Are We Really Saving the Environment when Cloth Diapering?

I have been cloth diapering my youngest child for almost 9 months now. I did wish sometimes I started sooner, with the oldest (I have 3 kids now). I could have saved a lot of having to buy disposable diapers.

Two days ago, I was doing my normal diaper wash day and was stuffing and folding the diapers (while my kids had their naps!) when my mom-in-law walked in to chat a bit. She saw my stash of diapers (BumGenius and Smartipants) and commented on how nice looking and clean they come out after every wash. I then proceeded to tell her of my system (and recommended system by CD sites): "I start with a normal COLD rinse cycle, to take out all of the 'yuckiness', then 1 or 2 HOT normal washes with detergent. And sometimes, I would do 1 more short rinse to take out any detergent residue." She replied with, "Wow, good thing you have free water bill!" (We live out in the country and have a private well so, water is free).

After this discussion, it got me thinking... "Am I really saving on the environment and money with Cloth Diapering?" Just think of how many gallons of water one uses every time we wash diapers, not to mention the detergent and gas/electric bill (to run the hot water and dryer). Let's say on average one does the diaper laundry twice a week. For a top-load, normal full cycle, one would use approximately 40-45 gallons of water per load. And one would do at least 3 cycles per diaper load, twice a week. That is 120-135 gallons of water for diaper laundry day! 240-270 gallons of water for the week, multiply that for the whole year, that is a lot of water usage! If one lives in town with city water, that is a huge water bill!

Well, I am still for cloth diapering, but after realizing this... I am going to find ways to help reduce that figure. Thankfully, there are. According to this site, instead of using Top-Load washers, buy an Energy Saver washer that is Front Load. It cuts the water and energy usage by 70%. That is one way to save!

I am curious to know what my other fellow cloth diapering mom's thoughts are on this subject. What other tips and ways can we save from depleting our natural resources, specifically water. Please leave me a comment.

Help us win $5000 for a house down-payment

US Bank is sponsoring a Get Ahead in 2010 contest.  Please help us win $5000 to put into a down payment on a house.  The facility where my husband currently works at is shutting down and they have to move us ASAP.  This being unplanned, and with the bad economy, the extra $5000 to put into down for a house, would be really wonderful!  So, please help us! Vote for our story now!

Voting period ends on Feb 28th, so act quickly and help spread the word.  You can have one vote per email address a day.  Also, unfortunately, voting is only for US Residents.

Thank you so much for your help.  We really appreciate it a lot!

Help Haiti Fundraiser with Fluff

Let us help the victims of Haiti! Here is a great way to help from Kelly's Closet. The Cloth Diaper Whisperer's Fluff Friday has a new feature to help Haiti victims. Click on the banner below (or the link above) to get more info and to join. Our combined efforts can go a long way for the unfortunate ones of Haiti.

Disclaimer: The link to Kelly's Closet is an affiliate link and I will get a small percentage back, should you decide to buy rafflle tickets through that link. However, I was not paid anything to put that link in this post.

Feed Your Stash from ClothDiaperBlog.com

I Corinthians 13 for Moms

I can read bedtime stories till the cow jumps over the moon and sing “Ten Little Monkeys” until I want to call the doctor – but if I don’t have love, I’m as annoying as a ringing phone.

I can chase a naked toddler through the house while cooking dinner and listening to voice mail, I can fix the best cookies and Kool-Aid in the neighborhood, and I can tell a sick child’s temperature with one touch of my finger, but if I don’t have love, I am nothing.

Love is patient while watching and praying by the front window when it’s 30 minutes past curfew. Love is kind when my teen says “I hate you!” It does not envy the neighbor’s swimming pool or their brand new minivan, but trusts the Lord to provide every need.

Love does not brag when other parents share their disappointments and insecurities and rejoices when other families succeed.

It doesn’t boast, even when I’ve multitasked all day long and my husband can’t do more than one thing at a time.

Love is not rude when my spouse innocently asks, “What have you done today?” It is not easily angered, even when my 15-year-old acts like the world revolves around her. It is not self-righteous when I remind my 17-year-old that he’s going 83 in a 55-mph-zone, but rejoices in the truth.

Love trusts God to protect our children when we cannot. It perseveres through blue nail polish, burps and other bodily functions, rolled eyes, crossed arms, messy rooms and sleepovers.

Love never fails. But where there are memories of thousands of diaper changes and painful labors, they will fade away. Where there is talking back, it will (eventually) cease. (Please Lord?) But when we get to the Kingdom, our imperfect parenting will disappear. (Thank You, God!)

