Have you ever thought about using cloth diapers?
In Madison, the idea is not so unusual.
When you stop to think about it, when you have one child in disposable diapers, it is amazing how many you throw in the garbage every day. Having two in diapers at the same time screams “bad for the environment.” When our son, Henry, was 3 months old and our daughter, Lydia, was 23 months old, we made the switch to cloth. We have been happily using cloth diapers for the last two years with the help of a local diaper service. Mother Nature’s Diaper Service is a locally owned company that delivers clean cotton prefold cloth diapers to our door each week, taking away the dirty ones. I have loved using their service and highly recommend them to anyone thinking about using cloth diapers, but not sure they want the hassle!
Now, if you have never entertained the thought of cloth diapers, you might think the whole idea of using cloth is crazy. Actually, it’s quite easy. In fact, I am willing to say it is only slightly more work, but much for fun. No, really.
After a week, changing a cloth diaper became as easy as changing a disposable diaper. My only real issue was making sure I bought enough covers so I wasn’t always running out between laundry loads.
Generally, when you use a diaper service, you use their prefold cloth diapers (large rectangle piece of cloth), which require a waterproof cover. Mother Nature’s rents and sells Proraps diaper covers, but any other brand will need to be purchased elsewhere. When we started with the service, actual stores with any cloth diaper selection in Madison was quite limited, but I found two websites that I liked, Nicki’s Diapers and Abby’s Lane, and ordered from there. I have tried a few different brands of covers, looking for the perfect one. I wanted a PUL inner layer, which is fabric laminated with a waterproof backing. That way, if the diaper was not soiled, I could simply wipe out the cover and use the same one multiple times before needing to wash it. I tried Proraps (great, sturdy covers- functional, but not “cute”), Bummis Super Brite (better fabric designs, but the PUL didn’t hold up as well as I hoped), and handmade covers from such places as Etsy and Wiggle Worm Bottoms (fun fabric covers, but the ones I tried lacked the trim fit I wanted or didn’t fit right in the legs). My favorite cover was the Thirsties. I love the fit, with gussets, and the selection of colors (like the orange that they call “melon”, but I have nicknamed “bio-hazard orange”), they wash up well and sizing is generous.
But, even though I said I would never attempt washing our own diapers, we are planning on kicking up our “crunchy factor” and doing just that now that we have a newborn to diaper again.
With switching to doing our own washing, I thought this would be a great opportunity to branch out and try different styles of cloth diapers. I went to Nicki’s Diapers, which now has a store in Madison, and picked out a few diapers to try: bumGenius! 3.0 All-in-one (wasn’t crazy about the cloth around the legs- I was afraid of wicking pee or poo out of the diaper), Flip System by bumGenius! (snaps instead of velcro- I knew Chris would hate that, but I love their disposable insert option!), Nicki’s private brand, all-in-two (it’s like Gro Baby Diaper System, where the insert snaps in place, but with a PUL inner- I just decided that it was too many snaps), and Thirsties Pocket AIO (great fit that I was used to, but less absorbency if you don’t stuff the pocket).
After all that, we are back to prefolds in the Thirsties covers. It is the best fit for our newborn, has worked well with my older children and it is an easy system to use.
One load of diaper laundry done, and it’s going well. And if I decide I don’t like washing the diapers on my own, I’ll be calling Mother Nature’s Diaper Service back!
My favorite resources:
I'd Highly recommend just wandering over to the Madison's East side to Happy Bambino. They have free classes, knowldgeable staff, and a great selection of cloth diapering products!
Thanks for the suggestion, Ellen! I haven't been there in a few years, and with their new location, I'm sure their selection has grown!