I had always been apprehensive of switching because it grossed me out a little bit thinking of touching wet diapers and washing out poopy ones. Well, first off, when you're dealing with blowouts, you often end up touching poop anyway, and secondly I learned about a little thing called a diaper sprayer. My sisters who both cloth diaper were especially helpful in helping me figure out the ins and outs of cloth diapering. Without them leading the way, I'm sure I never would have even known about cloth diapering.
Monica loaned me some Kissaluv Contours and a Thirsties cover and a Snappi so that I could try my hand at it before buying anything. We were thrilled with how well they contained everything, and they really weren't that much trouble. At that point, we decided to take the plunge. I found some Kissaluv Hybrid Contour diapers (meaning they have elastic in the legs, but aren't really a fitted or a pre-fold) that I thought looked nice, so I ordered 9 of them as well as 4 Thirsties Duo covers, some Snappis and of course, a diaper sprayer! I also ordered some Rockin Green soap to wash the dipes in as I had read very good reviews about it and Ruby had gotten a pretty bad diaper rash from a Free/Clear detergent.
For about 6 weeks, we washed dipes every other day (9 diapers don't last very long!) (I waited a month for a rewards credit from the website I ordered them from.) It was kind of a pain, but worth waiting for the credit. Now we have 23 diapers. I wash them about twice a week now, so that's a LOT easier!
Now, I'm not going to say that it is all flowers and hearts. Cloth diapering is a little bit more work/trouble than good old disposables (which we still use at night - again - diaper rash issues) but since we started using them, we have not had a single blow-out/leak. At. All. And we've had some FULL diapers. That is reason enough for me to give them my stamp of approval. And God-willing, we'll have lots more kids and get to reap the benefits financially as well! (In my opinion, if you're going to cloth diaper only one child, the cost difference between disposables with coupons/sales, and cloth diapers is minimal - it's when you have MORE kids that they start to pay for themselves. - Well, that and the fact that you could probably sell your cloth diapers after using them for one child only.)
Now, for your patience in listening to me blather on about diapers, I will reward you with a cute picture. Enjoy!!
