The Diaper Evolution

So, I've finally gone off the granola deep end. I switched to cloth diapers. I have been wanting to try them since Ben was born but there was no diaper service in Queens and we lived in a tiny apartment with a shared laundry room that always seemed to be occupied by a cranky old lady who complained to management any time I didn't get my laundry out the second the load was finished. I can only imagine what she would say if I washed my son's diapers in the shared washers (and it is gross if you look at it from the standpoint of others in the building). But I digress.

Let me walk you through my diaper evolution since Ben was born. I started out with Seventh Generation, which are great disposables that I would recommend even if I wasn't an eco-friendly mom. I can count on one hand the number of leaks Ben has had with them from birth to 18 months! All my other friends were complaining about the newborn poop leaking constantly and babies waking up with wet sheets in the middle of the night. It never happened to me- ok, maybe once I remember a small leak when Ben was a newborn. I had to change his onesie, but everything else was fine. And my son can eat! We only had one exploding diaper situation ever in Ben's life (of course it happened at a restaurant), but he was sick and it was, shall we say... voluminous.
Not to mention that 7th Generation don't have that nasty baby powder scent that pampers and all the other disposables have. They have a soft, cottony, almost breathable feel to them so Ben didn't get as much diaper rash like he did whenever I used another brand. We had problems with a milk allergy that caused a rash when he was a newborn, but after we figured it out, he never had any more diaper rashes. So I wholeheartedly recommend them if you can't stomach the idea of cloth.

But I wanted to try to be even more green, and make less garbage, so I continued to look for other options. (Quick note about throwing away diapers- you are not supposed to throw poop in the trash- dump any solids in the toilet before you throw away the diaper. It's safer for the environment and it makes the diaper garbage 10 times less stinky!)
When Ben was about 8 or 9 months old I tried G Diapers, which are sort of a cross between cloth and disposable. They have a cotton outer cover with a snap-in waterproof liner and a flushable, biodegradable diaper insert. I liked that they were flushable and thus completely negated the excessive, stinky garbage issue, but I felt like they were even grosser than cloth diapers because poop always got on the waterproof liner every time Ben pooped. I also had to hand-wash the liners and the velcro never stuck well on the covers so Ben could take them off easily. I also had to tear up the diaper insert before flushing (really gross with poop) or else the toilet would clog (even grosser!). Sometimes the toilet clogged even when I did everything exactly as it said to on the directions. Not to mention because they were biodegradable, they started to break down as soon as Ben peed on then, so they weren't very absorbent and I had some leaks. So that was a short-lived experiment, and I went back to the 7th Generation diapers.

Fast-forward about 8 months. We moved into our big, beautiful house in the suburbs over the summer of 2009 and once we unpacked, I set about researching all the different types of cloth diapers available today. I found a few really helpful websites, Jillian's Drawers and Green Mountain Diapers that carried a ton of different style and brands. I decided to go with Green Mountain because the store owner, Karen, explained every single possible detail of cloth diapering and made it look so easy. I bought 2 dozen pre-fold diapers and about 8 different covers in several brands. And after the initial learning period, it has been surprisingly easy.
I like the 100% cotton prefold diapers with a waterproof cover during the day (Thirsties & Mommy's Touch are great brands) and prefolds with an diaper doubler (an extra absorbent hemp or cotton pad folded into the diaper) with wool covers at night. I use cloth wipes with water or California Baby Non-Burning & Calming Diaper Area Wash to moisten them. It works great, and there are no yucky chemicals or scents to cause irritation.
Of course, I can't compare their performance to disposables with newborn poop, but I can put Ben in a cloth diaper overnight and there are no leaks in the morning, and he doesn't get a rash because wool and cotton are breathable. In fact, in 6 months I have never had a leak yet with cloth.
I feel the cloth diapers are responsible for helping Ben to realize when he is wet because he is starting to potty train now. I started sitting him on the potty at about 10 months old just to get him used to the idea. He likes to sit and read books and would usually go at least once a day but I never took it seriously until recently. Ben is doing pretty well- I only change maybe 3 poopy diapers per month now and he tells me when he pees in his diaper and occasionally will tell me that he has to go. I only change 3 or 4 wet diapers per day now total because he is staying dry and using the potty so often.
As for laundry, I wash the diapers every other day according to the directions given by Karen from Green Mountain Diapers, which are pretty easy. I don't have one of those old-fashioned water-filled diaper pails, and there is no dunking in the toilet. I use Bac-Out to treat any stains and I use Charlie's Soap with a bit of Oxo-Brite (a natural oxygen bleach) to wash the diapers. I love it! They come out clean and smelling fresh. I realize how crazy I sound singing the praises of a laundry detergent, but it makes me feel good knowing that no petroleum products and other nasty chemicals in most laundry detergents will touch Ben's skin.
It may seem backward but it saves money and keeps diapers out of landfills, and it only amounts to 3 small loads of laundry a week. And any future siblings will use cloth diapers too. Maybe our parents and grandparents had it right all along. I'm officially a convert.