Part of Dirty Diaper Laundry’s Cloth Diaper Carnival Part IV, This month is “Where did you first hear about/ see cloth diapers?”
Cloth diapers were on my radar long before I even thought about having a baby. I knew one day, however, that I would have a baby
and that I could not bear to throw away thousands of diapers or spend all of that money! A few years before I was pregnant my cousin was in town from Portland, OR with his two children, one of which was in diapers. When his son needed a diaper change I noticed something different! He was wearing a cute cloth diaper cover. It turns out that those diaper covers were for g-diapers, a innovative new diaper that was a hybrid of cloth and disposable. The outside cloth layer was washable and the inside was a flushable or compostable insert. When they left my house I immediately looked up the diaper online to see what it was all about! I was excited to see that they had a website with a little video to watch, but I was bummed by the fact that the diapers were only available on the west coast or for ordering online. I thought this was it though, this would be a way to diaper my child someday and still respect our environment.
As the years past I would occasionally check on the g-diapers and see if they were making any changes and if they were for sale in my area. I also began to look into other completely cloth options. At the time I never discovered a “Bum Genius”-like diaper, I did however find instructions on how to sew my own cloth diaper (this would of course need a cover). I thought I was making some headway so that I would be prepared for one day when I had a baby.
When the time came that we were thinking about trying to get pregnant, I spent all of my time thinking about the diapers, I became obsessed! I spent hours researching. This was a few years after my initial online searches and g-diapers had now made it to the east coast and they were sold in stores! I looked into this option breifly, but quickly realized that I did not want to spend that kind of money to diaper my child and I knew there had to be a better option. I dove into the world of cloth diapers and discovered, pockets, all-in-ones, one-size and all-in-one/pocket hybrid…my head was spinning! I loved how cute the diapers looked, but I could not wrap my head around what the differences in all of the diapers were. As I dug more deaply I disovered websites such as diaperswappers.com where I could go to ask questions about the diapers and about what people liked best. I began to rely on the opinions of many mothers online who had been using the diapers. I could not find any local person to help me out. I was a self-taught cloth diaperer!
Once I was able to get my bearings, I finally decided to make a purchase. I found someone selling some Blueberry cloth diapers on craigslist, I bought all 13 diapers, sixe x-small. I added to my collection by finding some more Bum Genius 2.0 size small diapers. Finally, with the purchase of some one-size Bum Genius 3.0 pockets diapers I was ready to go. I now had to figure out the wash routine and I would be ready for my baby!
A local woman, who began a cloth diaper shop, Soft and Cozy Baby, about mid-way into my search for cloth diapers was advertising her cloth diapering workshops. The workshop was on a weekday morning and I was upset that I could not attend because I was working full-time. I knew I had everything pretty much figured out, I just wanted to attend to see if I was missing anything.
To my surprise my son was born the Monday before the workshop. The workshop was being held just around the corner from our pediatrician’s office. On that Wednesday we took our son to the pediatrician and then we decided to check out the workshop. At the workshop I asked about laundering the diapers. I was told I should put the diapers in with no detergent on cold and when that cycle was finished to run the diapers on hot with a small amount of detergent. I actually bought some Fuzzi-Bunz detergent and I was on my way. Would you believe that almost 11 months later I am still using the small Fuzzi-Bunz detergent bottle one tablespoon at a time!
My cloth diapering journey has taught me so much and I am continuing to learn. I also love to take my time to pass my knowledge on to others!!!
Hi, I'm Rachel, the author of Happy Green Babies. Here you will find an array of tips, tools and suggestions for raising a green baby! This site chronicles the life of myself, my husband and our two boys in our "green" household. We aren't perfect, but we learn more each and everyday. This is why I created this blog, so that you can learn more too! My interests include attachment parenting, cloth diapers, babywearing, cooking organic/whole foods, and many more.