The Great Diaper Experiment

As I grow older, I suddenly find that the traits of my parents often also belong to me. From a young age, I learned that my father makes decisions slowly, a habit that now appears to be hereditary!

After much research, waiting, more research, and more thinking, I finally purchased some cloth diapers for trial purposes. I visited two websites, one of which belongs to one of my coworkers' sister: http://www.diapersetc.com/. The other site I used is http://www.cottonbabies.com/. Between the two sites I put together my own sampling of cloth diaper "trial" options.

Here is what I purchased (photos of the actual colors/patterns!):

(1) bumGenius 3.0 -This is a "One Size" pocket diaper. It comes with an insert that comes in and out of a pocket inside the diaper. The diaper is fully adjustable to fit a newborn and a toddler. The insert must be removed for washing, but the size flexibility creates an opportunity to save money as Charlotte grows. (yes, I bought pink!)

(1) bumGenius 2.0 - This is an "All in One" diaper (AIO). They come in sizes (xs, s, m, l) and are simply use and wash. No pins, no pockets to stuff, AIOs offer the simplicity of "sposie" diapers. I am only concerned about amount of dryer time I will have to use with these to get them completely dry.



(1) Bumkins AIO - same idea as the bumGenius, just a different brand and a super cute pattern. Just like sposies, all cloth diaper makes fit differently on different babies, so I'm giving these a try too. Perhaps I may also find a difference in absorbency, so we'll test that too.



Bravely armed with my new knowledge, I also purchased (6) prefolds (your basic burp-cloth material of choice!) that I will try with these (2) wrap covers by Bummis. I purchased some "snappi" closers to use instead of pins (no risk of poking Charlee as she flips over on the changing table), although my understanding is that since these are wraps and not plain pull on covers, they should hold the cloth prefolds in place without the use of pins or a snappi.

By trying these cloth diapers, I hope to see a little greener, both earth-green and dollar-green. I can't say that I hard core believe I need to "save the earth," but I can't quite get rid of the mental image of 4,000 dirty diapers in a landfill for my great-great-great-great(okay so I don't know how many great)-grandchildren to deal with.

Dollar-wise, assuming 6 diapers a day, at roughly 0.25/diaper and 365 days/year, disposable diapers cost roughly $547.50/year. While I see myself investing in the more expensive pocket and AIO diapers, I see myself making an investment of about a year's cost of disposable use. The great news? Charlotte will be in diapers for more than just one year AND since I don't anticipate her being an only child, these diapers will get even more use. If we didn't have any more children? Cloth diapers in good condition are easy to resell at 75% of original cost.

Now I'm off to the store to invest in some cloth diaper friendly detergent and some cheap baby washcloths to use as wipes :-). We'll let you know how it goes when we get everything setup and going!