Cloth Diaper Madness

I never considered cloth diapers before I had my son because some very environmentally-minded friends of mine told me about the study showing that the environmental impacts of washing cloth diapers (waste water treatment, electricity, etc.) were about the same or worse than disposables. That couple opted for a "greener" disposable, the kind that can be found at Whole Foods Market. Lately, however, I seem to be hearing more and more about cloth diapering as it seems to go hand-in-hand with breastfeeding, babywearing, and attachment parenting. The advocates of cloth diapering claim that the frequently cited study was funded by Proctor & Gamble and contained a mathematical error. I suppose there are lots of factors that come into play when getting to the true impact, but there is one thing for sure, disposables make a lot of trash.

If you want the old burp rag style prefolds with pins and plastic pants, you can get those in Big Box stores, but there have been many improvements in cloth diappering including some that are almost like using disposables. Many are made by Work-At-Home-Mothers who sell solely on the web. The choices are mind-boggling. I checked out The Diaper Pin, an information and retailer web site. It overwhelmed me with information, but it was still hard to make a choice. Also, the new diapers are expensive. It is hard to compare the costs because with cloth the expense it up front and with disposables, the cost is steady so it isn't really noticed.

Why am I choosing to try cloth?

1. Reduce trash output.
2. I am a stay-at-home mom of one. Laundry is one of the few chores I actually enjoy, so I DO have time to do extra laundry.

There are lots of reasons to use cloth like relieving diaper rash (but
Ian doesn't have diaper rash), saving money (hopefully these work for us or I will have wasted money)and more, but the main reason I am giving cloth a try is for the environment and because I can.


After several days of reading product reviews, going to sellers' websites and reading gushing testimonials, I have made a purchase. I bought 6 Fuzzi Bunz Pocket Diapers and 6 Bum Genius One-Size 2.0 Pocket Diapers from Angel Bunz. I haven't received them, yet, so I can't review them, but here is why I made this choice:

1. I thought about pre-folds because they are cheap, but you have to master folding them, pinning or using a Snappi and then pay for a cover. Unless you go with the plastic pants of yesteryear, the covers are pretty expensive and you need to buy them in multiple sizes.
2. I thought about All-in-Ones, but they are expensive, harder to care for with longer drying times than most other types.
3. I thought about fitted diapers, but they are pricey, require a pricey cover and that seemed like it would be very bulky.
4. I thought about contour diapers. They are more expensive than pre-folds and usually less expensive than fitteds, but I thought they would have some of the same disadvantages of both.
5. I thought about a variety pack, but I couldn't find one that had what I wanted and it just became another layer of overwhelm-atude.

So, I decided to go with pockets. I went with Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius because:

1.Both styles were (overall) highly reviewed by a lot of people and I just couldn't look at anymore websites.
2. Both styles, Fuzzi Bunz size medium (15-30 lbs) and Bum Genius One-Size 2.0, should fit him for a long time. He is almost 6 months old and weighs about 17 lbs.
3. Pocket diapers and their liners are separated for washing and drying, decreasing the amount of time for drying.

I purchased from Angel Bunz because:

1. They had both types I wanted to try.
2. They offered free shipping.
3. All diapers come with an insert.

From reading, I will probably have to buy more inserts and pay attention to manufacturer instructions for washing both the diapers and the inserts, but I think it will work. I am hoping I like them since I am having them shipped to my mother-in-law and won't see them until April. I am not shipping them here, because I don't want them to come here while I am gone.

I spent $200 for 12 diapers, so even if they work only moderately well, I need to use them to get my money's worth.

I learned that many women are obsessed with cloth diapers and even collect cute patterns and limited editions. Other women have tried many different kinds and either resell or collect. For me, though, these past three days have been enough. I do not want to think about cloth diapers much more than that. i do not want to spend time trying to resell diapers that don't work. I don't want to get involved in collecting. i do appreciate cute colors and patterns, but I don't want to spend any more money than I have to. If these work out and I find I need more, I may buy more, but otherwise, I will just wash them everyday or mix with disposables. In other words, we'll see how it goes.