because they're larger than the dinky changing pad that comes with diaper bags.  Those are fine when your baby is really little, but after 6 months, they outgrow that pad.  And these on the go changing pads pretty much cover the entire area of those pull-down Koala Kare diaper changing things in public restrooms.  I have no idea how filthy those are, but I imagine they are pretty bad and the less area of them that my kid has to touch and lay on, the better.  We have about 8 of these, but we probably only actually need about 4.

So there you have it.  That's my quick run-down of what covers, pads, and protectors you actually need and what to use them for.  Like I said in the intro, the names and sizes of each are very confusing and I had no idea what was what or how many of each to get.  Hopefully this helps.

What are your thoughts?  Any other tips and tricks of the trade you've found from your experience?

Hope this helps,

Me

Types of Cloth Diapers

Dear Parent,

If you're like me, you have already done a lot of reading about cloth diapers.  Confused and overwhelmed yet?  I read so many posts, talked to many different cloth diapering parents, and attended a cloth diaper workshop before we decided what types of cloth diapers to use.  I also made a spreadsheet of pros and cons of each type of diaper!  Yeah... I'm that person.

What system(s) you choose will depend on a lot of things.  I know a lot of people choose one system for the daytime and one (more absorbancy) for night.  It just kind of depends on your needs.

There really is so much information out there that it's overwhelming.  If at all possible, I recommend attending a cloth diaper workshop to touch and feel the diapers and see how they work in person.  You can read all you want over the internet, but there's no substitute for feeling them with your hands and seeing how they work in person.  If that's not possible, talk to other parents in your area and see if they cloth diaper.  I'm pretty sure that nearly every cloth diapering parent would be more than happy to talk about their diapering system and show you how they work!  I thought certain ones looked intimidating/complicated online, but once I saw them in person it wasn't the case at all.

Here are some different types of diapers and the pros and cons I came up with as I weighed our options.  I am most familiar with the Cotton Babies brands (bumGenius, Flip, Econobum) and will primarily talk about them, but I do realize there are many many other types out there and will try to mention a few others.  This is to primarily describe the pros and cons of each different type of diaper, not specific brands themselves.  Once you decide on a type of diaper, then you can investigate all the different brands out there.

bumGenius Elemental, source: Cotton Babies

All In Ones (AIOs)
Most all-in-one (or AIOs) look very similar to the above picture.  These are your most simple, most disposable diaper-like cloth diaper.  You essentially snap or velcro it on your child just like a disposable diaper.  Easy peasy.  There are some different flavors of AIOs though.

bumGenius Elemental, source: Cotton Babies

AIOs with fully attached inserts
The bumGenius Elemental diaper is a good example of this (shown above).  The diaper has a waterproof covering (the green) and the inserts (cream colored cloth) are sewn in the diaper.  This is essentially the same as a disposable diaper, only washable.  This is a great diaper to use if a partner or other caregiver is hesitant about cloth diapering.

Pros: easy to use for husbands/grandparents/babysitters/daycare, good for squirmy toddler
Cons: one of the most expensive options, slow drying time (diaper must be line dried)

bumGenius Freetime, source: Crunchy Beach Mama

AIOs with semi-attached inserts
The bumGenius Freetime diaper is a good example of this (shown above).  The diaper is very similar to the Elemental except the inserts are semi-attached (on left), one at each end.  This allows you to fold the inserts for more absorbancy in the necessary areas depending on your child.  It also quickens the drying time since the inserts can get more air circulation.

Pros: still fairly easy to use, good for squirmy toddler, dries faster than AIO with fully attached inserts, can customize absorbancy
Cons: a more expensive option, must line-dry entire diaper

