I never think to update you fine readers on the state of our cloth diapering because frankly, they're diapers. As adorably cute as they are, they're still just a necessary part of life that becomes routine quite quickly. You know the drill: you wake up, try to sneak in a cup of coffee and some Bible time before the baby wakes up. And the second the baby is up, you ....
Change the baby's diaper, of course.
Then you get on with the rest of the morning. Disposable or cloth, same difference.
We ordered our main staple, the BumGenius 3.0s, almost a year ago now. They were used vigorously by Oliver (who has traded in the BGs and has now claimed his stake in our massive stash of big boy pants) for 10.5 months, and continue to grace the edibly cute behind of one Mr. Manolin.
I have never tired of seeing them, washing them or stuffing them. We have a dozen now; happy green, blue and yellow little dipes. I don't feel burdened by them. I will admit, however, that having two using cloth diapers makes for a noticeable increase in laundry. Now that I'm back down to one in dipes, I feel like my washing machine and I are starting to drift apart. :-)
Yes, I have experienced the rolling and pilling on the velcro tabs of our BG's. I am sending off an email to Cotton Babies to see about getting the free replacement tabs I've heard about. The issue started about three months ago and is a bit of a nuisance at this point; if Manolin is wearing zippy pjs without a onesie underneath, the tabs will often grab the inside fleece and come open. Clearly, this is not convenient, even though it's not as if he wears zippy pjs all day long.
Everything else about the dipes looks the same as day 1. The colors are still bright, they are stain-free and except for one stint of getting stinky (and needing to be stripped with Dawn dish soap) they've been odor-free. The hilarious thing is that my one major fear--what if they leak?!?!--has been flipped on its head; nowadays, I hate using disposables because if anything is likely to fail, it's one of those paper imitation jobs.
My husband loves them. He uses them as easily as disposables, but still refuses to learn how to diaper using the Chinese pre-folds.
Speaking of the pre-folds and Bummis, I still use them on a daily basis as well. They are nowhere near as easily to travel with (the prefolds are just bulkier in a carry-along bag, honestly), but I do like them around the house. I know that there are dozens of different folds out there, but I only mastered two and find that they cover the bases as far as I'm concerned. The Bummis are hands-down the cutest on otherwise naked babies. And, for whatever reason, the velcro closures have remained unchanged even after being used a few weeks longer than the BGs. They are also stain-free and have never had any issues.
So there you go. A comprehensive look at the results of a year of cloth diapering. Happy mommy. Happy, healthy babies. Water bills largely unchanged. Budget definitely a little less tight thanks to an initial investment.
7 comments:
Wow-sounds cool. Wish I would have tried them with the last one. Tell me about the non-leaking part? Do they have plastic pants over them or what? How do you keep the stains out?
So my BumGenius inserts are stained, and though you can't see the stains when the diapers are assembled, I still don't like seeing the stains when I separate them. I had to wait through the long, gray winter before a sunny day or two hit to sun bleach them, and it hasn't worked so far. Does the sun bleaching not work on older stains? And do you know if I can soak the inserts in bleach to whiten them or is that bad?
I too have the tabs that are losing their stick-to-itiveness, but so far no problems with most clothing. Mine are newer than yours, but still look great and I wouldn't change them for anything!
Benny
Where did you order yours? I need a basic tutorial as I have 1 on the way and one that will be 3 in May and hopefully will be DONE by the time the newest arrival makes its presence known in Sept.
First of all, Dawn ... congrats!!!
I ordered mine from Cotton Babies; I think they're the ones that actually MAKE the BGs. That's where I got my pre-folds and Bummis, too, but that's just because I really liked the idea of their "Try it!" set. I got totally hooked, and it was less than $40 for a ton of diapers that I still use on a daily basis.
Benny, do you ever use OxiClean on yours? I have only ONE stained insert, and that was the one that somehow blew away on the day I was sunning them and ended up living in my rosebushes for a week before I missed it. (Ewwwww!) I use OxiClean on occasion, and maybe that's what has kept them so white. Or it could be that I didn't have newborn poop to contend with. Not sure ...
I did bleach the one that got so muddy it was brown, and it didn't do any harm as far as I can tell.
Found this through MakingHome. :) Way to stick it out on CD'ing. I had to stop several times for pregnancy and moving... and then finally had to stop because my juice chugger would go through a diaper in 45-minutes and we were going through way too many clothes... I can't decide if I'll CD the new baby as my husband's office is in our laundry room (I know, weird, but on a seminary budget...) and he's not fond of the smell of urine. ;)
Hey - just found you from 'Making Home'; I finally turned to cloth nappies (UK!) with no.3 and LOVE them. We have a mixture of mostly pocket nappies but my favourite are the BG's v3. I found i've had to add a hemp booster for night otherwise they leaked but great otherwise. It's 'Real Nappy Week' here in the Uk; check out my blog for my 'nappies hanging on the washing line' piccies!! :)
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