There is Coco, just 13 days old in a really huge Kissaluvs Marvels All-in-One. Let's digress for a minute and swoon over this photo. Look at those tiny little legs! A far cry from the little chubber she is now. Way to go, breast milk! And would you believe that's a 0-3 month Onesie? She's swimming in it! And she still has her umbilical cord stump. Oh my goodness! It's so hard to believe how quickly she's grown into an almost crawling little lady. Back when she was 13 days old, she spent a lot of time sleeping in my arms. That time I cherished and loved and soaked up and basked in. And I'm so glad because look how quickly it's gone by and who wouldn't want that tiny little bundle swaddled up and sleeping in their arms? It makes my heart swell! I am so thankful for all of the newborn sleeping in arms time that I had with her. It was precious beyond words. She is definitely not a newborn anymore. Poof! Just like that.
So, that diaper. I have three of those Marvels all-in-ones and they're one size fits all! I think I might go down to the cellar and get them out again. Why? Because I'm starting to see that we're spending a LOT of money on disposables. And...I think that my failed cloth diaper use the first three months of Coco's life was due to our very broken washing machine, not user error, and the washing machine is going to be fixed on Tuesday.
I finally took the reigns on the laundry situation and called the Miele repairman myself. It turns out that the shocks on the drum are completely shot and a very important piece is broken, which is why water has been leaking everywhere for the past year. Yes, leaking water for a whole year! It's pitiful. But, while I was pregnant and cradling that sleeping newborn in my arms, it was not a priority. Now that Coco scoots around the apartment and eats potting soil when I'm not looking, it's a priority! Tuesday will be a beautiful day. I am honestly so excited to have truly clean clothes again. And with a fully functioning washer and dryer, maybe we should give cloth another try?
Over the past six months that we have used disposables, I have had the good fortune to have lots of coupons for diapers. But even with a 4 for 3 deal, or a 20% off coupon, or a 25% off coupon when you buy two, they're still really flipping expensive! The other day I was showing J the two types of plastic bags we have in the kitchen because the Ziplock bags are crazy expensive, so they're only for freezing baby food purée. The plain non-closure sacks are for other, non-freezer uses. I said dramatically that the Ziplocks are 18 Rappen (Swiss equivalent of cents) a piece! How's that for pricey? Wait a minute. Hold the phone. The diapers are 30 Rappen a piece - on sale! Yikes. Now that is expensive. Especially because we use 35-42 of them per week. Ziplock bags are clearly not the budgetary problem here!
So, I'm really thinking we need to reconsider cloth. When we get back from our camping trip, I'm going to dig out the one-size-fits-all Marvels and give it another whirl. I bet with a tip-top operative washing machine and sunny days for hanging them outside, it will be easy. At least for the summer. And I can think of better was to spend that 50-60 Francs each month.
Have you flip-flopped between cloth and disposables? What was the main motivator? Money? Environment? I'd love to hear! xo
We do disposables when out on the town and cloth at home. I bet we've saved a lot. For the cloth, I just use a prefold and a snappi with a cover. Covers are usually wool soakers, but I use PUL covers (like your kissaluvs) at night because Thayne doens't always NEED to be changed. When he does, he lets me know. When he doesn't, we're both asleep anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe main motivator was money. A secondary motivator is that they're the only diaper I really have experience with.
I have heard that prefolds get cleaner and drier easier than the fitteds. They have been easy for us to use so far. I'm actually to the point where I don't always use a snappi - just fold them into a PUL cover like an insert.
Every time we've bought disposable diapers, we cringe at the cost.
Another bonus - Thayne has never had diaper rash!
PS - Agreed on the diaper rash! And no blowouts either. They really hold it in!!! ;)
DeleteI love everything you have to say here!!! I definitely agree that the prefolds get cleaner! :) When we started with cloth, I did a mix of all-in-ones (the Marvels and Lollidoos were one-size-fits-all; the rest were BumGenius size small), fitteds (also Kissaluvs), Indian prefolds with snappis and Flip, Thirsties and Bummis covers. I had the Kissas wool cover for nighttime and extra soaker inserts, too. It was quite the hodgepodge of cloth diapering!! A little bit of everything.
ReplyDeleteI previously thought if I were to do it again, I would use the old fashioned birdseye diapers (not prefolded; the ones here are like a giant version of the nuscheli I gave you) because they'd get clean really easily in our front loading machine - and - they'll dry in a snap on a line or in the dryer. But then I read this post http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/08/the-much-requested-cloth-diaper-post/ and was surprised to see that this family has diapered with a dozen all-in-ones (and a front loader!) for over two years. With the same dozen diapers!! WOWZA! So I'll try the all-in-ones once the machine is fixed and see what happens. Isn't cloth diapering addictive? Once I switched, I was so relieved because I'd been washing them sometimes three times in order to get them clean and it was a terrible ordeal. But I knew I'd miss the Thirsties and Bummis covers. Adorable! :)