What's the Cloth Diaper Deal?

Cub in his first cloth diaper

A lot of people use cloth diapers these days. A lot of people don't. You don't have to justify yourself in either case. Disposables can cause allergic reactions, if your baby is allergic to latex. The thought of washing poopy diapers can be disgusting. Cloth diapers cost a lot, up-front, but they're cheaper in the long run, especially since you can reuse them if you have another baby.

I wanted to cloth diaper the twins, but I was definitely at a financial low point in my life at the time. Most of their clothes, their crib and sheets, and a lot of their toys were hand-me-downs from other moms. At the time, I was determined to do the environment a favor. I was bringing two new diaper-users into the world, and I wanted to make the right choice.

It turns out that the "green" question is a complicated one. I can't find a solid answer. A study sponsored by Pampers suggests that cloth diapers aren't really better because of all of the washing and the manufacturing process. Thanks, Pampers, but don't be surprised if I don't take your word for that.

Here's why I chose cloth diapers:

You can buy them once and you're done. M had G Diapers when she was a toddler. The G Diaper pieces come in a couple of different sizes because the design doesn't allow for the same diaper to fit a newborn and a potty trainer. The outer layer comes in four sizes, the inserts only have two. That wasn't a problem because she didn't start using cloth until she was in the larger sizes anyway. The Cub uses Bum Genius diapers. He started wearing them when he was about six weeks old, and he still wears them now, at 11 months old. He even has room to grow.

Cub - 11 months

I'd rather throw poopy diapers in the wash than have to figure out how to get to the store if I'm running out of disposables. This was especially true when the Cub was small. I had three other kids to look after and I hate taking newborns out in public anyway. Besides, baby poop is really no big deal until they start eating solids. Even then, most of it will just fall out of the diaper if you shake it gently over the toilet... and the rest can seriously just go in the laundry.

I hate diaper trash. It's heavy and gross and attracts flies if you move it to the dumpster too long before trash day. I don't want to put diapers in the regular trash because then I have to smell poop in the kitchen whenever I have kitchen garbage to throw away.

There is one important note: We aren't strict about our diapering.

When the Cub needed diaper cream, we used disposables because store-bought diaper cream doesn't wash out of cloth diapers very well. You can make your own, cloth-friendly diaper cream. I just didn't want to order a lot of weird ingredients I would probably never use again. Apparently, if you're not shopping at Target, there are cloth-friendly creams you can buy. Check this chart.

We also had to abandon cloth diapers all together recently because the Cub was soaking through them, without warning, every night and sometimes during the day. We tried stripping the detergent from his diapers with bleach. We tried using multiple absorbent inserts in one diaper shell. Disposable diapers didn't even last through the night sometimes, but they were more likely to survive than his cloth ones.

In conjunction with the soaking troubles, Cub's diapers acquired a nasty smell. We stopped using them over-night and in public when the soaking started. As a result, we weren't going through our inventory as quickly, and I wasn't washing them as often. That was my mistake. They got moldy and I had a heck of a time getting the smell out.

If that happens to you:

Try sunning them. It gets stains out and it can help kill bacteria. I sun my diapers every couple of weeks just to get them looking new again. When it's nice out, I dry them on the clothes line.

Try turning up your water heater and washing them as hot as you can. This also helps kill the bacteria and clean out any build up. This is what wound up working for me. Remember to give your water heater time to heat up after you've changed the settings and before you start your diaper load.

If you have to, try bleaching. Again, it kills bacteria and works the build-up out. I did this before resorting to turning the water heater up, because I didn't want to risk scalding the other kids. It did help, but didn't get the smell out entirely.

The Cub is back in cloth-diaper-mode and doesn't seem to know the difference. He's too busy flushing the toilet, exploring the dog crate, and trying to climb in the dishwasher when my back is turned. I've started calling him Curiosity Rover.