When we were children, we needed a parent to love and protect us. Now that we’re parents ourselves, we have a heavenly Father who adores, shelters, and holds us when we need to cry.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

- Author Unknown

Diaper Review

I finally got to try the 2 brands of cloth diapers that I like, BumGenius and Smartipants. These are the top 2 diapers that has the highest ratings and reviews, from my research. Here are my initial thoughts when using both brands on my baby:

Smartipants

PROS:

• I love the fact that it is a ONE-SIZE fits all diaper. No need to buy multiple diapers in different sizes! They can adjust in size as your baby grows.
• They use snaps instead of velcro.
• It has 2 slits (top and bottom) on the diaper making stuffing for inserts easy.
• Can add another insert for more absorbency especially for overnight wettings.
• No need to pull out inserts when doing laundry. They come out on their own in the wash!

CONS:

• They seem not to fit well around the thighs on my baby, therefore making it tend to leak on the sides. Also, because it has 2 openings for the inserts, the top part of the opening would leak from the insert (when it touches baby's clothes).
• They seem to get too bulky especially with 2 inserts.

Overall Thoughts:

I still think that the Smartipants is a great diaper and will continue to use them. I think the pros outweigh the cons and for the leaking part, I am hoping that the inserts will absorb more after a couple washings. I am also going to try to make sure that the insert on the top part (facing the belly) is not pulled too far to reduce seeping out of the diaper and into baby's clothing. They look so cute on my baby!

BumGenius - AIO (All-in-One)

BumGenius cloth diaper -- 2 Doubler inserts on the left. White and Pink colors are the One-Size diapers. Fuschia colored diaper is an X-Small size All-in-One. 2 regular inserts on the very right.

PROS:

• No need to stuff or pull out inserts. It is very much like a regular disposable diaper, only you can reuse it with washing. It also makes folding and putting away quicker (not that it really matters to me).
• Fits well on my baby's bum, and around the tighs.
• No leaks.

CONS:

• You will need to buy a couple diapers in every size as your baby grows.
• The velcro seem to keep adhering to each other when I put the diaper on which makes changing a bit of a challenge.

BumGenius - One-Size

PROS:

• It is a One-Size diaper meaning no need to buy multiple diapers for different sizes (just like the Smartipants).
• Fits better on my baby, especially around the tighs.
• Can add a doubler for overnight wettings.

CONS:

• Same as the velcro issue on the All-in-Ones.
• You have to take out inserts before throwing in the wash.

Overall Thoughts:

Other than the little bit of challenge in diaper changes when the velcro adheres to each other, I think this is a great diaper as well. Because this diaper fits better on my baby and around her tighs, it does not leak. I will continue to use this brandnd of diaper as well.

I do like both systems, snaps and velcro. The snaps don't interfere when changing diapers, but do take a bit of time to snap on. With the velcro system, it does get in the way by adhering to each other at times when doing diaper changes, but it is so much quicker to "fasten". Just like a disposable diaper. I am thinking in time, I'll get used to cloth diapering more and I don't think any of these issues that I came up with would matter anymore. I love both these brands of diapers already and might stick to just these 2 brands.

Order your cloth diapers now and start your cloth diapering journey...
Click here to visit Kelly's Closet

Trying Out Cloth-Diapering!

I'm excited! I finally ordered and got my first cloth diapers yesterday. I'm trying out the newest cloth diaper line called Smartipants. I only got one 3-pack (girl colors) for those diapers, to try it out. I have heard a lot of great reviews about it and want to try it out myself. So far, I am liking it. No leaks yet, but we'll find out for the overnight wettings. One thing I am liking about this kind of CD (cloth diapers) is that you don't need to pull out the inserts from the diapers, just stick it in the washer and it automatically comes out. I haven't had a chance yet to wash the diapers after usage, but I did wash the diapers before using it, though.

Here are 2 of the 3 diapers I got (lavender, yellow and pink--My baby girl is wearing the pink currently).
It is a one-size fits all. The image on the right shows the insert that goes into the diapers.

I'm also wanting to try out another brand of CD. I ordered a sampler pack for the One-Size BumGenius diapers, and their AIO (All-in-One) of the same brand. I'm waiting to receive this diapers yet, probably by Wednesday. This is the other brand that I have been looking into and wanting to get when I start my cloth-diapering adventure. They also have the best reviews of cloth diapers out there. I am trying this out too before I order more diapers. Cloth diapers are initially very costly, so I will need to build up my stash very slowly. But in the long run, that is where you can save on diapers (disposables).

However, I am still going to keep disposable diapers. This is because 1) I still don't have enough cloth ones, 2) for the convenience, 3) when I can't get the laundry caught up, and 4) when we go out of the house or long trips.

My youngest girl modelling the Smartipants diaper for us :) She is currently wearing the pink colored diaper. I think it fits her pretty well too.

I ordered my diapers here: Click here to visit Kelly's Closet