Pocket diaper, source: Quiet You Mothers

Pocket Diapers
There are all kinds of pocket diapers out there.  bumGenius 4.0, Fuzzybunz,  Kawaii, and Blueberry are just a few of the many different brands.  Pocket diapers are very popular due to their nice blend of ease of use and quick drying times.  Just like the name suggests, you "stuff" a pocket in the waterproof cover with an absorbent insert (shown in picture above).  Inserts are typically "stay dry," microfiber, or organic cotton.  The white cloth pocket wicks away any moisture from your baby into the cloth insert.  Once stuffed, these diapers are essentially AIOs with fully attached inserts.  You just snap or velcro them on your baby and go.  When it comes to washing time, some of the brands are made so the inserts fall out in the wash, others you need to "unstuff" before washing in order to get everything clean.  The inserts can be machine dried, but the covers need to be line dried.  Since the covers have relatively little cloth on them, they dry fairly quickly, as do the machine dried inserts.  Once dry, you can either stuff all of your diapers and put them away or stuff them as you need them.  Different strokes for different folks, but they do need to be stuffed at some point before use.  Many pockets also come with inserts of varying absorbancy (i.e. a newborn insert and larger insert) so the absorbancy can also be adjusted by changing what you use to stuff the diaper.

Pros: can change absorbancy of diaper with inserts, easy to use
Cons: need to stuff/unstuff diapers

Prefolds and Covers

Prefold and cover, source: Thanks Mama

In my opinion, prefolds and covers are hands-down the best way to cloth diaper a newborn (but that is a topic for another post).  To me, prefolds is a confusing name.  They still need folded.  But I guess they're called prefolds because they are several layers of cloth (typically cotton) stitched together instead of your grandma's cloth diaper which was one single large square of cloth that needed to be origami folded.  Consider prefolds and covers basically the upgrade of the old-style of cloth diapers.  Yes, there is a little bit of skill that goes into using prefolds and covers.  I was actually very hesitant about these before I saw them in person and saw a couple folds in person.  Once I saw them and saw how easy it was, I knew we could do it.  It really isn't that hard.  We use prefolds and covers exclusively.  You can either fold the prefolds around your baby like a little diaper and fasten it with a snappi or just fold it in thirds and lay it in the waterproof cover (as shown in the above picture).  For newborns, I think the snappi method is the way to go, but as they get older you can graduate to folding in thirds and just laying it in the cover.  Either way, you do need the waterproof cover.  The prefold is NOT water resistant on one side, so when the baby wets, the prefold gets wet.  The cover protects clothing and everything else from getting wet.  There are a great deal of options out there for prefolds and covers.  Econobum, Flip, GroVia, Thirsties, and gDiapers are just a few of them.  If you're crafty and so inclined, there are also patterns and fabric available at fabric stores (like JoAnn's).  And several work at home moms also make their own covers and sell them on Etsy.

One of the nice things about prefolds and covers is how many you actually need.  You need enough prefolds (the cheaper of the two) to get you through until you do laundry (24-30 washing every 2 days), but you need many less covers (the more expensive of the two).  Covers can be re-used until they get dirty (i.e. poopy diaper).  We have 30 prefolds and 11 covers in our stash.  We could get by no problem with 6 covers, washing every other day.  And speaking of washing, prefolds can be machine dried and the covers line dry very quickly because they have no extra cloth.  We can have clean diapers in 3.5 hours.  Depending on your brand, though, you may need several different sizes of covers and/or prefolds.  Some of them are very size specific (gDiapers), others have adjustable rise snaps on the covers which theoretically fit birth through potty training (Econobum, Flip).

Pros: cheapest way to cloth diaper, can change absorbancy very easily, fast drying time
Cons: requires folding/snappi, more difficult to use with squirmy toddler, some caregivers may be hesitant to use these

Hybrid Systems
Several of the prefold brands I mentioned are also hybrid systems.  A hybrid system basically means that it can be completely cloth or you can make it "disposable."  Ok, that sounds confusing.  Both gDiapers and Flip brands have waterproof covers and cloth inserts/prefolds available.  They also have disposable inserts available as well.  You can decide which insert to use and when.  You may use the same cover with both kinds of inserts, so you could use a cloth prefold at home in the evenings and use the disposable inserts with a caregiver during the day.  If using the cloth, you just throw the cloth insert in your wetbag and wash it; if using the disposable, you just throw the disposable insert in the trash.  In both cases, you reuse (and wash) the waterproof cover.  This option is really nice for people who travel (um, everyone).  Rather than finding a laundromat or borrowing a relative's washing machine, you can still use your cloth covers and just use the disposable inserts.  In gDiapers case, their inserts are either flushable or compostable.  The Flip inserts are disposable.  Either way, if tossed, the inserts are much smaller than a disposable diaper, so there's still less going into a landfill even if you use this option 100% of the time.

