• 5 covers, 4 Thirsties v2, size small, $6.50 from Diaper Swappers, and 1 Fab Fitted, print, $13.25. Total $39.25
• 16 Target Flour Sack Towels, $1 each, 3 birdseye Flats, $1.80 each, 2 preemie prefolds, .80 each. Total $23
• 1 snappi $4, 15 wipes $3 (repurposed, torn blankets, and baby washcloths). Homer camp style Wash Bucket, $7. Total $14

So for $76.25, I was able to cloth diaper my baby, with the right supplies, for life!

The good: Flats were surprisingly easy! Folding was not as complicated or time consuming as I assumed. We had 3 leaks in 8 days, so they are very absorbent. I had no problem changing a diaper at 6am while half asleep with a wiggly baby. Being a geographically single mom with 4 other kids did not complicate it. My flats are SO forgiving, they are still beautiful white, soft, and smell like cotton. One of my covers got a little stained, but nothing that will effect wear. I love how trim they are, and how small they will fold into my suitcase when we travel. Line drying was so simple, and even on an overcast cool slightly breezy day, clothesline flats and covers dried much faster than inside hung diapers. Overnight is the perfect amount of time for indoor drying.

The bad: I will not lie, hand washing was hard. It was time consuming, tiring, and I really missed my washer and dryer at the end. In a real life situation I would probably have a larger quantity of diapers, and covers on hand. I would probably also try to borrow a washer a few times a week. I also would use a better plunger, my wood handled plunger ended up flaking paint onto my diapers. I also was not impressed on how much water it took to get my diapers clean.

The ugly: My hands are pretty calloused, my shoulders hurt the first part of the week, and my nerves were shot at the end by trying to wash quickly while the baby was napping, or folding flats off the line one handed with baby in arms. Liam was less than patient at times, and there were washes where I would get the baby calmed, run, agitate two minutes, comfort a baby again, plunge some more.

What I would do/do different: Like I said, I better handle for a plunger was necessary. My adjustable shower head that can adjust to a single jet was a lifesaver. A wet pail where it could not pose a drowning risk was so helpful. Hangers and clothespins to hang diapers from worked out so well. Line drying even when chilly and overcast pays off. A sense of humor was mandatory, as well as a healthy dose of determination. Splashing was almost guaranteed, wearing pajamas that I was going to change out of with pants rolled up worked well. I may have looked for a faster drying cover, I look forward to an Econobum coming in the mail, I hear they dry well. NEVER underestimate the power of the sun, instant whitener and stain lifter!

The best thing about this challenge was my confidence in myself, the amazing sense of community I gained, and the information gathered that I could not help but tell everyone about! In the forums, I repeatedly told people to try flats and come look at my blog. In Target, I stopped a young couple who were cloth diapering their baby and struggling with the start up cost and gave them a primer on flat use. And to my mom, who was probably ready for me to shut up already on cloth diapers in general.

What I am going to do next: Because I know I have all these new flats that I enjoy using, I am going to start de-stashing. I already got rid of quite a few older diapers. Next going will be newborn diapers split between 2 families, and then all my girly diapers to a friend north of me. After that? Who knows. Maybe I will find a family to sponsor with a primer guide as well as a half dozen flats and a cover?

Thank you Kim, at Dirty Diaper Laundry for taking us with you on what you described as Diaper Boot Camp. I feel like a much stronger warrior now, and I will continue to fight for the cause; for healthy bottoms, healthy budgets, and a healthy planet!

My one issue with hand washing is the incredible amount of water usage. I am not the most water conservative person, but I felt like I was using up a lot more water than I wanted to be. So I used the water from my shower to wet pail. When I was cleaning my hair, I let the soapy water drain over my diapers. I let them soak in that. And while I was showering this morning I used that time to rinse my diapers. Then while I was shaving, I let the water fill up the bucket with a small scoop of tide and then when I was all clean I agitated them, rinsed them, wrung them out and hung them to dry, hoping that the ominous black clouds decide not to dump until after my diapers are dry and off the line.

