Cloth Diapering Update

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

Diaper Sprayer*

Spray Pal Splatter Shield**

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.

A day in the life...

A lot of people seem astonished that I can manage two babies at once, and from the outside I'm sure it might look terrifying or like utter chaos but I'm here to tell you, it can be done! So to give you an idea of just "how we do it" here is a peek at a day in our life...

at 5:00am I wake up with Wyatt, nurse him and put him back to sleep - I must note that he miraculously fell back asleep without crying this morning!

around 6:00 am I hear Owen crying and nudge Ben to grab him, teamwork it's how we get things done around here. Unfortunately though, Ben cannot breastfeed so I nurse Owen then hand him back off to be put down until 7:30 wake up. Ben opted to snuggle with him instead.

at 8:00 am we both wake up frantic and realize we overslept (for the record that NEVER happens)

Wake up both boys (curse myself for messing up their "schedule" before they're even awake) and let them play in the living room - Owen decides he is hungry again so I nurse him while Wyatt chases Daphne around.

8:30 am I pull cloth diapers out of the dryer (the laundry cycle never ends) change diapers and give Daddy a smooch before he heads off to work.

Continue play time while I make and eat my breakfast - this involves a lot of climbing and exploring, pulling all the toys out of the bucket, crawling on top of the piano, wrestling - a few Wyatt melt downs because Owen is pinching or sitting on him... I attempt to referee all of this and don't even bother pouring my coffee until after they go down for morning nap.

Around 9:30 both boys start fussing and want to nurse again, break out the double brest friend pillow and tandem nurse before nap.

9:45 new diapers in hopes that nap will last at least 2 hours... #agirlcandream - after diapers I lay both boys down awake with kisses and snuggles before of course.

by 10:00 both boys are out after some expertly timed patting and shushing #thanksferber

During nap I go through a bit of an internal struggle where I try to decide if I'm going to watch tv, read, or do any of the 1 million chores that need to get done. Today I opted for a combination. I poured my coffee and started laundry - which I could conveniently do while watching a couple of episodes of The Americans. I finally hung up all the clothes that have been laying in a pile on the floor of my closet and folded the last load of diapers for the week.

10:45 Wyatt starts screaming... damn that 45 minute sleep cycle... I let him fuss for a few minutes then spend about 10 minutes soothing him back to sleep.

11:00 I warm up my second cup of coffee that is now cold and settle back in for more tv and folding of the clothes that I threw in the washer this morning.

around 11:40 we had some friends stop by to borrow clothes for a wedding and they brought CUPCAKES - just in case you were wondering it's never wrong to show up with food, ever. The boys woke up about 12:00 - they got new diapers and nursed then were ready to play!

Our friends stuck around to entertain the babes until about 2:00 which means I got to eat a hot lunch and then we decided to head down to Austin to see our Yaya and pick up some toys that her neighbors passed down to the boys.

It took about an hour to get all our stuff together, nurse again, finish up the last of the laundry and load into the car. We were on the road by 3.

Both boys slept almost the whole hour in the car (this was their afternoon nap) and were ready to play when we pulled into the driveway.  They nursed sporadically while at my parents (which is pretty typical when we aren't at home) and I fed them a full meal before we left.

Wyatt decided he was going to be shy today, so anytime my mom called his name he would just stare at the ground.  This is not atypical of our younger twin - he may or may not inherit his disdain for "strangers" from his mother. He mastered the look of underachievement by 5 months. Owen on the other hand was showing off all his new skills, pulling up on toys and trying to crawl and climb on everything.

We got to visit with the neighbors and their adorable kiddos and then we headed back home around 6:00. If we were at home during this time is normally when they would be getting in their high chairs and having their "food" for the day - but instead they just got some extra mama milk for the day.

Both boys fell asleep on the way home, but by the time we hit Salado it was a scream fest all the way around. I pulled over to give Wyatt a pacifier and left the overhead light on for Owen - who really just hates being in anything that restrains him, stroller, car seat, you name it he hates it.

We pulled in our driveway about 7:20 and I got both boys out and inside. I bathed Wyatt first while Owen entertained himself in the exersaucer then we swapped. Both boys were in pajamas and playing while I made their bottles but then decided halfway through the process of bottles being made to lose their minds. So instead of playing they laid on the floor screaming. Unfortunately this is pretty typical, they are trained like pavlov's dogs that once those pajamas go on the bottle comes next... When you're flying solo like I was tonight it's almost inevitable that there will be a meltdown.

Both boys had their bottles by 7:40 and finished around 7:50. We read two stories - this is new to our routine and I love it - they fit in my lap perfectly. Wyatt always looks back at me mid story and Owen keep his hand on Wyatt and gives him pats most of the time. I might have teared up at the pure perfection it was to have them snuggled on me. I know these are the moments I will cherish when they are older.

They were in their beds by 8:00 after lots of snuggles and kisses. I was pretty proud of myself for making that happen only 30 minutes later than their "schedule" says they should be in bed. If you can't tell we are new to scheduling and it literally goes against everything in my nature.

After the boys went down I listened for crying but only heard minor fussing until about 8:30 when I checked on them and they were sound asleep... this is definitely not typical but I'm not gonna question it, I only sing praises to the Lord for his grace on this one.

I spent the remainder of my evening listing baby things on Facebook to fund my cloth diaper habit and writing this lovely post for you fine folks to read.

