Cloth Diaper Drop-out

*Whoops, forgot to publish this a while ago*

A few months ago I posted how we have been using cloth wipes with Shepherd, but how cloth diapers just weren't for us.  Well then, we started using them :)  With Inara we could use the cheapest diapers ($0.16/diaper) and it never bothered her skin.  But with Shepherd his skin was really sensitive and was getting a rash with every diaper except the Papmpers Swaddlers ($0.23/diaper).  It doesn't seem like a big difference but 6-8 diapers a day really add up.  We figured it out and for about $150 we could buy cloth diapers to last until he was potty trained, or $50/month in disposables.  So we decided to save some bucks and try cloth diapering.

There is so much information out there on cloth diapers.  The first kind we tried were Smartipants.  I liked that while they were a one size pocket diaper, you didn't have to pull out the insert before throwing them in the wash. The insert comes out during the cycle.  Also they had free shipping, a sale, included a wet bag, and 30 return policy.  I figured since we were new to this, the return policy was probably good.

 

I am glad too, because we sent them back after about a week.  They leaked pretty bad.  The leg openings were pretty big on him so it leaked there and it also leaked in other places. The website says if it is leaking try to change the diaper more frequently but it was leaking after 30 minutes.  So we sent them back. (Disclaimer- after we sent them back we realized we had not washed them 4-6x prior to using which is said to help with absorbency. Even if they were more absorbent, they still would have leaked from the legs though).

Before we spent anymore money on other diapers I asked around what other people liked.  A sweet friend whose kiddos have outgrown them, offered to let us use hers to try.  She had a lot of different brands we could try.  I was so thankful!  The kind she had was a prefold and diaper cover.  I was not too excited to try these because they always seemed like the most work.  But I gave it a try and it really wasn't that bad.

Unless you buy an All-in-One you will have some work anyway, and folding the prefold and laying on the diaper cover wasn't as awful as I thought.  We used hers for a few days and decided since it wasn't dreadful we would give that style a try. The next few days I spent hours scouring the internet on reviews of different diapers. I researched which brand was the best bang for your buck.  Finally Justin told me I just had to make a choice.

I finally chose Econobum.  They claim to be able to "Diaper your baby in cloth from birth to potty training for under $100."  We bought one of the boxes that comes with 3 One Size diaper covers, 12 prefolds, and a wetbag for $48.95. We figured, if we liked it and it worked we could always buy another box and those 2 boxes (totaling $94.90) would be able to meet all our cloth diapering needs until Shepherd is potty trained.

They definitely seemed to be worth the money. I didn't love it, but it was nice to think to my self each time I change a cloth diaper "I am actively saving my family money right now".  Also we were more of a part-time cloth diapering family.  He wore disposables at church, when we ran errands, and at night.  Since we still used disposables often, it wouldn't save us much money to spend $200 on cloth diapers.  Spending (what I found to be) the minimum amount of money on cloth diapers, we would have increased the amount of money we save.

So here are the pros and cons of using the Econobum:

Pros

• Super cheap, and will pay for its self very quickly
• Not hard to clean at all
• Easy to use
• Comes with wet beg
• Less than $50 for a 2-3day diaper supply
• Prefolds can be used with any cover
• Prefolds cheaper than other brands
• Covers are One Size so they fit newborn to 35lbs

Cons

• They only come in all white diaper cover
• Bulky underneath clothes
• Thin diaper cover that I could see wearing out faster than other covers

We used them for about 4 months before we waved our white flag and called it quits.  Once he started having formula and food, his poops were nasty.  We both would gag spraying out his poopy diapers.  He also wasn't requiring as many diaper changes a day since he could be in bigger sizes.  And is also not as sensitive to disposable diapers anymore.  I found some super cheap diapers ($0.12/diaper) that don't irritate his skin.  So we switched back to disposables. And it.is.awesome.  The first poopy diaper I changed after we switched, didn't even bother me.  It gave me such satisfaction to not rinse it out and toss it in the trash! :)

So anyway, we are drop outs but glad we are.  Here are some other resources and good diaper reviews if anyone else is interested:

Cottonbabies

Kitchen Stewardship (this is by far the most extensive review I found)

Simple Mom (Ps, don't you just love all of the "Simple" blogs)

Am I the only one that found the cloth diapering world overwhelming or totally didn't like it?