Pros: nice for traveling or for a caregiver to use
Cons: can get as expensive as disposable diapering

How many diapers do I need?
Most websites will recommend 24 diapers to do laundry every other day.  I think this is a fairly reasonable estimate.  We had 24 prefolds and 5 covers in a newborn size and it just barely wasn't enough to do laundry every other day.  We now have 30 prefolds and 11 covers in a larger size and we have plenty to get us through two days.  It depends on your method of drying (and I guess how often you need to change your baby!) but when we have #2, I am buying 6 more small prefolds and 1 more cover to give us 30 prefolds and 6 covers in a newborn size.  I am very comfortable with that number to be able to wash every other day.  If you are using the AIOs, you need to take line-drying time into consideration.  The whole diaper needs line drying, so you might as well plan on them drying overnight.

Snaps versus Hook and Loop
This is a great debate in the cloth diapering community.  It's really just a matter of preference.

Snaps
Snaps have set increments on the waist band of the diaper where you can adjust the fit.  They snap very securely and typically children can't undo them to be able to take off their diaper.  You also don't need to worry about making sure the tabs are closed when washing to avoid a large chain of attached diapers.

Pros: children can't undo snaps, hold up longer, no need to worry about closing tabs prior to washing
Cons: waist fit not as adjustable as hook and loop

Hook and Loop
Also called Velcro, Aplix, or H&L, hook and loop closure has a band of loop running across the waist band and two tabs of hook on either side to close the diaper.  I have heard that the hook and loop seems to wear out and that they need replacing before the diapers themselves are worn out.  If you sew, this probably isn't a concern for you.  Also I've heard that small children can figure out how to undo the velcro tabs and take off their diaper once they reach a certain age.  So beware of that.  Also, the hook and loop diapers come with "laundry tabs" that you need to remember to fasten the hook portion to prior to washing so that you don't end up with a long diaper chain.

Pros: better/faster fit than snaps
Cons:children can take off diapers, need to fasten laundry tabs, tabs may wear out and need replacing

Final Thoughts
Ok, that was a lot of information!  Sorry.  I don't think I helped the "overwhelming" part.  Basically, I just recommend thinking about what your needs are and going from there.  Also getting your hands on some cloth diapers either in stories, through a cloth diaper workshop, or hitting up your friends to touch and feel them in person.  And if you're interested in exact costs for some different types of systems, see my Cloth Diaper Cost Comparison post.  I go into a lot of detail outlining the costs of these different types of systems.  For a lot of people, choosing the right system for them is a balance of ease of use with cost.

Good luck,

Me

Cloth Diaper Cost Comparison

Dear Parent,

Interested in cloth diapers for financial reasons?  Trying to convince your significant other to give cloth a shot?  Here's my 2 cents on the cost comparison for cloth versus disposable.  Lots of websites who show cost comparisons don't include cost of things like soap or water (you kind of have to wash the diapers...), but my comparison does.

For the sake of argument, I'm going to compare the costs to diaper from birth until 2.  This is probably around when people begin potty training, although it's probably a lot more realistic to say that kids are actually potty trained around 3.  Obviously the longer you use cloth diapers after they pay for themselves, the more you save.  Also, it should be worth noting that the more children you have that wear the diapers, the more you save also.

Here's my math.  If you want to skip over this part and get to the real meat, go ahead.  But I'm going to include it for those who care (i.e. people like me).  My kid averages right around 12 diapers per day.  More when she was a newborn, probably less as she gets older. 

12 diapers per day x 365 days x 2 years = 8,760 diapers

This estimate seems in line with other calculations previously done.  Their calculations had total diapers at 8,149.  Hm, maybe our little one pees more often...

Ok, let's split the difference:  8,455 diapers from birth to age 2.

