Cloth Diapering...not just for Hippies :)

I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of ever even considering cloth diapering, as the thought of having to scrape poop off the diaper every single diaper change did not interest me at all, but then all of a sudden one day, I thought about it. I did some research, and I talked to a few of my coworkers who've been doing it and quite successfully at that. With their advice and guidance, I started cloth diapering Luke when he was around 8 months old, so we've been doing it now for about 3 months. Now we do use disposables at night because there is probably not a cloth diaper out there that will absorb 12+ hours of urine, and we'll use disposables if we're going to be out for the day, mostly because it's easier. 

I don't think I need to tell you about the environmental impact of disposable diapers, so any amount of cloth diapering helps with this. I talked a little bit about this in my previous post about diaper pails. If you can make it work for you, great! It will save you a lot of money in the long run too, especially if you plan on having a few kids. 

I owe everything I know about cloth diapers to my friends Sarah and Aleana who've been doing it with their babies. But the reason I was convinced and have stuck with it, is the disposable (flushable) liner that I put in each cloth diaper. Basically, it's like putting a tissue in the diaper, and most of the time, it works great. It catches the majority of the poop, and I rarely have to scrape. In three months now, I think I've had to scrape two diapers total. I found the perfect one on my third attempt, and it works perfectly. I either flush or throw the liner into the diaper pail with the wipes. Then I place the diaper directly into the wet bag and wash when it's full. The brand of disposable liners I now love and use, as it fits perfectly into the diaper and is soft, is available on Amazon and called Bummis, and they are around $6 for a roll (100 sheets). 

bum genius

bum genius freetime

The type of cloth diaper doesn't matter so much, as long as you find something that works for you. We use two different ones and love them both. The very familiar cloth diaper brand called Bum Genius that we use works great. They have a few different styles, we use the Freetime one because that's the type that I bought from my friend Sarah when she was done using them with her kids. They were in great shape and she gave me a good price. You can get them on Amazon, other places online and in some stores, but they run approximately $18-20 a piece. She sold the rest of them online, so you can probably find some good deals on used diapers that are in good shape! Now it is a one time purchase, but it does add up when you consider you probably need 20 or so of them (everybody is a little different with how often they want to wash them, and how many they use each day). They are great though because the liners are built in, so you don't have to stuff the shell of the diaper with the liner. 

Alva Baby

The other brand we use was a recommendation from my friend Aleana. The brand is called Alva Baby, and I've only see them available on Amazon or their website. The site seems a bit sketchy, but I had no problem with it, they work great and are super inexpensive. They run about $4-6 a piece, but do have the removable liner that you have to take out and wash. I did find that the liners that came with the diapers were not as absorbable, so I ended up getting some liners separately on Amazon that worked better. 


There is definitely a learning curve to cloth diapering, but I promise, once you figure it out, it's not bad at all! I am not an expert though, so if you don't have a friend who knows everything like I did, check out one of these resources, though there are a ton out there!

The Art of Simple
 The Eco Friendly Family
Thinking About Cloth Diapers
Mama Natural
All About Cloth Diapers

I hope this helped you at least consider cloth diapers! They really are so cute and once you get the hang of it, it's actually kinda fun :)

With Love,

Claudia