Guest Post : Roxanne from "The Good Life"

Roxanne blogs at "The Good Life" and is the mother of almost-9-month-old Mckinley!

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Cutie With A Fluffy Bootie

A few people have asked recently how our diapers work so I thought I would write a little somethin something about what we use and how it works.

I can still remember sitting in my classroom months before even getting pregnant staring at my computer at all of the overwhelming information about cloth diapers. I had no clue what anything was or what any of the terms meant (cd, hemp, insert, aio, fluff, hybrid, etc), but I knew this was something I wanted to try. I also remember telling people we would be using cloth diapers once I got pregnant and I am sure you are thinking how excited everyone was for us and how positive they were and I would laugh in your face because you are funny. Most people (not all, but most people) said we were crazy or that we would only do it for a few weeks and then give up. Well those people don't know me very well because when you tell I can't or won't do something you bet I will put my 190% percent into whatever you said I can't do.

So here we are almost 8 months into our cloth diapering adventure and my baby has super padded fluffy butt (that is what we call our nigh time diaper system) right now as we speak.

We just bought our second pack of disposable diapers (We bought 1 pack of disposables at the very beginning because I did not want to wash meconium off of my liners and I might have forgotten to turn on the dryer after stripping my liners and had no dry diapers the other morning). I had no clue what size to buy, but I did find some that were made from plant based materials and chlorine free which made me very happy.

What We Use

We use 2 different brands of CD's (Cloth Diapers). Our main go to diaper is Best Bottoms. They are a one size (they have different snaps to make the diaper different sizes so baby can wear them from birth to potty training) hybrid diaper system which mean you have a diaper cover

 
That you snap an insert into

When baby pees or poops you remove the soiled insert and snap a new one in. I usually grab a new cover and insert and place the cover removed from babies bottom to the side to use later unless it is soiled.

The dirty liner goes into a wet bag (We use one like this in her room and we have a few smaller sizes for traveling). Depending on how dirty the cover gets we might throw the cover in the wet bag to be washed or we might need to use the diaper sprayer to spray the poo off and then place it in a wet bag to wash later.

We wipe her down with cloth wipes (inexpensive terry baby wash cloths) and a spray solution of warm water, baby oil, and a drop of baby wash) and those get thrown into the wet bag with the soiled diapers to be washed later. We use a special diaper cream on Kinley's booty since most creams are not cloth diaper safe which means they will leave a residue buildup on the cloth insert causing it not to absorb liquids and leak. This can be fixed by stripping (washing diapers in VERY hot water or washing with dish liquid to remove all buildup allowing the diapers to absorb more). We us Organic Coconut Oil.

If you have never heard of it look it up because it is Amazing stuff. It can be use for Anything and Everything! We slap some of that on at each diaper change and we have only used up 1 large jar in 7 months. On the very rare occasion her booty gets red (if she is on antibiotics) we will use a little regular diaper cream and we just slap a piece of fleece fabric on top of the inside of the diaper to keep the cream off of the liner. We will wash these separately later.

Our Nigh time diaper routine is pretty much the same just with a different brand of diaper. We use Fuzzibunz which are a one size or a sized pocket diapering system. This means It is a cloth diaper with a pocket in the middle that you stuff inserts into to make it more absorbent. We normally double stuff (stuff 2 microfiber inserts into the inner pocket) which make the diaper more absorbent for the 10+ hours baby girl sleeps. 

Our wash routine has become just that part of our family routine. We wash every other day unless baby girl poops a ton that particular day and we use either E.C.O.S. detergent which can be found at Walmart or Tide Free and Clear (The less brighteners and additives in the detergent the better it is for the life expectancy and absorbency of your diapers). There are other detergents you can use, but these are what I have found work for us. Before Kinley started eating food we did not have to spray the poo off of er diaper because breast milk is water soluble so we just threw everything into the wash together. Now that she is eating 3 meals a day we spray all of her poop diapers off and I usually throw them in the washer and run a rinse/soak cycle. Then I was them on cold/cold. I hang my covers to dry and just throw the liners in the dryer and run it twice since they are so absorbent and hold so much liquid until they completely dry.

Why we decided to use cloth diapers.

I purchased all of our diapers online because sadly there aren't many places that sell cloth in Memphis. I have recently heard that there are a few places that are hit or miss, but may have cloth diapers occasionally. Almost every single one of our diapers and liners were previously owned and before you saw GROSS you should know that most people who use cloth either borrow from friends or buy them used and there is a HUGE resale market. We initially purchased Gdiapers a hybrid diaper system from www.diaperswappers.com, but those turned out to not be our favorite brand to use. They leaked too much and I didn't care for all of the parts you had to put together. After a little more research I found Best Bottoms and we absolutely love the versatility of them. Buying used diapers helped save us even more money then we already would be saving by using cloth. These diapers will last us through potty training Mckinley and then we will reuse them on our next baby adventure. All in all I would say we have spent maybe $400 in diapers and diaper supplies. Including detergent maybe $500. So we are saving thousands on diapers.

One great thing about cloth diapers and cloth diaper companies are diaper giveaways and sales. If you search the internet and sign up for different sites like Zulilly, Baby Half Off, Baby Steals, Green Baby Bargains, Hippo Bargains, or Eco Baby Buys you can get brand new diapers for dirt cheap. As I am typing this I am entering a lifetime giveaway for some fluff and boy could I use a lifetime supply of fluff. I could go days without washing! Booty Buns are super cute one size pocket diapers. I don't currently own this brand, but I LOVE trying new kinds of diapers with different fits and I just love winning stuff and what is better then free diapers. 

