Cloth Diapers: A random story, plus poop!

When we first started this parenthood journey, I intended to do cloth diapers.  But then  the hospital sent us home with the cutest little Pampers that had the “wet indicator” strip on the front of them.  It changed color when it was wet and we became very reliant on that strip to know if he was wet or not.  A couple weeks in the gig, we ended up switching to another brand because someone had bought it for us as a baby shower gift.  I remember when we made that change, we stared at each other and said, “How do we know if he’s wet?  There’s no indicator strip!”  ha  Rookies!

Then we went back and forth with brands, and finally settled on using Luvs.  And then, just a few short months into it, he was moved into size 4 diapers and I was absolutely horrified at the cost of these things that were just thrown away.  When in size 4, you get less diapers per box and the box of diapers cost more money.  Not to mention the fact that William was soaking the diapers overnight and every morning he would wake up in a pool of pee.  I was spending money on diaper boosters, and even that wasn’t a great solution.  Every poop he would do, they were coming up his back.  It was awful.  I can’t tell you how many of his little baby shirts had poop stains up the back.

I knew there had to be a better way.

In our birthing class, our instructor had mentioned Bum Genius diapers.  She said she used them for her children, that they were not complicated and worked well.  I researched them, and they are a very popular brand of diapers, with a good reputation.  Despite my research saying I should go with the snap diapers, I chose to get mostly aplix closures because, at the time, my mom was having trouble with her hands and the aplix closures were easier for her to use.

We started using cloth in June of 2012.

Within a couple months, the aplix on two of the diapers started curling and was ineffective to hold the diaper closed.  I called Bum Genius’ customer service and let them know about the issue.  They requested I return the diapers to them and they shipped out brand new ones, and asked if I wanted snap closures… my response?  Sure!

Now, we’ve been using these diapers since William was 6 months old and about a year into it (June 2013) the aplix closures had become completely ineffective.  So we created what we called a “lock” — basically, a piece of velcro that we cut from a roll and used that to cover the aplix tabs and hold them closed, and that worked for about 6 months and then the other side of the aplix wore down.  Then we we’re faced with “refreshing” the diapers with the “refresher kits” that Bum Genius sells for $1 each.  Obviously, Bum Genius knows this is an issue, since they sell refresher kits.  I had no idea that the aplix would only last for a year… just long enough for them to get out of warranty.  Of course, there are people out there who will sew the refresher kits on for you, for about $4 a diaper… Tony, the amazing person that he is, figured out how to use a sewing machine and do it all himself.  I was impressed that he was working a full-time job, carrying a lot of the household chores AND making time to refresh 3-4 diapers each night.  The man is truly amazing.

Each diaper comes with two inserts, the regular insert and a thinner insert called the “newborn” insert.  William is a fairly heavy wetter, so we needed something more absorbent for nighttime. Something that would hold up to 12 hours of wetting without needing to be changed.  So I researched and came up with Hemp inserts… those go into the diaper along with the regular insert.

When we started William on table food, and his output changed, we started putting these reuseable liners in his diapers.  The checkered flag pattern… i made myself from material I purchased and cut from Joanne’s.

There are other less expensive options of cloth diapers out there, this is what we’ve done and overall we’ve been happy with our decision.  Although, since Bum Genius knows the aplix is an issue, I would think they would come up with a better solution for it… or maybe the snap diapers ARE their solution to it.

This past week when William was so sick with the stomach flu, part of that sickness was diarrhea.  He was pooping out of his cloth diapers.  Not to mention, I couldn’t get them sprayed clean fast enough, because every time I’d start to clean the diaper, William was standing behind me puking.  In defeat, we turned to disposables for a few days… $5.97 for 23 diapers.  I had to ask a friend what size her son (who is the same size as William) is, because I had no clue what size to buy!  The disposables saved my sanity, I have to admit.  But now we’re back in our cloth.

My mom summed it up best by calling the disposable diapers “paper diapers” and we both were stunned by how skinny and insubstantial they were and how on earth would they even hold anything?  Not to mention, we’ve been so used to wrapping him up in sturdy cloth diapers, which you have to put on with authority, that if you use the same strength on paper diapers, the tabs just come right off them… and then what?  Duct tape?  We’re not throwing away a quarter just because we broke off the tab!  But, still… paper diapers?  I’m still laughing over that.

Anyway, I’m not real sure there’s a point to this post, other than to share our experience in diapering choices and pictures of our pretty colored diapers.  If you chose one way or the other, what did you choose and why?