The straight dirt on cloth diapering

Some of you long-time readers might recall my resolution to use cloth diapers on our baby. Well, it’s been over two months, and I just wanted to report back on how things are going.

In a word, things are fabulous. And you know they’d have to be, for me to stick to a resolution that forces me to do two extra loads of laundry a week (and rather labor-intensive loads of laundry, at that).

For the first week and a half after we came home from the hospital, we used disposables. Partially because she was way too small for her cloth diapers, and partially because I couldn’t figure out how to put her gDiapers on her so that her umbilical stump would remain uncovered. After her stump fell off, we put the gDiapers on her, and those carried us through admirably until she was finally big enough to fit in the Mother Ease diapers when she was a month old.

The gDiapers work pretty well, but they’re more work than both disposable and cloth diapers. My big gripe is that the nylon inner liner almost always gets soiled when Baby has a dirty diaper, so you have to change out the disposable pad and deal with the nylon liner. Usually, dealing with the liner meant rinsing it out under the bathtub tap, spritzing it with some Dreft, and throwing it in the laundry basket. Still, that’s more hassle than I’m used to.

The disposable liner, if you will recall, can be flushed, thrown in the garbage, or composted (if it’s just a wet diaper). We did all three, and never had any problem. And it only ever took one flush; I tended to save them in a Kroger bag until someone else had to go to the bathroom, then flushed the liner down then so that no water was wasted. And indeed, I saw no rise in my water bill.

Moreover, the gDiapers are trim and cute as a button. They very, very rarely leaked for us, and my girl is a prodigious wetter. They did start to consistently leak at one point, and I realized it was right after a growth spurt, when she was taking in (and presumably putting out) a lot more formula. So we tried the Mother Ease diapers on her again, and they fit just fine by then.

Which brings me to the main event: the Mother Ease diaper review. What can I say, I love these diapers. I talk about these diapers the way I used to talk about Johnny Depp last week in high school. For one thing, one size fits 8 lbs.-35 lbs., though the first week she was wearing them, Baby Girl looked a lot like one of those weighted bowling pins you’re supposed to knock over at the county fair.

They aren’t hard to care for, either. I’ve seen recommendations for both wet pail and dry pail, but we use a wet pail, since formula poop is a force to be reckoned with. Ye gods.

Anyhow, you just change the diaper and toss it in the pail, then wash a load every three days. It was hard at first to remember the steps to follow in the laundering, but we soon got the hang of it.

They take up a good bit of space in the diaper bag, but it’s manageable. And as I said, I don’t mind the small trouble of carting them around because the benefits are worth it. We have spent almost no money on diapering supplies since Baby Girl began wearing her cloth diapers, and she has had zero diaper rash since she came home from the hospital (though she got a nasty one there because they gave her milk-based formula). But the best thing of all, the reason I will recommend these diapers to anyone, is that they are virtually leak-proof.

We have only ever had her diapers leak a few times, but it was always because of user error on my part: you have to make sure the diaper is completely tucked into the nylon cover, or the wet cloth will wick moisture onto the baby’s clothing. Once we got the hang of that, though, we’ve had no leaks, even after the trial by fire.

The Sprog brought home that nasty little stomach bug that was going around a few weeks ago, and Baby Girl had horrible diarrhea for nearly a week because of it. At first I decided to use disposables until she was back to normal (I thought my washing machine was going to blow a belt with all the diaper laundry that week). But you know what? The disposables couldn’t handle the diarrhea. Not even close. It went up the back and out the legs every single time for the day or so that she wore them. It was revolting. So we switched her back to her cloth diapers, and *poof*, no more blow-outs. Not a one. Not even a drop. It was awe-inspiring. And only one of her diapers has any staining at all, even after all that (I should note: I got the idea to use my leftover gDiaper disposable pads as doublers for the cloth diapers, and they really helped soak up the waste and kept Baby Girl’s bottom drier.)

So, yeah, these Mother Ease diapers are great, and I’m so glad we decided to go with cloth. In fact, we’ve saved so much money on diapering that we can afford to get our cable TV turned back on now. To me, the benefits could not be clearer: buy cloth diapers, have a happy and comfortable baby, save lots of money, get Ninja Warrior back. EVERYBODY WINS. Except for all those contestants who totally eat mud on Ninja Warrior. That is so awesome.