CDing Answers From A Newbie

I realize that I'm running the risk of this turning into a cloth-diapering blog and some of you would rather not read about poop and wipes and stuff but I've been asked some good questions and I'd like to answer them to the best of my ability as a Certified Cloth Diapering Momma (I can give myself that title after almost two weeks, right?).

And anyway it's my blog and I'll do what I want to. So there.



1. Have we used cloth at the church nursery?
No, we've taken him to church in a disposable diaper and brought disposables for them to put him in. Even though the Bum Genius are very easy to use there is a constantly changing crew of volunteer workers I don't want to have to explain myself every week. We will also use 'sposies if he's being watched by someone besides family for more than a couple of hours.

If there was a major reason to HAVE to use cloth (i.e. he was terribly allergic to all disposables) I'd make the effort to talk to the childcare directors and I'm sure they'd work with us...but I'm just trying to keep it simple for everyone.




2. So what's up with the liners? Are they expensive?
Lydia had some really good questions about the liners we use to make poo clean-up more simple.

I think what you were referring to as the more expensive, swish-and-flush biodegradable diapers are the G Diapers (which, by the way are oh-so-cute!). G Diapers are kind of a hybrid between cloth and disposable. Let me see if I can explain clearly (don't count on it!).

The G Diaper consists of two parts. There is a thin outer pant which can be worn for more than one changing if there is no "overspill" and then washed and re-used. Inside that is placed a one-time use inner diaper that is biodegradable. It's like a regular disposable diaper but is plastic-free (hence the flushablitiy) and held on by the outer pant instead of attached tabs. The flushable refills basically take the place of the absorbent cloth inserts in my diapers that have to be washed after each use.

It looks like those refills work out to be 40-50 cents each which is more expensive than regular 'sposies. Plus you have to buy the outer covers. So I guess the motivation for using G Diapers isn't saving money, it must be really wanting to save the earth + not wanting to deal with cloth.

For comparison's sake these are the flushable liners we are using. They are not essential to the use of our diapers, it just saves some effort and reduces the yuck-factor in dealing with poo. The Imse Vimse liners are very thin and I got 100 for about $6.00. If they aren't pooped on they can be washed and re-used a couple of times before they start to break down. I expect the pack of 100 to last us at least three months.

3. So what about the cost of cloth?
Let's take a conservative figure of 25 cents per disposable diaper (you'd have to be shopping sales and with coupons to get this for premium brands) and count on using nine diapers a day (more for infants, less for toddlers). In two and a half years you easily spend over $2,000 using disposables. This number does not take into account the cost of wipes, diaper pail refills, or time/effort/gas in going to get more diapers.

I spent $200 to get started with a dozen Bum Genius 3.0 One-Size Pocket Diapers. These are on the upper end of the cloth-diapering cost spectrum. I'll probably add some more to my stash over time and to be fair I should add the cost of liners (maybe $50 over 2.5 years) and wet bags to my total ($20-30 one time cost). I'll be interested to see how our water and energy bill changes with the extra use of the washer and dryer as that should be factored in too. I intend to buy a retractable clothes line to allow for occasional line drying (the sun is supposed to be fabulous for bleaching out stains).

And let us not forget that I can use these diapers for more than one child. Whoo-hoo!




4. What about the stink compared to disposables?
I haven't noticed a difference in the smell of a wet or dirty diaper on the child or during changing. The difference would be in storage of used diapers. I hadn't though of it until the question was asked but I think cloth wins out here.

We kept our dirty disposables in a Diaper Champ in the laundry room. It did a fairly good job of containing the smell but there sure was a knock-ya-down stink when you went to change out the bag. We could go almost a week before needing to haul the dirties out and, wowie, week old wet and pooey diapers could gag a maggot! Shew!

On the other hand, the poop in a cloth diaper gets flushed away and the used diapers get washed every other day so they aren't sitting around for long.

I have read that some people begin to experience problems with odor in their cloth diapers over time. I think the problem there is usually storing them too long before washing or a build-up of detergent or minerals from hard water in the diapers that can trap old urine and cause some pretty bad olfactory side effects. There are about a zillion remedies online for dealing with stink issues and I guess you try what seems best based on what you think caused the problem in the first place.

Hopefully we won't have to deal with that any time soon.

I know I've rambled on far too long (again) so if you're still hangin' with me you get a gold star! I'm certainly no expert but I hope my experience and research might help some of you who are considering "the switch" or those who are simply curious.

Much love!

*** edited to add***
I forgot one question. "Are they available in pink?" And the answer is YES!