I'm A Cloth Mama!

I freakin love cloth diapering and feel so awesome having almost closed on month four! So I thought I would share our cloth journey and experiences for any of my interested readers! You might be a reader, wondering who in the world would ever WANT to mess with dirty diapers in such an intimate way. Well. Point fingers here!

  

I mean, look at this adorable baby in her cloth diaper! Who wouldn't want to have color options and style, just to name a few perks, for their little bean?

Not to mention negative cost to YOU when compared to disposables. I will be the first to say, that cloth diapering is CERTAINLY not for everyone. Probably not even for 1/3 of the baby pooping populous. But if it IS for you, say hello to extra money and new shoes? Just sayin;)

Shoes for mommy baby girl. Shoes for mommy;)

Lets take a flippin moment to talk about Flips! Flip diapers are seriously bad ace peeps, and the brand we use--- Before we invested in a stash, I did months upon months of research, trying to decide what brand would work best for our family. OMG, there are HUNDREDS out there. From big corporate companies to SAHM businesses. I would have loved to throw money at a SAHM but Flips is where it's at and we're staying.

So why did I choose cloth over easy peasy disposables? 

Lets see...

Love aspect number (1) Cost. They're inexpensive because they are reusable! We also chose to go the cover and insert route over some of the other cloth diaper systems out there. This system is even more cost effective then the others because you can reuse the cover several times before washing as long as nothing gets on it. This means you don't have to buy 12+ diapers just to get through one day. Score! 

Love aspect number (2) You have color to play with! I love the Flip colors. Bubble gum purple, blossom pink, grasshopper green and more! It's fun! I hardly think about the poo factor because I'm too involved picking out which color she'll wear that day;)

Love aspect number (3) Style, design and function. I realize those are three things but they kinda all go together. Gone are the days of safety pins and those big, awkward plastic pants ladies!

Look how uber chic and cute these are! Definitely nothing like this on the market with disposables, that I'm aware of.

Because of the well thought out design, this cloth diaper functions VERY well.  I haven't had ONE leak since using these and trust me, Sugarcube has some serious poo, ha! And notice the buttons? Not only do they secure this cutie patootie diaper to your babies hiney, but underneath are rows of other buttons, meant for sizing. This is where I swoon and commit myself to cloth diaper heaven. No buying the next size up for your growing baby. This fashion piece goes from newborn to potty training all in one swatch of cloth! So a one time investment and you're done!  

 Love aspect number (4) Absorbency, a.k.a the stay dry insert! 

Okay, sure , it's important that a diaper hold IN the goup, but this piece of the puzzle IS the power house of the whole sha-bang. It holds SO MUCH! Seriously. Ridiculous and genius-- After Sugarcube's long 9.5 hour stretches at night, the thing will be sopping wet, however my baby's bottom is powder dry. Can you say that about a disposable? Whatever they use for the top layer of this insert, is a miracle worker. And in case you haven't figured this out...A dry bottom means a healthy happy hiney; diaper rash free! Baby girl has never seen the likes...Except for those 10 days we had her in Pampers Swaddlers, waiting for her umbilical cord to fall off...I immediately put her in these and in less then 12 hours, the developing rash was gone...True story!

One plus I will give team disposables, over Flips and all cloth diapers--- is the trim fit. I love the trim fit of a paper diaper. After using Pampers for 10 days, then switching to our Flips, I ALMOST gave in and boarded the disposable train. However, I decided that was a dumb idea (for me) because everything else was working and we were saving bookoo bucks!

Now, after almost 4 months, I'm kinda diggin her cute badonkadonk;)

Now you're probably wondering--- Sure, that all sounds find and wonderful but what about the up keep and stink factor...

Really not that bad! First off, if you're breastfeeding, this cloth diaper thing is a breeze...Their poo doesn't stink as bad and there's no spraying chunks off in the toilet. (Sorry for the gross image)
You just remove the diaper and throw it in a wet bag, like this one. BING!

 I bought this exact bag at Earth.Wise.dot.com. If you do have stinkie diapers, I would consider this bag for that. It's seriously the "Hulk" of wet bags. It has kept the smell out of Sugarcube's nursery entirely! I've not had one issue with stinkies--- Formula fed babies, there's a bit more to the stink equation. For THAT poo, you can buy a sprayer that will attach to your toilet. This gets most the gunk off before you toss it into the wet bag. And you're done!

 Well not quite--- Then there's the up keep... This is really the easy part in my mind.  I do a load every 3 days where I preform a cold rinse to lift stains, then I do a hot wash for cleaning and 2 extra rinses to reduce detergent build up (detergent build up weakens absorbency.) Dry on low heat or hang dry if you have that ability. We live in Washington where it rains everyday so a dryer it is!

 You can't use just any detergent though. I use the brand Planet which does an alright job, in my opinion. I'm thinking of switching though, because I feel it gets them only fairly clean, but only if I do one or two extra rinse cycles and use bleach once a month for the stains. However, I've heard people complain of major stinkies with major cloth diaper detergent brands too. I've not had the stink problem, just stains that wouldn't lift without some extra work. So maybe this is a good one to consider! 

And there you have it! The reason I cloth diaper, a little insight and review on this particular brand and some words on my cloth diaper routine! If you're considering this route for your baby and have any questions that I left out, feel free to ask! Cloth diapering is definitely worth a shot if you're up for the challenge!  

Oh, and I did NOT get paid to write this or say such nice things about the Flip system. This is solely my opinion based off experience using them.