If it were a week night - The hubs would probably be asleep by now and I would be drinking red wine, reading or watching tv but it's FRIDAY so, I will spend the rest of the night hanging out with my sweet husband, scarfing down some late night McDonalds that he picked up on the way home from his soccer game, cleaning the kitchen, packing clothes for our trip to Houston this weekend and probably watching another episode of The Americans (it's so good... seriously you should watch it.)

So there you have it - a day in our life... I would like to say it's a typical day, but there really are no typical days. Life with kids is, as you probably know is unpredictable and predictable all at the same time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. They keep me on my toes and they keep my heart so very full. Here's to winging it and winning, and wine-ing when we don't.

Why Cloth Diapers

image credit

Lately I have been feeling the pressure to explain our decision to cloth diaper and I figured why not just blog about it? Please hear me when I say this isn't a post about why YOU SHOULD cloth diaper but more why we have chosen this as a family.

Some of the comments we have received lately are listed below with my responses. A lot of the reactions I have received are pure curiosity or well meaning concern for my time and energy, but some border on judgement. While I have a lot of friends who cloth diaper all but one of them live somewhere besides Belton, 'Merica so I can understand the curiosity and disbelief that we would be attempting to take on such a "monumental task" as one person put it.

"You're going to have a diaper service right? It's so much extra work"

• No, that actually negates the entire cost saving reason for doing cloth diapers. I'll just wash them at home. I'm already going to be doing laundry what is one more load? I have a feeling I won't be sleeping much anyways.

"What do you do with the poop??"

• Their poop won't be anything but sour milk for awhile, so we will wash it, and then when it's not just the sour milk I will either rinse it in the sink or flush it down the toilet. I have recently discovered they make flushable liners too which I will definitely be using. When this question is asked in combination with a disgusted face I have to restrain myself from asking "What do you do with your poop?"

"Ew.... you're going to put poop in your washing machine??" 

• See above. Also, how is this any different than when a child has a blow out and you soak their clothing in the sink or just wash it in the washing machine... that is poop in the machine, is it not?

"What about when you go out in public?"

• They make these neat things called wet bags that you can put the cloth diapers in until you get home to put them in the washer. Seriously, I think they are really cool. It's like a portable diaper genie. The best way I can relate it to disposable diapers is it's about the same as when a kid in disposable diapers soils themselves and you have to put their clothes in a plastic grocery bag, except these are designed specifically to keep the moisture and the smell in, and I would be using it daily instead of on occasion.

"Can you not afford regular diapers?" 

• I'm actually not even sure how to approach this one, and it's more common than you might think. We made the choice for me to stay home this next year which obviously makes money tight, and we most certainly could afford regular diapers, but why would we do that when it's an easy way to cut money out of our budget and use it for something else, like the occasional date night or gas money to go see the grandparents :) 

So.... WHY are WE choosing to do this extra work?

IT SAVES SO MUCH MONEY... This is our number one reason for doing cloth diapers. After doing all the research, for us it just seemed like the best decision. With twins on the way and switching from two incomes to one, money will be tight. Cloth diapering will allow us to save anywhere between $5,000 and $7,000 over the next two years. While that seems like a large margin it really just depends on brand of diaper, length of time in diapers, and number of succeeding children. One of the best things about cloth diapers is that I can reuse them with future kids, or resell them for about 50% of the original cost. In fact I have built our initial diaper "stash" for $180. I also recently discovered I can make my own cloth diapers which cuts down on the cost of cloth diapers saving us more money. Just to give you an idea, I can make diapers for anywhere between $5-7 that retail for $15-20. So in summary, this really just seemed like an easy way to cut our already tight budget. If you don't believe me... check out the cloth diaper calculator (there are plenty out there I just found this one easy to customize and fill in). This guy also has a really great post on the cost saving glory of using cloth versus disposable.

It's good for the environment... honestly this factor is more of a perk than a reason for us. We don't recycle, we occasionally compost, and I wouldn't claim to be the "greenest" house on the block. Yes, with cloth diapers you do use more water, but when I'm already running 3-4 loads per week, adding one more doesn't compare to putting 2x as many diapers into landfills. I have done the math, and with two newborns we would go through about 24 diapers per day changing every two hours, and that's not counting the occasional blow out.

**side note: I would love to recycle but since we technically live in the county and not city limits there currently is not a service for recycling that picks up at our address, as for compost I chalk that up to my laziness. I have yet to find a way to compost that doesn't bring a million fruit flies into the house or require me walking to the back corner of the yard every time I want to dump it. I'm open to suggestions on all fronts, as I would love to do more of both.

Cloth diapers are good for the baby... I have a lot of friends who cloth diaper and they were helpful in providing me with good reasons to cloth diaper. One of them being their testimonials on how great they held in leaks and blow outs. I started researching cloth diapers to present the idea to my husband and I kept finding testimonials on how great they were for babies' skin. Less rashes, less blow outs, natural materials/fibers, the list goes on. I think disposables are perfectly safe, and I am not against using them chemicals and all, but less rashes and less blowouts sounded pretty good to me.


LAST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY It's our choice... Just like anything else with parenting, it's a personal choice. I'm not a granola mom or into new age parenting, BUT I'm not going to judge people who are. I don't plan on putting my children on an all organic diet or preventing them from having fast food or sugar until they are teenagers, but I would like to be able to afford to put them through college and if we can benefit baby and bank account at the same time, it sounds like a win/win to me!

What about you? Any parenting choice you made early on that you felt like you had to defend or justify?