Cost of Disposables
Store brands are cheaper than name brands, so I'm going to compare the cost for a store brand (Target Up & Up) and a name brand (Pampers Baby Dry), not including tax.  I searched online at Target in late January 2013 for the large value packs.  If you buy your diapers in the smaller sizes (i.e. not ~200 diapers at a time), your cost per diaper increases.  Calculating out the cost per diaper for different sizes, it looked like size 3 is a good representative sample of the cost per diaper (newborn diapers cheaper, larger diapers more expensive).  The Pampers size 1 cost 17 cents per diaper with the size 5's costing 27 cents per diaper.  Size 3 cost 21 cents per diaper.  We'll go with that.

Up & Up (Target brand), size 3: 14.4 cents per diaper
$0.144 x 8,455 diapers = $1,217.52 for store brand (birth - age 2)

Pampers Baby Dry, size 3: 21 cents per diaper
$0.21 x 8,455 diapers = $1,775.55 for name brand (birth - age 2)

Let's average these two together just to keep things simple: $1,496.54 on average (birth - age 2)

Cost of Cloth
There are many different types of cloth systems out there, each ranging in price (for an overview of the types of cloth diapers, see my Types of Cloth Diapers post).  For the sake of comparison, I am going to calculate costs based on 30 diapers and washing once every 2 days.  For all the Cotton Babies brands, I researched prices on their website.  Regular and bulk prices are constant, sale prices are temporary, shipping is free within the contiguous US and not calculated in the price.

One-Sized Options (sizes theoretically fit birth - potty training)

bumGenius Elemental
Regular price: $24.95 x 30 = $748.50
Bought in bulk: $529.90 (2-12 pk) + $134.95 (6 pk) = $664.85
Sale (5/$95): $95 x 6 = $570 (Whoa! What a deal!)

bumGenius Freetime
Regular price: $19.95 x 30 = $598.50
Bought in bulk: $399.95 (24 pk) + $110.95 (6 pk) = $510.90

bumGenius 4.0
Regular price: $17.95 x 30 = $538.50
Bought in bulk: $406.80 (2-12 pk) + $104.70 (6 pk) = $511.20

FuzziBunz
Regular price: $19.95 x 30 = $598.50

GroVia AIO
Regular Price: 23.95 x 30 = $718.50
Bought in bulk: $517.98 (2-12 pk) + ($23.95 x 6) = $661.68

GroVia Live (12 covers with 30 inserts)
Stay Dry Package (12 covers + 24 inserts) + 6 stay dry pads =  $394 + ($17.95 x 3) = $447.85
Organic Cotton Package (12 covers + 24 inserts) + 6 organic cotton soaker pads = $404 + ($18.95 x 3) = $460.85

Flip (30 inserts with 10 covers)
Covers + stay-dry inserts: ($13.95 x 10) + ($11.95 for three x 10) = $259
Covers + organic inserts: ($13.95 x 10) + ($19.95 for three x 10) = $339
Covers + econobum inserts: ($13.95 x 10) + ($6 for three x 10) = $199.50
Sale (2/$20 hook & loop) + stay-dry: ($20 x 5) + ($11.95 for three x 10) = $219.50
30 inserts with 9 covers
Sale (buy 2 get 1 snap or h&l) + stay-dry: ($27.90 x 3) + ($11.95 for three x 10) = $203.20

Econobum
30 inserts with 10 covers
Cover + 3 prefold combo: $11.95 x 10 = $119.50
36 inserts with 9 covers, 3 wetbags
Kit (3 covers, 12 prefolds, 1 wetbag): $48.95 x 3 = 146.85

Sized Options (sizes change as you grow)

Thirsties
Thirsties Duo Snap Wrap (size 1 & size 2) + OsoCozy prefolds (size 1 & 2)
Size 1: ($12.75 x 10) + ($11.99 x 5) = $187.45
Size 2: ($12.75 x 10) + ($18.99 x 5) = $222.45
Total: $409.90

gDiapers
gDiapers need gPants, waterproof pouch, and cloth (or disposable) inserts.  I will assume you would need 6 gPants in each size, 12 waterproof pouches, and 30 inserts.  Small (and newborn) gPants use small pouches and inserts, medium and large (and x-large) use large pouches and inserts.

