Parker goes through A LOT of diapers in a day. When 99.9% of your nutritional intake is in liquid form and one of your 26 doses of daily meds includes a hefty shot of Lasix your bladder is gonna get a good workout. Many, many times a day.
Disposable diapers are priced to reflect their weight in gold. Especially when your kid has such tender skin that the cheap-o brands are out of the question.
While many people site environmental reasons for cloth diapering, my initial reasons were purely economic. What we were paying a month on disposables would purchase several cloth diapers that would last for months…..rather than just a couple of hours.
I also discovered that there is a great resale value for your cloth diapers once you are finished with them. I quickly realized that each cloth diaper I bought could actually be viewed as an investment of sorts. And once I established my stash, I could save the money I had been spending on Pampers.
Another problem solved by a stash of cloth diapers is the dreaded realization that you just ran out of disposables at 2:00 a.m. And, oh yeah, you are broke until payday and payday is a week away. Cloth diapers are just a wash load away.
I ran into a wall though when I measured the rise that Parker would need in order for a cloth diaper to comfortably go over his ostomy bag. He would need a 25 inch rise. *gasp* The only way to solve that problem was to have his diapers custom made. With the help of Breeze from ….And Such Is LifeI was able to get diapers for Parker that were not only adorable, but fit him perfectly.
Thank heavens for my Mom. She was willing to finance this first round of cloth.
And then came the Summer of ’07 surgeries. These surgeries revised his stoma and made it significantly smaller while adding a g-tube which made a diaper with a 25″ rise way too big.
It was back to disposables.
And the cost.
Crap. (No pun intended.)
Parker now needs a rise of about 18-20 inches. There are quite a few ready made cloth diapers that can meet this need. Thirsties new All In One Pocket fits the bill perfectly. Parker takes a size large. But another kid his size would most likely do fine with a medium since they wouldn’t need the extra height in the rise.
Other great brand is Happy Heiny’s. Some of you may remember the photo shoot Parker did for this company. Happy Heiny’s makes pocket diapers that are every bit as easy to use as a disposable. Their large comes with a rise of 20 inches. Perfect! And look at these prints!
During the summer I can simply add a simple little top and let these diapers act as a pair of shorts. Viola’! A very stylish way to kill two birds with one stone.
And take a look at these. GADS. Who needs a tattoo when you can have a giraffe or gecko or FROG embroidered on your butt?
So, I’m saving up my scheckles in hopes of being able to start a new stash of diapers for Parker. And our stash will be simple……15 diapers or so. I don’t mind doing a load of diaper laundry each evening. There is something about diaper laundry that is relaxing. Really.
I’m tired of feeling as though I am throwing money in the garbage each time I change out a disposable. I’ve even listed another GIANT LOT OF STAMPS on Ebay to help get this show on the road. It may take awhile, but let’s face it. Parker is gonna be in diapers for a long time. But that’s okay. As long as he can be in cloth.
And if it helps our landfills, well then that just provides even more warm fuzzies.
So, how many of you cloth diaper? Why did you decide to make the switch? And what are your favorite dipes?
This Momma just loves to talk cloth diapers.
Holy cow, I saw your title and thought this post would be about something completely different.
I have no experience with cloth diapers. None. But I will probably be up there in early April to get our house ready to sell again. (the STRESS! I can’t think about it.) I’d love to see y’all again. I’ll keep you posted.
Twitter: marriedlife
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Happy Heiny’s are pretty cool. Wish they didn’t cost quite so much though… I’m just barely going to break even compared to what I would have spent in disposables before my son’s going to need the next size I think.
Here’s hoping I have another one who can wear them!
Krista,
Did you see the Happy Heiny’s ONE SIZE? This is a diaper that can go from like 8 pounds up to 40. Kinda like one diaper to cover you from a size small to extra large. WAY cool.
Or if you want to sell them I could point you in the direction of a couple of forums that do just that.
Wiz. You HAD SO BETTER COME. And I need to email you.
We do! We like FuzziBunz and BumGenius one-sizes.
Hmmm.. great crash and screaming in the living room. I need to go see if Daddy’s really in charge.
My kids are too old for cloth diapers (11 and 13 years!) but if I knew THEN what I know NOW…..
We do cloth menstrual pads here–even dd who is 13–she LOVES LOVES LOVES them.
Hi Tammy! I still have two boys in diapers. I have seriously thought about using cloth diapers. I SHOULD have! I have heard wonderful things about them and what you have to say really confirms it. I do so much laundry with five boys ages 9-3, what is another load? We go through 2.5 of those huge boxes of Luvs a month. I wouldnt mind saving $50.00 a month one bit!!
I miss seeing little Parky
How is he doing? How are YOU doing?
I love you all!
Amy
I cloth diapered my oldest son for the year I had two in diapers cause we couldn’t afford both. We used Kooshies, because they were the only ones out there at the time – were new and great and no pins
I should drag out my biggest sizes and put them on Brady and see if it’s any incentive to potty train
Hope you got these new ones to fit!!
Hugs!
