Diaper Change

When I found out I was expecting twins I decided it was time to take a serious look at cloth diapering. I knew having three kids in diapers would add up quick! I wondered if we could save money with cloth diapers. I had suggested it when I was expecting Amy, but Dan pretty much flat out turned down the idea. This time he was more than willing to give it a go! I spent a week or more researching it on the internet. I wanted diapers that were very cost efficient as well as not too difficult. I was surprised to find out how easy cloth diapering is! I came to the conclusion that pre-folds were the best bang for the buck, and with the kind of covers they make these days there are no pins or snappis involved.

I find a site that sold diapers in packages and they had a twins package! Perfect! It contained all the diapers that twins would need from 7-30 lbs! (6 dozen infant pre-folds, 8 infant bummis whisper wraps, 5 dozen medium pre-folds, 8 medium whisper wraps, plus some disposable liners.) The whole package was a little less than $300 (around $2/diaper!) I figure that it will pay for itself in about 5-6 months. It works out great because Amy can wear the mediums now, while the twins will be wearing the infant size.

I bought the diapers in January, but had only used them on the weekends until two weeks ago when I stopped working. So far, it's going fine! I don't mind washing them (in fact, it's the easiest load of laundry to fold, because you don't even have to fold them!) My only complaint is that they're bulkier than disposables so Amy's bum is a little big! I still use disposables at night just because it's easier.

Amy's big diaper bum!

A lot of friends have been curious about how these diapers work and how you wash them, so I'll do a mini tutorial!

There are 3 parts to the diaper: the wrap (or cover), the cloth cotton pre-fold, and then the fleece liner. When I put the diaper on I just layer the 3 parts, fold (or twist) the pre-fold to make it the right length and velcro it up!
The fleece liner goes between the baby's skin and the cotton diaper to keep the baby feeling dry. Also the poop just falls off the liner into the toilet (most of the time) instead of sticking like it would to the cotton. (You can buy expensive fleece liners, but I just went to the thrift store and bought a big fleece blanket for $2 and cut it into strips. It works just great!)

I don't bother with rinsing the poop off the diapers. I dump what falls off into the toilet, but I don't worry about the cheap liners getting stained. (I don't worry about the diapers getting a little stained either; after all, they are diapers!) I wash a load of diapers 2x/week so that they don't get too stinky. (The cloth diaper pail doesn't smell nearly as bad as the disposable one!) I do a cold water rinse to remove any solids, then add 1/2 of the recommended amount of detergent (because that's what all the info online says to do) and run a hot wash, and then do an extra cold water rinse at the end. Apparently it's important to do an extra rinse to make sure all the detergent got washed out because the detergent can leave residue on the diapers that makes them less absorbent. Throw everything in the dryer with no fabric softener because again, it leaves residue.
I'm not normally a changing table person, but I needed a changing station in order to successfully cloth diaper! And that's my diaper change story! People shouldn't be so scared of cloth diapers. It's really not so bad!