gPants + pouches + cloth inserts
Small: $79.99 + $22.99 + ($32.99 x 5) = $267.93
Medium: $79.99 + $22.99 + ($32.99 x 5) = $267.93
Large (reusing pouches and inserts from medium): $79.99 + $0 + $0 = $79.99
Total: $615.85 (not including newborn or x-large sizes if you may need them)

Cost for Cloth Care
Now that you have your cloth diapers, you need to wash and care for them!  Here's how much you should roughly expect to spend on care.  I'm not calculating in the energy for a dryer because 1) it's too hard to calculate, and 2) many of the diapers need line-drying anyway.

Cloth diaper-safe detergent
A pack of Rockin' Green soap ($15.95 lasts us ~3 months)
$15.95 x 4 a year x 2 years = $127.60

Water
Our water bill went up $60 every billing cycle (3 months) washing a diaper load every other day.  However, this also includes all the extra laundry a little person's clothes causes...  I understand that water bills are different for different areas too.  This is our ball-park estimate.
$60 x 4 a year x 2 years = $480

Total cost for care for 2 years: $607.60

Diaper Savings
Cheapest cloth diaper cost per type + cost for care = total price of cloth diapering
Cost of disposables - Total price of cloth diapering = total savings for 2 years

bumGenius Elemental
Total Price: $570 + $607.60 = $1,177.60
Savings: $1,496.54 - $1,177.60 = $318.94

bumGenius Freetime
Total Price: $510.90 + $607.60 = $1,118.50
Savings: $1,496.54 - $1,118.50 = $378.04

bumGenius 4.0
Total Price: $511.20 + $607.60 = $1,118.80
Savings: $1,496.54 - $1,118.80 = $377.74

FuzziBunz
$598.50 + $607.60 = $1,206.10
$1,496.54 - $1,206.10 = $290.44

GroVia AIO
$661.68 + $607.60 = $1,269.28
$1,496.54 - $1,269.28 = $227.26

GroVia Live (12 covers with 30 inserts)
$447.85 + $607.60 = $1,055.45
$1,496.54 - $1,055.45 = $441.09

Flip (30 inserts with 10 covers)
$199.50 + $607.60 = $807.10
$1,496.54 - $807.10 = $689.44

Econobum
Total Price: $119.50 + $607.60 = $727.10
Savings: $1,496.54 - $727.10 = $769.44

So even with the most expensive type of cloth diaper, you are still saving at least $200 over 2 years by cloth diapering!  And depending on what system you use, you could be saving over $750!

What?  You want to use cloth wipes too?
We use cloth wipes.  I feel like it only makes sense to wash them too instead of picking them out and throwing them away.  Here are our costs:

OsoCozy Flannel Baby Wipes ($10.95 for 15 pk, we use 30 every 2 days)
$10.95 x 2 = $21.90

For a wipes solution, we use 2 cups distilled water + 2 Tbsp. vinegar + 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil + 2 Tbsp. Burt's Bee's Baby Bee shampoo and body wash, fragrance free.  A large thing of each will last us 2 months.  We wash these with our diapers, so there is no additional cost for detergent or water.

1 L distilled water: $0.99
33.8 fl. oz. extra virgin olive oil (from Trader Joe's): $8.99
32 fl. oz. vinegar: $4
21 fl. oz. Burt's Bee's wash: $14.99
Total: $28.97
$28.97 x 6 a year x 2 years = $347.64

Cloth wipes total for 2 years: $369.54

For disposable wipes, I'm going to also say 15 wipes per day.
15 wipes per day x 365 days x 2 years = 10,950 wipes

Up & Up (Target brand): 792 for $13.69 = $0.017 per wipe
$0.017 x 10,950 = $186.15

Pampers Fresh Baby: 720 for $18.49 = $0.025 per wipe
$0.025 x 10,950 = $273.75

Average cost for disposable wipes for 2 years: $229.95

So it looks like cloth wipes actually cost $139.59 more over the course of 2 years if you use our recipe for wipes solution with the expensive Burt's Bee's wash.  Huh, didn't expect that.

