Cloth Diapers... Eek!!

His little...er, HUGE... cloth diaper bum!! :)

Welp, we're doing it. The Grahaminator has been in cloth diapers for 8 days now. And we've survived. And honestly, it is not as bad as I was expecting! Andrew was way more sold on this idea than I was from the beginning, but I went along with it since it would obviously save money and we needed to do that in every way possible since I am staying home with little Grahammers. Our friends Ashley and Natalie have been so encouraging through the whole process as they've shared with me what's worked for them and made it all feel totally doable.

Here are some tips for getting started if you're thinking of jumping on the cloth diaper bandwagon...

• Register for cloth diapers! Buy Buy Baby has them, and Target does too (maybe online only there). And whatever you don't get as gifts, you can use the $5 off coupons BBB constantly sends out to get some pretty good deals. We used a coupon on every single diaper, making them $13 each, and we paid for them all with gift cards so they were FREE! Sweet! We use the Bum Genius  brand. And honestly, we didn't research the gazillion different brands and styles. Someone recommended these, they were able to be registered for, so we just did it. No complaints.
• Don't start immediately! Friends recommended to us to start a month after Graham was born, just to get used to everything else that comes with having a new baby first. We planned on doing that, but received so many disposable diapers as gifts, that we ended up waiting 2.5 months. 
• Buy gender-neutral colors if you're planning on using them for multiple kids. But we couldn't resist buying just a couple of blue ones. :)
• These diapers are thicker than disposable, so they will make your baby's bum big!! This affects their clothing sizes a little. Graham was still not quite filling out his 3 month clothes yet, but after we started putting these on, they fit way better. Just be aware of that when you're buying clothes in advance.

What you'll need:

• 18+ cloth diapers. Ours are one size fits all, so G-baby will be wearing the same ones from now until he's potty trained. (The snaps can just be adjusted to be bigger.) Everyone recommended getting at least 18 diapers to start with, which covers you for two days. (You're supposed to wash every 48 hours.) Graham goes through 6 diapers a day now, so 18 has been plenty.

Graham's collection so far...

• Wipes. I use normal now, but am thinking of switching to cloth wipes.
• Detergent. There are a gazillion opinions about which detergent you should use with cloth diapers, but we went with Tide Original in powder, which has been great so far!
• Wet bags (optional). I wasn't going to do these at first, but am so glad I did. You need a big wet bag for your diaper pail/ trash can and a small one for the diaper bag when you're out and about. These are AWESOME because they control odor, protect your other stuff, and then you can throw them both in the washer and dryer with your diapers! I heard to get two of each, but I just started with one of each for now.
• Trash can/ diaper pail. We just got a trash can with a lid from Wal-Mart.
• Diaper Sprayer (optional). I don't have one of these yet, but I heard they're great especially when the baby poop gets more solid! I did end up getting this when G started solid foods. At first I hated it, because I sprayed poopy water all over my bathroom and myself. This video (the first one on the page) was super helpful at learning how to use it correctly!

I wash the cloth diapers every other day, which sounded like a ton at first, but is really not so bad. I was doing so much more laundry anyway since G-baby spits up on EVERYTHING that I've barely noticed the extra load. :)

Day 1- not so bad!!

Here is the best video I've seen for how to wash cloth diapers. Scroll to the end of the page to see it. My system is a little different, and yours will depend on your diaper style, washer/ dryer settings, and preference.

If I can do it, you can do it! Seriously. Happy cloth diapering!!