Six months old, and cloth diapering, finally

First, let me apologize to my friend Erin for not posting about my cloth diapering system like I promised. She has a cult following on her blog and put out in cyberspace that I helped introduce her to cloth, but I've yet to find the time or energy to sit down and explain my system.

But before I get to that, let me introduce you to our SIX MONTH OLD baby girl. I think the internet gods played a trick on me, and I learned my lesson - never blog about your baby sleeping through the night. It only backfires, and they begin waking you at ridiculous hours once again. In her defense, our Meg is dealing with new foods in her belly, a runny nose, and us trying desperately to get her to take a bottle to give this mama a break. No luck so far on that one.

Without further adieu:






The one word to describe this baby is "alive." She is so alert, taking everything in, not wanting to miss anything. The other day I met my dear friend Toni for coffee in Asheville b/c we hadn't seen each other's babies yet. Her daughter Abby is about 2 weeks younger than Meg, and that peaceful, chubby kid just sat in her stroller smiling at everyone. Then there's Meg. She only wants to stand on my lap, practically bouncing out of my arms. She squeals like a teradactyl at random intervals, much to the dismay of some of the patrons. She claws at my face, mouth, hair, clothes, whatever she can get her hands on. She is very much a mama's girl, perfectly peaceful with Eric UNTIL she sees me out of those big old eyes, and then it's like he is physically abusing her simply by holding her. Drama.

Don't take this description as a negative one, though. Yes, she wears us out, but she is such a joy too. She is sweet and cuddly, loves her big sister, loves being outside and loves real food. It is surreal that six full months (and a few days) have passed since she came into our lives. It feels like she's been here all the while.

Now, onto cloth diapering. We used cloth with Stella for the typical reasons - wanted to be more environmentally friendly, also wanted to save money, and liked the idea of natural material close to her bum. It worked out great for her. I would say with Stella we used cloth 75% of the time, and disposables at night or when we were on longer outings. With Meg, we are using a bit more disposables, I think b/c Meg of course is dragged along whenever we do things with Stella out of the house.

We use two kinds of cloth, the prefolds and the fitted. I love the fitted ones. They function just like disposables, with velcro tabs for fastening. I have no link (for one reason, I forget the brand we have and they are all dirty in the pail right now, so I'm not digging one out!) but if you do any search on google for cloth fitted diapers, you'll find tons of choices. Then we just use the plastic covers, again can't remember the brand. (This is the lamest description ever, sorry.) Most of those were hand-me-downs from a friend whose kid was a year older than Stella. They are still working just fine, four years later.

Prefolds are also fine, just a little more work. With those we use snappis to fasten them, which are basically Y-shaped rubber things with Ace bandage teeth on the three ends. They just hook into the cloth and keep the diaper in place.

Now for washing - We have a big rubbermaid tub that sits next to the changing table. We pour a little baking soda in there every now and then to counteract the odor. When we take a wet or poopy diaper off of her, we just toss it in the pail. Then when we're down to 5 or 6 diapers, I just dump the diapers into the washer and do a rinse cycle on cold, then wash hot with detergent, then dry really well. I wash the covers but don't dry them.

I wish we were the family that used strictly cloth, but after one repulsive cloth diaper that I ended up throwing away in public b/c I couldn't bear to put it in my bag, I decided that was that. That was way more expense, and possibly worse for the environment, than just tossing a disposable. So we're more of a half and half family.

That's it from here, baby's crying...sorry this seemed rushed but hopefully got the job done. bye!