I grew up with cloth diapers, but the ones we had back then were so primitive compared to the stylish, convenient ones that are available today. Kiyomi's cloth diapers are colourful and so easy to use! Safety pins are a thing of the past!
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| Kiyomi in her Cherry Tomato red Applecheeks |
We use both all-in-ones and cover/insert diapers. All-in-ones are basically a one-piece cloth diaper (ie. the same principle as a disposable, but made of cloth). You use it once, then you wash it. We use these for when Kiyomi has a babysitter, to make it easier for the non-cloth-diaper inclined to change her. My favourite all-in-ones are Rumparooz. We have the ones with snap closures. I love the inner gusset (the elastic ruching really reduces leakage), and they seem to fit Kiyomi really well. Rumparooz are really adjustable in their absorbency, as they come with two inserts that you can mix and match, depending on how thick/absorbent you want the diaper to be. I've also tried Totsbots Easyfits, but I find they really aren't as absorbent as Rumparooz or Applecheeks, especially since they switched to a minky lining.
Our favourite brand is Applecheeks, which is a cover-insert system. Here's why:
1) The bamboo inserts. Bamboo is much more absorbent than cotton, and it absorbs faster. I have bamboo hand towels, and they literally suck the water right off your hands in one swipe. They are AMAZING. So, it follows that the bamboo diaper inserts that Applecheeks has are also super-absorbent! I also find them much softer than the cotton inserts.
2) Adjustable sizing. Applecheeks are a two-size system, and each size is really adjustable because it has so many button snaps! We started Kiyomi on size 1s when she was just a few weeks old, and she still fits into them. We predict that we'll have to move up to the size 2 in another month or so, as her thighs are getting quite chunky!
3) Re-sale value. Did you know there are Applecheeks collectors? They scour the internet for the limited edition prints, especially. I've heard of a diaper cover selling for up to $60!! Either way, you can sell the lot of covers plus inserts
I think the main reason we use cloth is the monetary savings! The startup cost for cloth diapers is high, but once you have a stash, you don't have to spend any more money on the diapers. There are water and hydro costs of course, but you still end up saving money. There's a great article about the cost of cloth diapering. Especially since we plan on having two children, our savings really add up! Once we're done with them, I plan on attempting to resell them on Craigslist or Kijiji, so we can recoup some of the initial cost.
Now, you may be wondering how ridiculous our laundry schedule is. Kiyomi has 6 covers, with three inserts per cover. This gives us 18 diaper changes, unless she dirties the diaper cover. Usually, we can go around 3 days before we do a load of laundry, so it ends up being 2-3 extra loads a week, just for her diapers. We were blessed to inherit a huge diaper pail, so there's no smell (and even when we just use a wet bag to store the soiled diapers, there's really no noticeable smell....and we keep ours in the main living area of our small condo!). Overall, I'd say that once you get used to it, there's really no hassle. I should let you know though, we started cloth diapering Kiyomi around 3 weeks in, because I was mentally and physically unprepared to transition to doing more loads of laundry than necessary! We used disposables until that point.
I'm not a hippy, or a super eco-friendly type-gal, but I really really really think cloth diapering is a great idea!
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