Closing thoughts
It's not often that "going green" actually saves you money when you buy things (I'm looking at you organic produce).  But cloth diapering is one of them.  According to my calculations that include both the cost of the diaper and cost of care (i.e. laundry), even with the most expensive type of diaper I could find, you are still saving $200+ over two years.  And depending on what type of system you choose, you could be saving $750+.

A couple more things worth noting: start shopping for diapers early for the best deals.  Cotton Babies and other brands have periodic sales. Take advantage of these.  Cotton Babies also has what are called "Seconds Sales" which are sales of diapers at a discounted price because they didn't quite make the cut as "first rate" diapers during the manufacturing process.  There is nothing wrong with the absorbancy of the diaper, but the "damage" is purely cosmetic like uneven stitching or a grease mark from a sewing machine.  I have bought 4 "Seconds" diapers and could only see something wrong with one of them (two tiny grease marks which were barely noticeable).  The other three look exactly like the "first rate" diapers.  I don't think my husband would be able to tell which diapers were "Seconds."  Also, the way I figure, you kid is going to poop and pee in it.  As long as it holds what it needs to hold, who cares if there is a tiny little grease mark on it?  It's going to get poop on it soon enough.

A lot of work at home moms (WAHMs) also make their own covers for the prefolds + covers systems.  There are plenty of patterns out there and I have seen the PUL fabric at JoAnn's and other fabric stores.  If you are crafty, you may be able to save even more by making your own.  Or consider helping out a small business by buying their covers.

Diaper Swappers is also another good resource for buying (and re-selling!) gently used diapers.  I have never personally used this website, so I can't vouch for it, but I have heard good things.

Shop local when you can.  A lot of local boutique stores sell the big brands of cloth diapers (i.e. GroVia, FuzziBunz, Cotton Babies brands) as well as locally made items.  Most stores will match online prices as well.  Help a small business out!  Sometimes they even have local re-stash events where you can buy and sell gently used diapers from people in your community.

How much have you saved cloth diapering?  I'm very interested to calculate my savings now, but that's another post for another day!

Hope this was helpful!  And thanks for reading! :)

Me

Best 0-3 Month Toys

Dear Parents,

Babies don't need a lot of toys, but there are all kind of toys out there.  Here are my daughter's eight favorite toys from when she was 0-3 months.  And each of them are under $20!  Score!

1.  A ball rattle.  Our Learning Curve spinning ball rattle (~$6) is perfect for little hands to grip and shake to make noise.  It also has a cute face and the bumpy shaker is also good for little teething mouths.

2.  That fancy French giraffe teether.  The fact that it is a fancy French giraffe teether made me want to hate it.  But Vulli Sophie the Giraffe (~$20) got such high marks on Amazon that I had to buy one.  I'm glad I did.  The thing must have magical powers or something because she loves it.  It's grippy so it's easier to hold, it makes squeaking noises, and it's awesome to chew on.  And I'll admit that there's nothing cuter than a baby staring off into space while she repeatedly bends the head down and snaps its neck to make it squeak over and over.

3.  Rings.  Rings are a must!  They are awesome.  They are toys by themselves and they attach toys to other things.  We have three sets of rings and the Bright Starts Lots of Links (~$9.50) rings are our favorite.  Not thick so they are easy to link (and for baby to un-link) but sturdy to hold up to pulling and chewing.  And these have different textures on each ring and are very colorful.

4.  Something shiny.  Babies have like a 2 second attention span.  Ah!  I'm crying!  Hey look!  Something shiny!  Wait, why was I crying?  We bought the Sassy Three Pack Book Set (~$9.75) because they looked cute at Target.  It was an impulse buy during our "spend our baby shower gift cards" shopping spree.  To be honest, the books suck.  There are three of them: colors, vehicles, and the fish book.  The colors book is confusing as hell because the color they label on the page is NOT the main color on the picture.  It would have been much better to just call it the animal book and put the animal names.  At least that wouldn't be confusing.  The vehicle book has two pages and a handle.  But it does have a squeaker in one of the pages.  I feel like by the time they get to naming cars and trucks, they are going to be past the plastic book phase.  And then there's the fish book.  Little Fish is nearly the same size as Big Fish (notice a theme of confusion?) but what I do like about the books is Shiny Fish on the back of the book.  Shiny Fish has saved our ass many times.  Whining for no reason?  Hey, look!  Shiny Fish!!  Works like a charm.  She likes Shiny Fish so much she mauls the book.  I do like that since it's a plastic book it's washable.  So I suggest something shiny to distract, whether it be Shiny Fish or something else.

