Diaper Duty

Ever since I knew I was going to stay home, I knew I wanted to use mainly cloth diapers. It would save us tons of money in the long run. I spent lots of time researching, found some I wanted to use, and also determined I wanted to use gDiapers to start and as our travel choice, and have a natural type disposable as back up. Here is my experience with each so far... 

Disposable Diapers

The hospital diapers were Pampers. I never knew disposables had stripes now that tell you if they're wet... very nice feature for new parents! What they don't tell you is that you need to make sure the flare around the legs doesn't get tucked in or you'll have leaks... I didn't have this pointed out to me until we saw the pediatrician two days after leaving the hospital. The umbilical cord cut-out in the newborn size is nice too. Well, it seemed that we still were getting leaks with the Pampers, ad not out the legs but out the top part, so I tried a Huggies sample I had and no leaks. It seemed that Huggies just fit him better. I also liked that Huggies has a pure and natural line that are made with organic cotton and are hypoallergenic, so I ordered some of these from Amazon.com and we used them solely until the umbilical cord fell off and then continued to mainly use them until Connor was big enough for the small gDiapers. As long as the waist was secured tight enough, we have had no leaks or blowouts with the Huggies (knock on wood!

). We have come close to a blowout a few times, but the little pocket flap in the back has saved us so far. Before Connor was born I had also bought some Seventh Generation diapers since they are chlorine free, and free of other chemicals that can irritate the skin. They absorb well but don't fit quite as good as the Huggies on Connor. I can't really give a good review of these yet though as they don't have the newborn cutout so we didn't use very many. I still have two unopened Size 1's that w have yet to try. They also don't have the blowout catcher pocket so I'm hesitant on when to use them. We've also tried another brand that was what made up my diaper cake from my shower, but I don't know what they are... they have blue spots all over them. These are still a bit big on Connor and don't have the blowout pocket, so I use these sparingly as I don't want to waste them, and they were given to us by a very special lady who is no longer with us. 

Diaper Cake from Mary Ann

Our current use for disposables is mainly as back-up when out and about or at night if the gDiaper gets messy, or if the cloth and gDiapers are all in the wash.

gDiapers (w/ disposable insert)

Let me first say that we are using the disposable inserts with the gDiapers, not the cloth inserts (they didn't seem to have good reviews). My original plan for gDiapers was to use them of the first 2 months instead of disposables, to give us enough time to adjust and make sure I was ready for the extra laundry before switching to cloth. I bought a set of tiny g's (that even had snaps to make the front lower for the umbilical cord), a bunch of size smalls, and several packs of the disposable inserts to get us through the first two months. This of course is not exactly how it happened. Even with the snap down front, I felt more comfortable with using the disposables until the umbilical cord fell off. I then attempted to use the tiny g's and really liked them until I realized the insert was bunching in the front and causing Connor to be uncomfortable (though they would probably be fine for a girl). I think this was because the tiny g's used the same inserts as the smalls. So back to disposables until Connor fit into the smalls. Once he fit into the small g's, we started using these mostly and loved them. The only leakage I get from them is sometimes at night if he goes too long without a diaper change. The nice thing about it is that even then, the outside cloth cover soaks up most of it so that his clothes just get a little wet instead of soaking. And thus far (knock on wood)... no blowouts in these either. The liners sometimes get messy with poops so I bought a couple packs of extra liners so I can change those out and keep using the cloth cover a bit longer when it's still clean (and the box of liners is $20 for 6, so not bad). Overall, I'm very happy with the gDiapers. I also like that they are biodegradable, compostable (if there's no poop on them), and flushable, making them better for the environment. And being free of chemicals & plastics make them better for Connor too. 

gDiaper

Our current use of the gDiapers is for when we leave the house and at night (explanation to follow).

Cloth Diapers

The cloth diapering system I decided to go with is Bambino Mio. It's a pre-fold and cover system (big in the UK), and so far I like it. I was going to wait until Connor was two months to start them, but I felt ready to give it a go around 6 weeks. When I first started, I was using the liners that go with the system to catch the poop but since Connor's poop is so liquidy, it juts ran over the sides and messed the cover. Luckily, it didn't leak, but one came close. So after I realized this (after the 2nd try), I removed the liners and everything went so much better after that! They soak everything up and we have not had even one leak with them so far, knock on wood! I like that I can fold the pre-folds in such a way to put more absorbency up front where little man does the soaking :). Unless we have a big poopy, I can reuse the covers several times before retiring them to the diaper pail. The first time I washed them, I decided to give them a 2nd wash and it helped get the stains out better from the poops (and since I can adjust the water amount used in a laundry cycle on my washing machine, it equals out to washing one large load so I don't feel like I'm wasting water or anything). Some still have light stains, but it's not a big deal to me. I don't know if it'd be better to change detergent, as we're using the Publix Free & Clear since it was on a list of detergents that you can use with cloth diapers and is inexpensive and easy for me to get. I add to that the Miofresh antibacterial diaper cleanser that gives that extra cleaning boost to the wash and is gentle on the diapers and the environment. I just found that they make laundry powder too that we can now get in the US so I may try that next and maybe it will wash them better. I love the pail that goes with the system too... you can get the laundry bags that affix on the inside and then when it's time to wash, you just put the whole bag in the wash without having to touch all the dirty diapers again. Not much else to say, they're pretty easy :).

Bambino Mio

Our current use of the cloth diapers is during the day while we're at home. It's just less bulk to use the gDiapers when we leave the house. And since I don't have a diaper pail in my bathroom and the nursery is on the other side of the house, we'll use the gDiapers at night until Connor starts sleeping in his room... but right now, he sleeps in my room.

And on another note about diaper duty... Connor hated all diaper changes for several weeks and would scream through them every time. Thankfully he has gotten much better and only does this occasionally, like when he's really hungry and would rather be eating. Ken is actually really good at diaper changes and did most of them while he was home, especially the middle of the night ones. And lastly, I'm so thankful breastfed babies' poop doesn't stink :).