Our cloth diapering experience

Since I had loudly proclaimed to all and sundry that I had intended to use cloth diapers, I thought it would be suitable for me to talk about how it’s been going so far.

I didn’t start cloth diapering till Aidan was about six weeks old. For starters, he was a tiny baby at birth (2.3kg when we were discharged from the hospital) and I didn’t think that the cloth diapers would fit him. He was so tiny, socks were falling off from his feet! Plus, we were trying to establish a rhythm and there was no sense in introducing another source of stress into the picture.

Now, we have established an easy routine of cloth diapering. Aidan is still in disposables at night because I haven’t dared to experiment with cloth thus far. His night sleep has been pretty decent and in this case, I firmly believe in the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”!

In the day though, it’s been easy peasy. We had gotten eight pieces of Moo Moo Kow pocket diapers (a local brand, yippee!) and five from Babyland. We typically use about three to four diapers a day and a combination of one microfibre and one bamboo insert keeps Aidan’s little bum dry for about four hours.

What makes it easier for us is that the little man now has a predictable pooping schedule. He does his mega dump in the early morning when he is in a disposable diaper, which is oh so convenient. And when he doesn’t go as usual, I make sure that I place a diaper liner each time I put him in the cloth diaper. The liner catches most of the poop although it does seep through onto the diaper, Aidan being a total breastfed baby and all. In cases when the diaper is stained, we bring it into the loo and get rid of the bits with the diaper sprayer. Everything then goes into a large Planet Wise wet bag, placed in his clothes hamper and washed every other day with the rest of his stuff. The diapers do smell quite funky by then but the bag does a good job of keeping the stink in.

Doing the laundry every other day may sound terribly troublesome but it has become a necessity with baby on board. I mean, he’s a boy and what do baby boys like to do when the diaper is off? Why, spray freely into the open air, of course! The little bugger does this at least once every other day and we find ourselves stripping off his clothes, swaddle, towel and/or the diaper pad cover. Then, there is the projectile poop to deal with. Yes, you read right, PROJECTILE POOP. It is not unusual for me to hear Mr Thick go “OH SHIT, AIDAN!” in the early hours of the morning (he is in charge of output, as we had discussed), followed by the unmistakable sound of gushing.

So yeah, almost daily laundry? Not an issue. We just chuck everything into the washer before dinner and then hang it out to dry after that. With the weather being as crazy hot as it is now, the diapers and liners are dry within a day. And the sunlight is perfect for getting rid of yellow poop stains on the diapers too.

It makes me chirpy to see these cheery prints and colors on my baby’s ass – totally superficial but that’s me. Plus, I’m glad that we are saving money AND the environment at the same time. Disposables are so freaking expensive! Double plus, it keeps his bum happy and cool too.

I’m not sure how I’m going to cope when he moves onto solids and his poop is no longer the soy smelling watery bits that it is now. I guess I’ll find out in three months’ time!

PS I turned to Mummy’s Reviews and Oh! Apostrophe for research before taking the plunge.