a baby of the cloth

or- economic, environmental, personal costs of an entire year of cloth diapering a baby.

Well, we did it.  We can officially say we are a cloth diapering family. We made it through the first year, so there's no turning back now!

A review....

COST
I went back through all of my e-receipts for all of our cloth diaper products.  INCLUDING the diaper sprayer, wet/dry bags, solid waste liners, laundry detergent, diaper cream, AND the actual diapers themselves, we spent $755.41 on cloth diapering supplies in Mathilda's first year of life. We will probably spend another $100 in year two (detergent, diaper cream, probably a few more inserts or something like that), bringing our total spent on diapers for year 1 and 2 to $855.41. 

To account for all of the laundry (a load every 2 days) I went back and checked our water usage from pre-Mathilda to the same months with Mathilda.  On average, we spent an additional $3/month in water.  So, including water usage, the cost for one year is $791.41.

I did some more quick math.  If you use environmentally friendly disposables (like 7th generation, etc) and change the baby about 12x/day the first 3months, 8x/day months 3-6, and 7x/day mo 6-12, you would spend $850.50 on diapers in year 1, and an additional $583 in baby's second year. Bringing the total spent on diapers alone (not including creams and wipes) to $1,433.50.

That is a savings of  $578 for using cloth!  I'm assuming the kid is potty-trained by 2.  The cost would continue to increase for disposable and remain about the same for cloth the longer the babe is in diapers.  $578! That's a LOT of money! Not to mention, a financial savings without adding disposables that will not degrade to landfills, putting chemicals (dioxin and sodium polyacrylate- scary, look it up) that cause diaper rash against baby's skin (and are major pollutants, and carcinogens), plus spending money on oil to manufacture disposables. 

The first year has not been without a steep learning curve.  With the knowledge I have now about my baby and her bottom, were I to do the first year of cloth diapering all over, I could probably get that $755 cost down to $584.91. A savings of $750 over disposables! And you can too!
How?
1. instead of buying diaper covers in xs and s, I'd buy only the Thirsties duo-wraps in size 1.  These basically encompass xs and s and you can adjust the fit with lots of snaps or velcro, cost only $1 more, and last a lot longer.  Mathilda could wear them from birth- at least 6 mo.

2 months old, Thirsties xs cover

2a. I'd purchase either the more expensive BumGenius all-in-ones ($25 ea) instead of the BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers ($17.95 ea).  Why more the expensive ones? They hold more fluid, meaning then you don't need to purchase extra doublers and inserts for better absorbancy.  As Mathilda grows she is able to hold her urine more, and therefore when she goes, she goes A LOT.  We have had to add a lot of extra stuffing and linings to the pocket diapers she wears at daycare in order to avoid overwhelming the diaper's absorbancy when she goes.
OR
2b. I'd skip the pockets and all-in-ones entirely and go with the Flip system.  These are incredibly inexpensive and absorbant pre-folds (rumor has it they hold 3 POUNDS of water) that slide easily into a cover.  No folding, no snappis, so very easy for daycare/babysitters/grandparents/novices, but they hold a lot more than other diapers. For $50 you get 6 inserts and 2 covers.


FIT
I did not believe that 1-size diapers could really go from birth to potty.  So far, I'm wrong.  Here is Mathilda wearing a BumGenius4.0 at 2 weeks old:

And here she is at almost 13months wearing the same diaper:

Not the same color, or same brand- but actually the exact same diaper.  Beat that, Huggies! One-size cloth diapers are a great way to save money.


OUR FAVORITES
For the first 6 months, I loved pre-folds and a thirsties duo-wrap, with Bummis SuperLite as a back-up.  The duo-wrap size 2 is cut too low in the front to avoid leaks once she grew taller and started peeing more, and the SuperLite proved to not be waterproof enough. So, by month 6/7/8 or so, a pre-fold with Bummis SuperBrite covers were a godsend.  This combo never leaks (well, except for today when Reg thought I had changed her and I thought he had and poor thing went about 5 hours without a diaper change- and we were surprised when her shorts were wet!).  We add a Hemp doubler at night or for car trips and we are good to go. (For the record, hempbaby hemp doublers are much more absorbent while being about 10x thinner than all other kind of micro-fiber doublers).

For daycare, the BumGenius4.0 pocket diapers were great until she started "flooding" them- holding her urine and then going a lot at once.  Then they couldn't absorb fast enough.  Adding a hemp doubler on top of the diaper (not stuffed inside) seemed to help a bit.  But, the life-saving, most absorbent, daycare friendly diaper is the Flip with organic cotton insert. Plus, they're one-size, which you know I love.

To round it out, You also need a diaper sprayer, a big wet bag for home and a small wet/dry bag for travel, biodegradable liners to catch solids when you're out/daycare, and that's about it! We like to use flannel wipes and wipe spray for poop clean-up at home. Saves on wipes there and I think just gets her bottom cleaner.  We also sprinkle a little baking soda in our wet bag at home so we aren't hit with an odor when we zip it open, but that's just personal preference.



FASHION
Ok, not really fashion, but cloth diapers are really cute.  We just got a new cover called "Albert" as in Einstein, covered in formulas and equations. Just forcing our dreams on her, one trip to the changing table at a time!

In sum. We saved over $100, and over 3,000 disposable, non-degrading diapers from littering the Earth in just her first year.  We primarily use pre-folds and Bummis SuperBrite covers or cotton inserts and Flip covers.  We plan to potty train this year, but if she goes through the entire 2nd year not wearing disposables, we will have saved about $580 by using cloth.  I admit it can seem overwhelming at first.  I hope these posts have been helpful, and if you are considering cloth diapers- ask us anything!

Sumo-Tilly