Our First Adventure In Cloth

Once we made the decision to try cloth diapers, we had to decide just which route we were going to take. There are so many options now--these aren't your grandma's cloth diapers! After consulting with a couple friends, we decided to go the more economical route to start--prefolds and covers. I wanted to make sure I could handle the laundry and I was happy with the results before we invested any substantial amount of money into cloth.

Prefolds are what you think of when you hear the term cloth diaper--except modern advances mean you don't need diaper pins anymore! I purchased 6 medium sized Diaper Rite prefolds and 1 Flip diaper from Diaper Junction, a locally-based online retailer, for right around $30. Flip is a brand of diaper that consists of a one size cover and an absorbent insert. When you purchase a Flip, you get your choice of an organic cotton insert or a microfiber insert with a Stay-Dry liner--I chose the Stay-Dry insert. The great thing about the Flip diaper is I could use inexpensive prefolds inside and not just the inserts that come with the diaper.

When I picked up my order, I immediately came home to clean and prep our new diapers. The Flip diaper only required a washing, but the prefolds needed to be washed and dried 5-6 times to become quilty and absorbent. I was able to get everything ready to start diapering the next morning. The first time I put Hank in cloth, I used the Flip cover and the medium prefold. The prefold was a little big, so I folded down the top to make it fit. It was a little bulky, but it worked. Hank didn't seem bothered by the difference in diaper. I was happy with the performance of the prefolds and the Flip insert, and actually found myself a little sad at the end of the day when I had ran out of cloth diapers and had to put Hank back in disposables. I made sure I had all the cloth items washed and dried before I went to bed that night so I could try it again the next day.

The big shocker came the next morning. Hank was still sleeping in the bassinet next to our bed at the time, and I remember waking up and thinking, "WHAT is that horrid smell?" I look at Hank just sleeping away, and I realized it was his diaper! I had never noticed how bad disposable diapers stunk until that moment. I prepared a bottle for Hank and sat on the edge of the bed staring at him waiting for him to wake up so I could take that dipe off! I told my husband there is NO WAY that something that smells so bad could be good for him. I put him in a cloth diaper as soon as he woke up...and then proceeded my plan of attack to convince my husband we needed more diapers! After 3 days of cloth (and me staying up late to wash everything for the next day), my husband agreed to another diaper purchase. We have been using cloth diapers full-time ever since!

Hank in his very first cloth diaper!

Please reference my post titled Fluff-tionary: A Cloth Diaper Glossary if you have questions about any of the cloth diapering terms I use in this post.