Cloth Diapers - One Year Later
Since Special K is now one year old, it is the perfect point in time to revisit the advantages and disadvantages of our Bum Genius one-size cloth diapers. In a previous post, I examined cost, mobility, and ease of use for the parents. For now I'll stick with those areas.
Cost
Although the diapers paid for themselves after about 6 months of use, there have been some minimal costs associated with using cloth diapers (aside from washer and dryer usage). We've had to invest in some bleach and some borax to help keep the diapers in ship shape. Since we don't use either the bleach or borax every time the diapers are washed, in the long run the cost is pretty negligible. All totaled, right around $20 worth of product has lasted close to 6 months.
Mobility
Now that Special K is up and running around, the bulkiness of the diapers has become a blessing in disguise. The soft poly-cotton pillow of a diaper acts as a good landing pad for her little bum. On the negative/funny side, the diapers have caused her to walk like a penguin. She waddles around the house like a lost little bird looking for her mommy. I don't think this will have any long term effect. Just as she grew into the diapers when they were making it difficult for her to roll over, I'm sure it will be easier to walk as she grows a little more.
Ease of use and other general observations
Over time there has been a fair amount of wear to the diapers. This is most notable around the Velcro areas. The Velcro fasteners have curled outward, making it harder to keep the diaper fastened. Luckily, they are easily coerced into bending back the correct way. One unforeseen side effect of the Velcro curling is that the fasteners have become an easy access handle for undoing the diaper. Long gone are the days when Special K could crawl around in her diaper. Pants are required at all times, otherwise the diaper ends up on the floor.
The smell of the diapers has gotten progressively worse (the clean ones too :) ). This is where the need for the bleach and borax comes in. The borax is great for deodorizing the diapers, and is only needed every 4th wash or so. We bleach the inserts from time to time, but this is mostly to get rid of any dingy look (not that anyone really sees the inserts).
Overall we are still very happy that we made the choice to use cloth diapers, however we aren't in the homestretch yet. I do have some worries that she may outgrow the diapers too quickly, or that the Velcro will continue to deteriorate in such a way that the diapers become unusable.
DISCLAIMER: My wife and I are what I would say average when talking about diaper care. There are times when we do things like set the dryer at a higher than recommended temperature because we're in dire need of a diaper (and don't want to break down and buy a pack of disposables).photo courtesy of Bum Genius
I have friends who do cloth. It's just not my thing, although it's not as gross as I thought it would be. They also tried "diaper free". We were in a book store together and I made a joke about a book that taught the method. A week later he had a copy. I don't think it really was much of a success.
Diaper free... that sounds quite interesting. Cloth wasn't our thing with our first one, so I understand. We just wanted to give it a shot and it kind of stuck.
We considered clothe diapers with our first one, but with both of us working, we took the easy road in this category. Good job though sticking with it. Sounds like you saved quite a bit so far, even if she does outgrow them. -Jason
Yeah, I can see that with both of you guys working it would be easy to run out of clean cloth diapers. Also, I imagine the people at daycare would prefer if they could just chuck the dirty diapers in the trash.
We just could not bring ourselvs to do it...but, we did find (at a considerable cost) recycled, and/or green diapers where we could...all in all, we preferred the disposables...SIGH!
I've never really heard of green diapers, except when a kid eats too many peas.
Disposables do save a lot of hassle.
Quick tip...try using the soak cycle with 1/2 cup of baking soda. Do an extra rinse at the end and then air dry in the hot sun. The sun will take care of the stains and baking soda the smell. :)
Thanks for the tip! I'll have to try it out.
We did cloth with the first (Even sewed up a couple of our own all in ones).
We did disposable the second time. Great, now I feel guilt.
Don't feel guilt! We did disposables with our first and wanted to try cloth with our second. I say do whatever works for your family.
I admire you guys for going that route. My youngest brother wore cloth diapers -- old school, with safety pins and plastic outer pants. I still remember the smell.
I think those type of cloth diaper would work for me. I would end up poking holes in my kids! Part of me wanted to try, just never had the guts.
We bought some Bum Genius diapers when little man was about three months old. It just didn't work for us. I built a spreadsheet detailing the cost of the diapers, the on going supplies and the increased utilities from running extra loads of laundry (and, yes, I actually figured it out using the bills). There is a cost savings, but not enough with everything else I have going on trying to do the stay at home thing to make me want to make the commitment. Plus he got some nasty diaper rash in a matter of days.
Your comment inspired me to re-run the numbers... I had only done a rudimentary calculation before because the cost savings was good enough at the time. So, based on the current costs (water, electric, detergent) and frequency of washing (about every 3 days), the cloth diapers are running us right under $8 a month.
On that note, I'll just ad that I was proving it to myself again, not trying to rebut your comment that the savings wasn't enough. You have to do what works for your family, and I wouldn't wish diaper rash on your little guy any day! Plus, I've handled way too much poo over the last year!
We are using cloth with our first and the initial three months have worked out very well. We'll still see how they work out long term, but already we've seen a couple pros of the cloth diapers. First, we've used disposables when traveling and we've had several blowouts. No blowouts with cloth diapers. Secondly, we've seen no diaper rash with cloth and they seem more comfortable to wear than the disposables.
Even with the washing we expect to see a nice cost savings over time. Especially with the velcro on the bum genius diapers you have to clean out and take care of the velcro or you may have issues later.
I'm glad they're working out so far. I remember with our first (we used disposables) we had a blowout on my wife's pants, and you're right, we haven't seen any blowouts with the cloth diapers. However, the little one has peed through her fair share.
My mother and my aunts laughed at me(and with me) for years. They didn't have access to disposable diapers and all had flocks of kids. I always told them that without disposable diapers and baby wipes that I would have never had such a flock (6) myself. More power to you for using them.
Thanks! I completely understand that it's not for everyone, with our first it sure wasn't for me, but we decided to give it a go with our second. So I can understand both sides on this one. Now if we had more than one in diapers, that would be another story, but thankfully we timed it so our oldest was potty trained by the time number two came along.
Interesting thought, we are currently using disposables for our daughter. I love the idea and cost savings of cloth diapers... just don't think I could follow through! Maybe we will give it a shot with the second one in a few yeas.
That's exactly what we did. With our first we used disposables mainly because we thought they were easier. However, once you get into a routine with the cloth diapers, you hardly even notice.
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