Since the twins were born, lot of people ask me about how the cloth diapering is going, some of them are choking back laughter and others are genuinely curious. I won't even fault people for thinking I'm crazy for cloth diapering twins, I am. You can read all about our reasoning/decision to cloth diaper here.
I'm not going to lie to you, it's not the easiest or cleanest thing in the world, and in fact I can be quoted the first week as saying "Yeah, this is terrible" BUT I'm 100% honestly glad that we stuck with it. Plus it saves me just enough money to fund my wine and coffee habits which is good enough reason for me to keep going.
We did not start putting the boys in cloth regularly until they were about 10 weeks old, or as I like to call it "down to one poo per day" - looking back now, I would trade breastmilk poo for solid food poo ANY DAY. I didn't even need the diaper sprayer back then... #thosewerethedays
Very quickly I realized which diapers were for us and which were not. Unfortunately I had purchased about a million and two that we did not like (all the more reason to start out buying used and try a variety). I still have a giant sack of pocket diapers I need to unload... so anyone who needs them, please inquire within - I'll make you a stellar deal.
Personally I find the microfiber to be a pain in the ass because of compression leaks (when baby sits the diaper squirts the pee out - this happens in disposables too just not as frequently). That being said I do love the bumgenius freetimes (which are microfiber). My favorite diapers though, are the Bum Genius Flip covers with organic cotton inserts and bamboo/hemp boosters, and Bum Genius Elemental diapers (the cotton version of freetimes). All of these are followed very closely by the G diaper system - because it has a nice slim fit.
The benefit of all in one is that they are similar to disposable in you take them off and toss them, then put a new one on. I like the flip covers with inserts because the cover is reusable so if you're out and about you don't have to pack a bunch of diapers, just a few inserts and a back up cover which takes up MUCH less space.
The reason why I prefer the cotton over the microfiber is solely because of absorbency, the cotton does not leak the same way microfiber does. It is only a small perk that cotton also happens to be more "natural", most people like the microfiber because it wicks the moisture from baby and keeps their bums pretty dry. This is perfect for kids who don't like to be wet, but our boys will literally sleep in a puddle of their own pee... so cotton works just fine for us.
We still use disposable when we are visiting friends/family and sometimes out and about - but I have become more comfortable using cloth around town since poops are much less frequent. We always use disposable at night, mainly because I don't have the patience to figure out what nighttime cloth diapers will work - and it can be a literal mess of trial and error.
Cloth diapering accessories I couldn't live without
2 Wet bags - I love this one by skiphop
This Ikea Drying Rack
Diaper Pail with Giant wet bag
*you don't need this until they start eating solids/purees
**the sprayers are super powerful and without this my bathroom would literally be a shit hole
Perks of Cloth
Less rashes
Less blow outs
An extra $20 or so a week in the budget
Good for the environment
Some of the not so nice things about cloth
Spraying the poo... just ew
The extra laundry (I really only mind the folding/putting away)
Putting them on a wiggle worm (so many snaps)
Some are super bulky and can give baby an odd shape (purely cosmetic here)
So there you have it - an honest update on our cloth journey. I'm not sure how much longer we will continue down the cloth path but I'm hoping it will only get easier as they are needing less frequent changes.
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