Cloth Diapering

I want to share our disposable and cloth diapering journey with everyone, and by that I mean the world.  Diapering is a major part of our new lives as parents.  We are averaging 12-13 diaper changes per day.  We were told 8 was average but with a giant Penelope everything is proportionately larger.

When Penelope was born we used disposable diapers for the first week.  A baby's first few days of poop is called meconium which is what the baby ingested while in utero.  It tends to be black in color and has the consistency of tar.  We chose to use disposables because our midwives suggested to do so due to the meconium being difficult to clean off cloth fabric and its tendency to stain.  While disposables were quick and easy it was hard to tell if the diaper was wet because it is absorbed so quickly.  While this sounds nice I hated it.  She could pee and pee and we would never know thus letting her just sit in it.  No thank you.  Not on my precious baby bottom.

A few weeks before I gave birth, Aaron and I took a Cloth Diapering 101 class (if cloth is something your interested in I highly recommend finding a class in your area).  Before we took the class the thought of using cloth gave me anxiety.  I knew I wanted to do it but there are so many options nowadays.  Cloth diapers have come a long way since the days of using pins.  There are all-in-ones, all-in-twos, prefolds, pocket and many more!  How does one even choose which method to use? Let the anxiety begin.  Not to mention the laundering and care.  Ahh! But after taking the class we felt much more educated on our options and even decided that day how we would be diapering Penelope.  We decided to use the prefold+snappie+cover method until she got big enough for all-in-twos.  We purchased two dozen prefolds and three covers.  This seemed like a lot to us at first but it isn't, we wash diapers every day.  There are about 1 million ways to fold a prefold, no joke and they are all documented on YouTube.  We use the Jelly Roll Fold, click on link to watch a directional video. 

Here is the prefold+snappie:

(The snappie replaced the old time pins! No more poking poor baby)

 

And here is the prefold+snappie+cover:

We recently purchased GroVia Hybrid diapers.  They are considered all-in-twos which is basically a waterproof cover and cloth inserts that snap in.  There are two options velcro and snaps.  We got one of each and to our surprise we like the velcro better.  It is considered a hybrid because they also make disposable inserts.  We haven't bought the disposable inserts yet but when we go on vacation it seems like a good idea! The cloth inserts are the only part that gets dirty, the covers only need to be washed if an explosion happens.  So far we are really liking the GroVia Hybrids! They fit her a lot better and it limits the wetness to just the pad.  Plus they come in awesome colors and patterns! Check out the robots with spaceships and the owls!!

GroVia Hybrid with snaps:

 

GroVia Hybrid with velcro: