I am thrilled to say we are done with diapers of all kinds- cloth and 'sposies!! Elise is potty-trained and has been for about 2 weeks. She is doing awesome and we are so proud. For anyone getting ready to PT their child, I highly highly recommend the 3 Day Potty Training program. I didn't buy a book or anything. I found a few summaries online and just followed them pretty strictly for those 3 days. It was much easier than expected.
Sooo... we are also done with cloth diapers. I have had so many people ask me about them and even a few mom friends (or moms-to-be: looking at you Marisa!) use them, so I know I'm not the only one out there. They are gaining in popularity so quickly, which I think is great! I just finished packing them all away in hopes that we will use them on our second child and I thought I would give some "final thoughts." If you don't know the CD lingo, this will probably be very confusing. But if you have started to research CDing at all, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I hope someone out there finds this helpful.
When Elise was a newborn, we used mainly fitteds with a cover. It worked great, with not one single leak or dreaded "blow-out." When she started eating solid food and became more active, we switched to mainly pockets or AIOs. I didn't like the fitteds as much as she grew; I thought they were pretty bulky and honestly, she wouldn't stay still enough to get the diaper and cover on. So the pockets with snaps became our "go-to." I preferred the pockets bc they dried quicker than the AIOs. Our favorite diaper was
Preston's Pants. We also really liked
Fuzzi Buns and, for AIO
Blueberry. For nighttime, I used
Bum Genius . Never a leak- ever.
We used CDs full time until Elise was 9 months old. She stared to attend Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I know there are some out there who are hardcore CD and use them all the time, 24/7, but that really didn't work with our lifestyle. What worked best for us was using CDs Thursday, when she got home from MDO, to Monday. Then we used 'sposies T, W, and Th during the day. I did laundry twice a week. It wasn't a big deal... then again, laundry is one chore I don't really mind.
We have no regrets using cloth diapers. They probably saved us well over $1,000 (especially because I bought mine used and will use them on our next child as well.) So actually, the savings is probably closer to $2,000. Did I find them to be a pain? Sometimes, yes. I'm not going to lie. They are not as easy as disposables. But they're not all that difficult, time-consuming, or gross (not that much grosser than a 'sposie IMO) and they added maybe 30 minutes of laundry a week. If that. I'm kind of green and kind of crunchy... and heck, I've got to make up for the big carbon footprint my SUV leaves!! ;)
Are we happy to be done with diapers of all kinds- you bet!!! I don't miss washing or folding the CDs one bit. And I don't miss buying the disposables. But we have no regrets and we will certainly use them on our next child. They are not for everyone, but they are certainly a great option for some!
If you have any questions- I'll be happy to try and help!