Today is officially the last day, but I am thinking I am going to extend until tomorrow, but machine wash on Tuesday, unless we run out of covers. I will also be able to use Tuesday to sum up my experience and share what I learned. Kim, the founder of the project, gave us the option to stop tonight at midnight, or to stop the 30th at midnight.

*Edited to add pictures*
I went outside to check the progress of my flats and got these pictures of my dog Isis playing under my clothes line. My camera has a super fast shutter speed and she still managed to look like a blur, she was really zooming and having a great time! Unfortunatly, my diapers are still pretty damp, and it isn’t very warm out right now, 59 degrees with an occasional breeze of 8mph, but we only have a 10% chance of rain until sunset, so just the wind alone I am hoping will dry them.

*Edited once again to add this:

It is amazing how quickly you can go from laid back to emergency. When I woke up, Liam had 1 dirty diaper in the wet pail from his night time diaper. I changed him, washed him, and put a clean diaper on him. I changed him twice more, one cover was saturated and the other one contained a poop of epic proportion. He some moisture wicked onto his clothing, but the poop mess was 100% contained in his cover. So now he has one clean cover, two dirty covers in the wet pail and so he had two clean ones, right? Problem is, *both* were missing. I called “all hands on deck” to get my helpers rounded up and one clean cover was found, someone put it on the stuffed bunny. The second one was nowhere to be found. I finally located it, 15 year old had put it in the diaper pail, not the orange wet pail I told him to. And when I asked him twice if he had moved it into the appropriate pail, he claimed he had. So I quickly washed the three covers, wrapped them in a dry towel and walked all over it to get them as dry as I could. Two got hung in my bathroom, one joined the other still wet cover outside on the line. The baby is in his last clean cover and I am changing him frequently so it stays as dry as possible. I would like to avoid having to go cover-free if at all possible. Sorry for any typos, I have a 5 month old guest blogger today who keeps trying to mess with my laptop.

The nicest thing about this challenge is the tips I have gained from the community of other bloggers participating in this experiment, just click on any of the links below and visit any of these extraordinary bloggers. Make sure you comment and tell them how awesome they doing.

Cotton Bottom Mama hung her diapers with clothes pins on hangers and then hung her diapers in a nice neat row on her shower. What a great tip! No more diapers hanging from every single surface of my bathroom!!

Another tip I read was to beat up your diapers against furniture to soften them up! This works so well, my diapers are no longer stiff, and the helpers were eager to lend a hand. I have to say, I have the cutest help ever! I was worried how well I would be able to juggle 5 kids, flats, and hand washing, especially without my husband’s help (he’s in Afghanistan), but it has been a lot easier than I imagined. I do want to say sorry to my husband, there were a few times when we were Skyping that he would run off to go shower, and I would run off to churn diapers and he would be back and dressed, and I had left him waiting. Sorry honey!

Last night, it looked like we might be clearing up, so I decided not to wash diapers and to wash and hang them in the morning, so I can sun them in the afternoon and dry them in a couple hours vs. overnight, and naturally bleach them. Mistake #2. I KNEW the forecast wasn’t calling for sun this week. I had one clean cover left, and he had already had a big poop earlier, I would be fine. I washed and hung his diapers and I noticed him turning red. I guess the poop earlier was just a warm up, and this was the main attraction. I cleaned him, got him nice and doubled up, went to grab a cover and none was to be found! I looked on the rack and four were hanging and I just put the 5th into my soapy bucket so I could wash it too. So if I really was without a washer and dryer, today I think I would have run screaming to the laundromat or to a friends house. Since this was an emergency, I decided to think of a way to rapidly dry the diaper that the average family home and the only thing I could think of was the hair dryer. I may have been cheating, but while the baby happily chewing on his feet in a diaper sans cover, I was washing the newly pooped in diaper and had the hair dryer angled to blow on the dryest of my 4 covers. It got done just in time too, after he nursed, Liam was exhausted and went to bed.