If you want to know more about using cloth diapers the best place to find information is theAwesome Cloth Diaper Blog written by the lovely Lara. Lara has a way of explaining everything that makes it so easy to understand. If you are considering cloth this is where you need to start to learn about everything. Another place for condensed cloth diaper info is one of my favorite blogs . As I was reading late last night I came across this post about using cloth diapers. 

SO there it is. Why and how we use cloth diapers. I am by no means a cloth diapering expert, but I have read everything there is out there about cloth and I LOVE showing people how they work and if anyone ever needs any advice I am always up for talking about cloth. 
It's super easy, affordable, and who doesn't love a baby with a super fluffy bum!

Fitteds and Wool : A Love Story

Lara* is the mother of a (in her opinion) beautiful eight-month-old daughter named Carys. You can visit her blog at A Girl Named Carrots.

Like wool covers? Don't forget to check out our wool soaker giveaway here!

Overnight diapering can be one of the biggest challenges for people to overcome when it comes to cloth. It's often the last frontier of the cloth convert: many people use cloth during the day and continue to use disposables at night, because they are afraid to make the leap to cloth overnight or haven't found anything that works for them. 

My go-to solution for nighttime is a fitted diaper + wool combo. It's been totally bulletproof for us.  And my daughter? She's what's known as a HEAVY WETTER. Da-dum. Or maybe more appropriate term is CONSTANT wetter. I swear she just pees all. day. long. I'm not sure she's ever NOT been wet when I check her. So eight (or twelve if we're lucky...and we're rarely lucky) hours of constant peeing means it can be a challenge to contain it. (I stopped changing her at night - even if she wakes up - once she stopped pooping overnight.)

Wearing a wool soaker at less than two weeks old

I've found that the fitted and wool combo works extremely well for us. We've rarely if ever had leaks (and if we did, it was human error, like the wool wasn't lanolized enough).  I also like it because the combination is extremely breathable, so even with a wet diaper on for hours, she rarely gets red. I also like that the wool generally acts as the bottoms to her PJs, so she's not in extra layers - for instance, she might wear a pair of longies and a t-shirt to bed.  Wool is also naturally anti-microbial.

It's fairly easy to care for as well - you wash and lanolize it every month or two or when/if it gets soiled with poop, but reuse it night after night without washing as long as it's not dirty.  It will likely get damp on the inside from pee - and that's okay. You just turn it inside out and let it dry.  The lanonlin and wool work together to perform some magic trick where the pee turns into harmless salts. I think the two hardest parts about caring for wool are getting the lanolin to dissolve in the water (hint: use hot water!) and getting the wool dry (hint: roll it in a towel and stand on the towel to get as much water out as possible). And really, the drying part is just patience. It's not HARD to get it dry, it just takes a while.

The biggest downside? It tends to be pricey, especially interlock wool. However, because you can reuse it, you really only need one or two at the most (you could get buy with one if you had a PUL cover or other solution for the day or two the wool was out of commission being washed and dried).  And each one lasts a really long time - we're on size mediums of our interlock wool now, but used the smalls for probably six months.  It's very very stretchy!

In a Goodmama fitted as a newborn (her umbilical cord hadn't even fallen off!)

We use a mix of machine-knit Sustainable Babyish/Sloomb longies, a recycled wool Woollybottoms soaker, and interlock wool Wild Coconut Wear soakers and longies. We used to have a Woollybottoms footie, but she outgrew it and I haven't replaced it yet since summer is coming out and we probably will be sticking with soakers for the next few months. We have some homemade knitted WAHM/Etsy wool as well. For the most part, I save that for daytime use because the knit is looser, which means it's generally not quite as bulletproof (the tighter the weave, the more waterproof it is - which is why interlock is great!).

Wild Coconut Wear soaker

I have personally used the soakers under footed pajamas inside a SwaddleMe blanket without compression leaks, but that doesn't work for everyone.

Wild Coconut Wear longies

For diapers, we use Goodmama, Twinkie Tush, Monkey Snuggles, Orange Diaper Company, Tangerine Baby (below), and probably more that I'm forgetting. They are all great for us and I honestly can't say that there's one I like or dislike more than the others, though I reach for my Monkey Snuggles before the others, I'd guess - though that might have just as much to do with the fabric pattern as the diaper itself!

Most fitted diapers don't have a stay-dry feeling and 99% of the time that's not an issue for her (luckily!). If she's red, I'll throw a fleece liner in the diaper to give a bit of extra comfort. This works well for those babies that don't tolerate feeling wet as well.

Sometimes wool and fitteds aren't practical. If we're out and about or someone else is watching her, I prefer pockets.  And sometimes it can be too bulky to wear under PJs. For those times, I have a Kawaii Good Night Heavy Wetter diaper that I stuff with a Knickernappies SuperDo insert.  I love the SuperDo insert and it could easily be used in any pocket diaper for overnight (but the Kawaii has heavier duty PUL that helps prevent leaks, which is always great). I've found it to be much more absorbent than two microfiber inserts and slightly thinner.

No matter what you choose, understand this: IT WILL BE BULKY. Nighttime diapering is always bulky. But your kid? He or she won't care. They'll be sleeping. Giant huge fluffy butts are pretty amazing, anyway.

We've been very lucky with our nighttime routines thus far and they've needed very little tweaking.  Sadly I can't quite say the same for her sleeping. It'll come, I'm assured. It'll come.

So in the comments, answer me this: What's your nighttime solution?

Like wool? Want to try it? Check out our wool soaker giveaway here!
More questions about wool? Click here! (links coming soon)
Want to know how to wash or lanolize it? Click here! (links coming soon)


*(Yes, it's me, Lara, the person who runs the blog...I'm calling this a guest post since it's more personal and opinion-based than a factual article!)