Cloth Diaper Catch-Up

The last time I talked about cloth diapers on the blog was way back before LJ was born. Which is kind of funny, since she's been in cloth diapers since she was 6 days old! I used Pampers on her the first 6 days because a few people had given us some. On that 6th day, though, I put her in one of her newborn fitteds and was instantly hooked.

So cute!! And holy crap, I can't believe she was ever this scrawny.(These are Clover fitteds and a Thirsties newborn cover.)

Because she was so small, most of my diapers didn't fit her yet. All she could wear was the newborn fitteds and covers I bought. And I only had 12 of those, so she wore Pampers part-time for a few more weeks. I tried to put her in cloth as much as possible, though. Once I ran out of disposables, I decided not to buy more and just make do with the cloth I had. And it was fine! It didn't take her long to grow into my one-sized stuff and prefolds.

I mean, I can't even. Tiny LJ, cute Rumparooz newborn cover, and still-big post-partum belly. Bliss.

Before LJ was born, I was washing C's cloth diapers once every 4-5 days. Since she was only wearing one diaper a day (overnight, actually), I just didn't have much diaper laundry. Sometimes I'd stretch it to once a week. But once LJ started wearing the cloth, I started washing diapers every 2 days. Once she fit into most of my stash, I had enough to go several more days between washings, but she was going through so many in a day that the diaper pail would get full quickly. Its not a good idea to wash too many diapers (or clothes, for that matter) at a time; they need room in the washer to get clean.

Washing every other day really wasn't a big deal. Maybe because I was already used to diaper laundry. Honestly, though, everything about this baby has been kind of low-key. I think a lot of it is because I'm not a first-time-mama anymore, and have more confidence in myself. Whatever the case, nothing seemed like a big deal this time. (A good example is the night feedings. When C was a newborn, I knew she'd be nursing every 2-3 hours round the clock, but every time she woke up to nurse in the middle of the night, it was a huge deal to me. I felt exhausted all the time, it was so hard for me to get up and do what needed to be done, etc. When LJ was a newborn, I had a different mindset. Instead of the "woah-is-me-my-baby-won't-let-me-sleep" mindset, I got in my head that she would be waking up every 2-3 hours and need a diaper change and a feed, and that was normal and unchangeable. And it was easier. I had no problem getting up and taking care of her. I was still tired during the day, but it didn't slow me down. And no, I didn't go back to work, but I also quit taking naps around 3-4 weeks post-partum, so its not like I was catching up on sleep during the day. I have just truly found the second baby to be easier on me. I guess I'm just lucky!)

I've used Eco Sprout laundry detergent since for LJ's diapers. I used All Free & Clear for years, but once I tried Eco Sprout there was a noticeable difference. My diapers were clean before, but now they're CLEAN. I'm not in love with having 2 separate detergents, and the Eco Sprout is not the cheapest thing ever, but its worth it to me.

C is no longer wearing cloth diapers, by the way. She does still need a diaper at night (she has an immature bladder and just can't hold it all night, and she doesn't wake up during the night to go potty - and I am not about to wake her up!), but I finally gave in and admitted that cloth wasn't working for her anymore. Nothing I tried was containing all her urine and she was waking up soaked every single morning. So I tried her in Good Nites training pants and they are wonderful. The actual panty part is reusable, which I love. She just gets a new insert every night, which is basically a huge, thick disposable pad. It holds an impressive amount of urine, and she's never had a leak in these. They're expensive ($18 for the starter kit which includes 2 pairs of the panties and maybe 5 or so inserts, and then $8-9 for a pack of 18 inserts), but hopefully she won't be in them too much longer. And it still beats having to wash her sheets every day!

Anyway, LJ grew out of her newborn fitteds around 11 pounds, which sucked because they were supposed to fit until 13 pounds. She got chunky very quickly! I'm so glad I didn't do the newborn rental option at Sweetbottoms like I had thought about. I would have had the diapers for 3 months, and wouldn't have really gotten my money out of them, since she was about 2 months when they quit fitting. I was able to use my regular size prefolds on her after that, and they were bulky but fit fine.

This is a bumGenuis pocket diaper. She was around 2 months old here, and I had it almost as tight as it would go to fit her. All my BGs are used, though, so they're a little stretched out. I feel like a new one-size BG would have fit her just fine, and probably sooner than mine did.

I have more pictures of her in cloth diapers, I'm sure, but at the moment this is all I can find! LJ is now almost 8 months old and hasn't seen a disposable diaper in several months. I think November was the last time I put one on her, and she got a terrible rash from it. These days, I wash diapers every 3 days (unless she fills up the diaper pail sooner). I'll get some more photos and do another update soon!

Next Saturday is the annual Great Cloth Diaper Change, and I'm super excited! Our location won't be participating in the Guiness aspect this year, but we're still doing the change and raising awareness. And we'll be getting swag bags and the chance to win prizes, so you can't beat that. To gear up for the Change, I've been participating in an Instagram photo challenge every day. #GCDC2015 takes you to some great cloth diaper-related shots!