Overall though, I still wish I had known about flats when I was a new mama. My hubby had just joined the Army and we were struggling and living paycheck to paycheck. I remember letting him wear his diapers an extra hour or so because I knew how expensive they were. I remember counting change and hoping we could scrape together enough for a small bag of generics because we were a few days from payday. Even if I had cloth diapered part time, it would have really stretched our budget. However, in 1997, I didn’t know anything about cloth back then outside of the diapers my mother used one me. Even back then, I would have had options outside of the rubber pants my mom used on me. That is a picture of my mom and I in 1980. I was 15 months old.

Today was diaper washing day! Using my bucket from Home Depot with a hole poked in the lid, the plunger (with holes drilled into the rubber) I was able to churn my diapers like butter. First in cold water without soap for a couple minutes to rinse them. Then with super hot water with a tablespoon of powdered Tide for 4-5 minutes, then I rinsed the diapers and bucket and ran some more hot water in the bucket, churned for another minute to get out all the soap. Drained, rung out and hung them outside on the line to dry. I did take breaks between these steps as I was trying to get my kindergartener ready for school. He also churned it a few minutes for me. Washing took maybe 10-15 minutes, hanging took a little longer, but maybe another 10-15 minutes. While I was busy washing, Liam was busy making more work for me, because after I changed him and washed the diaper he was in and was hanging my clean diapers, he made me a dirty diaper. I ended up washing a 2nd load because it was so gross I didn’t want it sitting there until my next wash day.

Aren’t they lovely?!

***

Yesterday I said I would upload a tutorial on folding a flat. There are many different ways, some easier than others, My favorite is the “origami” fold. I was a little intimidated at first, but what I love about is that you can roll in a preemie prefold, or another flat. All the material is concentrated in the middle of the diaper, so it is trim without much material on the hips. My boy is a heavy wetter, so I will be showing you how to add a soaker, or this could be a night time diaper.

You will need, two flats, a snappi, a waterpoof cover. The flats are folded into squares, you can see the size difference between the Target Flour Sack Towel (bottom) and the birdseye flats The cover is a Thirsties Duo, size 2, in Cool Stripes on the smallest setting.

I have folded the smaller flat into 3rds without unfolding it from the square I had it folded in. Set the soaker aside.

On your primary diaper, locate the part of your square that has four finished edges. Grab the top of the four edges as shown and pull it straight across to the left.

Keep pulling.

See how a triangle appears? Smooth this out and here is where I got lost the first time. Grab your two bottom corners closest to you and you are going to flip the diaper upside down. The long edge will now be facing away from you, and the triangle will be under your new shape.

The square shape on the right, that is your soaker layer.

Lay the diaper you set aside on the right edge and start folding the diaper around it.

You will start seeing your triangle again as you fold your soaker layers towards the center.

When you are done, your diaper will look like this. Lay the baby down on the diaper.

The bottom of the triangle will go between baby’s legs. Hold the front of the diaper and grab one of the wings and lay it across the front of the diaper.

If you want to get fancy, you can roll the wing edges inwards towards the baby’s bum. They will act sort of like “poop barriers” to keep any messes in the diaper, not on your cover, as well as keep the diaper trim.

You can either tuck the wings under the front of the diaper and put a cover on now, or if you want a more secure fit you can use a snappi.

To put a snappi on bite one set of teeth into one of the wings, then stretch it and bite it into the diaper over the other side of the baby, finally, stretch the shortest piece downward and bite into the front of the diaper.

Slide the cover over the baby and secure, make sure you check around the legs to make sure there are no gaps, or no pieces of diaper sticking out. Poke those pieces in, or tighten the diaper if you need.

Here is a video I found on youtube that showed me how to fold a flat with the origami fold.

Super easy!

• AIO, or All in One
• Pockets
• Covers
• Hybrid or All in Two

Let me go deeper into the difference. All the diapers mentioned above are just the main part of the diaper, and what make them waterproof. I will explain to you the difference between each one and discuss the pros, and cons.