I used cloth on my firstborn almost exclusively (25 yrs ago … unless we went on vacation) … Second child 50/50 … third one 25/75 … and Nathan cloth after his pull through and his stools were watery and about 20+ a day. He’s almost 12 and still wears pull up type disposable pants (medicaid provided) as he has some ‘issues’ … plus going to school … it would be impossibly yucky for his aid to send home soiled undies. If I could find a similar product (pull on with good leg closures) I’d switch for home use.
Love cloth diapers over here! (though we go back and forth between full-time, part-time, and ‘sposies too) With two in diapers I should bust them back out full time again…we’ve got sensitive tooshkies here too that only like Pampers. *sigh*
I used cloth for a long time. On a 6 yr old and 12 yr old I prefer to toss them… Plus we get services that pays for them. Sorry enviroment but…. Rinsing out 12 yr olds soiled nappies is just something I’m not willing to add to my life! Cleaning her up is enough.
I used cloth completely on number 1, numbers 2 and 3 couldn’t tolerate wet for so much as a second so not so much.
We never did cloth diapers… we maybe should have since Little Bug didn’t potty train till he was 5…
Tammy,
I just sent you an email
As for my cloth diapering experience, its minimal. My oldest (13) had a sensitive booty. Unfornately this was back in the day of pins and it was so much easier to spend the extra for the higher priced diapers that didnt break his booty out. Knowing what I know now, I would have done things alot different.
Tiffany
I did cloth diapers for years. Started out with good old diaper service with my oldest ones. Very spoiled with that! I don’t think it even exists any more. I’ve mostly cloth diapered all ten of mine but tend to fall off and go to disposables when they get older. I’m an old timer who always used the prefolded diaper service quality diapers and pins…yes PINS. After pinning so many diapers I could not get the hang of the velcro covers. I know they make much better things now. Michael started out in cloth (newborn size prefolds) but when he was hospitalized for the ng tube I never went back to cloth for some reason. Mind you I still won’t pack them away. They always have some use around here. I love cloth diapers and I totally agree about diaper laundry being relaxing. Not too many people understand that. Now you’ve got me in the mood to break them out again. Give Parky a hug from us.
Barb and Michael
I used cloth diapers with my two oldest and disposable with my third. I am from the days of pins and rubber pants too. I did it because of the cost of disposable diapers. With my son, I was working part time so that helped. My granddaughter has down syndrome and I know you have alot of trouble with your insurance paying for things. My daughter gets her pull-ups from her medical insurance. We didn’t know you could until someone told us. Maybe you have already checked I knew to this site. Just thought it would be worth mentioning.
No experience, but I’m happy that Parky’s sweet tushy is happy!
We love cloth. Our primary motive was environmental, until we switched to disposables for a year to give Charlie a boost up with his gross motor skills (he was having a hard time fighting the bulk of the cloth). Now that we are switching back, I must admit our main motive is economic. With number 2 on the way, and finances being tight as they are, we need to stop throwing money in the trash after every diaper change! We are using regular prefolds for our new baby, and have bumGenius one size pocket diapers for Charlie (very trim–important for him as he has trouble with bulky diapers). Anyway, just wanted to say YEAH FOR CLOTH!
–K
I heart cloth diapers! We use fitted and prefolds with wool covers over them. The fitted ones I bought locally and are one sized so both of my boys wear the same diapers. If you would like, contact me and I would love to knit some cute wool covers for Parker. Wool is awesome because it is so breathable. Have you checked out Diaper Swappers for used diapers?
I started cloth diapering shortly after my eldest’s heart surgery. I was shocked that the price of disposables had jumped so much and decided that cloth would be reusable and cheaper in the long run.
I forgot to add my email address so you could contact me directly. awesome_mom2061 at yahoo dot com
Hi. I’m new to your blog.
We are switching to cloth diapers as soon as they come in! Maddy is 7 months old. We’re going to be using the BumGenius 3.0 pocket diapers. We have one right now and I love it! I can’t wait to get the others in.
Good grief, only you could make me smile while reading about cloth diapers. It has been a century, okay not quite, since I had anyone in diapers. But aren’t these cloth diapers too cute?
ox
I would love for you to have my stash of cloth diapers. Diapers, wraps, etc… I bought them before my daughter was pre-natally diagnosed with spina bifida. Because of her skin, we have to use disposables because of the way they wick the moisture away from her skin. Anyway, I spent more than $200 on the cloth “diapering system” and can’t use them. Email me (henn.16 at osu.edu)
Hey Tammy we love Happy Heinys also and we still love that picture of Parker. It is now very proudly displayed in our brick and mortar store we just opened up.
We can do a 10% discount for Parker for his new stash. I would prefer to see him in soft diapers vs. disposables and with my daughters history it is even more important to me to get all special needs kids out of the chemicals.
Linda
I have been using disposables. I thought about the cloth ones but extra laundry is not really my aim. I have one child and he can rack laundry in no time. Once again enjoy your blog! Praying for Parker that he will get better. He is a cutie!
I heart green buns. Schmoozer wears cloth too!