5.  A ball little fingers can hold.  The o-ball rattle (~$8) was basically the first toy our little one could pick up herself.  It's pretty awesome.  Lots of holes to get fingers (and tongues) in and it rattles when you shake it.  It also sort of bounces on the carpet and rolls quite nicely.

6.  Sensory stuffed animal.  We got the Bright Starts giraffe (~$7.50) because shaking it around in the store reminded us of one of our cats.  But our little girl loves it.  It has a lot of black and white, which is good for the first few weeks/months.  Then after that, the other feet can be teethers.  And babies can also put the head into their mouth and scream into the animal.  Not that our kid does that to stuffed animals or anything...

7.  Light up color-changing music-playing doll.  Our babysitter has a Belly Brite doll (pictured) and our kiddo loves it.  The belly lights up and pulses different colors and it plays music.  It's very soothing to her.  But, of course, they don't make them anymore.  They do make a Heart Glow Baby (~$14) but it is a lot different.  Glo-Worms and the Fisher Price seahorse are similar in that they light up and play music, but there's something about the color changing that is much more soothing and fun to stare at.

8.  Carseat toys.  Because you look like a crappy parent if you drag your carseat around everywhere and don't have things hanging off the handle.  And your babies like to look at stuff.  These Sassy Go Go bugs (~$6) are pretty cute.

There's the list!  Enjoy!

Happy Shopping,

Me

Note: I have not been given anything in exchange for writing this, blah blah blah, disclaimer...

Beware the Bulb Syringe

Dear Parent,

If you have been using a bulb syringe to clean your child's nose, strongly consider throwing it out.  This photo has been circulating around Facebook today and if it doesn't make you cringe, nothing will.

source: Mitzi Johnson's Facebook page

Yeah, that's some pretty nasty mold.  I'm not a big fan of the bulb syringe because it has to go UP your child's nose to suck stuff out and then also because of the cleanliness issue.  But now the cleanliness seems like a bigger issue to me...

After about a week at home with our little one, we switched to a NoseFrida The Snotsucker Nasal Aspirator (current retail on Amazon for ~$14.50) and have had no issues with it.

source: Amazon

Like you see in the picture, it's basically a clear tube you put against your child's nose and then a long tube with a mouthpiece that you suck on.  It sounds a little gross, but there is a filter that makes sure no boogers or other nasties get sucked into your mouth.  A scientist friend and I were talking about this a while back and she said "I hope it has a micron filter in it so that you don't get any microbes!"  My response was that my kid sticks her fingers in my mouth and eyes and sneezes/coughs/spits on my face and body so often that a micron filter wouldn't make a bit of difference.  But the packaging does say that the filters are disposable to prevent any bacterial transfer.  I like this because you can see that it's clean, you can control the suction, and it doesn't go up inside the baby's nose.

The Baby NasaKleen (current retail on Amazon for ~$9) also seems very similar.  The main difference seems to be that this one has a silicone tip that goes against the nose and also comes with a case.

source: Amazon

Given the decent price difference and good reviews for both (plus the silicone tip and case for the NasaKleen), given the option now, I would have probably bought the NasaKleen.  But I didn't know about it when I made my purchase months back and I am quite happy with the NoseFrida.  I think either would do the job just fine.

Electric aspirators give you some more options, but I don't know anything about those and they are more expensive.  But they're out there if you want to check them out.

Thanks for reading,

Me

Welcome

Dear Readers,

Welcome to my blog.  This is my place to write letters (which may or may not be sent) to different people and companies.  I do not claim to be an expert in anything.  These are just my experiences and thoughts.  If someone finds what I say helpful, cool.

Enjoy,

Me