All in One
The simplest of all cloth diapers to put on the baby and to prepare, these diapers are often called dad/babysitter/daycare friendly. This is because they truly are wash & go. These diapers have improved in the last five years and now are easier for to get cleaner in the wash and dry faster than the older AIO choices. Most now have an absorbent pad that either lays on top of the diaper, agitates out on the wash, or many other creative solutions. The older style had the absorbent layers sewn in, without any way to add extra layers for long car trips, sleep, or a heavy wetter. They also did not dry as fast, or get as clean. Manufacturers are listening and have come up with some wonderful creative solutions to solve the problems the older all-in-one diapers had. At $18-27 per diaper, AIOs tend to be the most expensive cloth solution.

Pockets
Also dad/babysitter/grandparent friendly are pocket diapers. That is because with a little more prep work than the AIO, the diaper can simply be snapped or hooked on with aplix or touchtape (think velcro-like). These diapers are what they sound like, a pocket. The layer closest to the baby is usually made up of suedecloth, fleece, or other stay dry material, like the outer layer is made of polyurethane laminate (PUL). The difference between a AIO and pocket, is that the pocket diaper alone has no absorbent properties. The second step to these diapers is then to stuff them with an insert, or a long, thin pad that pulls the moisture away from the baby and holds it until the baby is changed. Some of these inserts are made of microterry, hemp, cotton, or other similar material. Pocket diapers usually include some sort of insert, but many moms will chose to buy more to either add absorbancy, or upgrade the quality of washability/antimicrobial properties. The disadvantage of this diaper is that the opposite of stuffing, is unstuffing; the peed/pooped on insert must (usually) be removed from the diaper before they are washed. Some diapers have openings on both sides of the diaper, allowing the insert to agitate out in the wash. Depending on the quality of diaper, and if you chose to upgrade inserts, pocket diapers can run between $10-24.

Covers
Covers are the most economical and most versatile diaper of the three, however, it also has steepest learning curve of the three. Covers can be made of PUL, wool, or fleece. They can either enclose with snaps, hook & loop, or pull on. However, they cannot be used alone. The diaper must have something underneath it to catch the mess, these can include fitteds, which are made of bamboo, cotton, hemp, and snap or hook and loop onto the baby, with the cover then placed over the top. Another option is to use a prefold diaper, either hooked together with pins, or a Snappi (T shaped stretchy object, with small hooks that grip to the diaper and hold it closed), or folded and laid flat into the cover. The cheapest option is to use flats, or a large single layer of material, folded in various styles to improve absorbancy, and like the prefold, then laid into a cover, or closed with pins or a Snappi. The other advantage to a cover, is that they can be used for multiple changes, as long as the diaper is changed and the cover is not soiled. Some can be wiped dry, or like wool, can be worn many times before washing. If you use wool or fleece, the other advantage is breathability.

• Covers or wraps are usually made of PUL are the most common of the types of covers, the easiest to find commercially, and can be wiped out with a cloth wipe and re-used, unless soiled. PUL covers usually run around $10-18.
  
• Fleece either comes with pull on options, or fasten on like PUL covers. They can also be sewn as pants, shorts, or skirts. Like PUL covers, there is no need to wash these after a single use, they can be hung to dry an used until the end of the day, until soiled, or until stinky. Fleece also breathes better than PUL, and if you can sew can be made for the cost of materials. However, very few commercial manufacturers make fleece covers, so to get fleece your best option is etsy, or Hyenacart. Prices run from around $7-18.
  
• Wool covers are probably the most expensive of the three options to buy, but if you want to avoid man made products, wool is the very best choice. Like fleece, wool can come in covers that pull on, or wraps that button, and can come in pants, shorts, covers, or skirts. If you can knit, crochet, or know how to upcycle sweaters, wool can be inexpensive, however commercially made wool diapers can run from $30-90, and SAHM made can run from $10-50+. Wool also needs to be prepped once every 1-2 weeks by soaking in a solution of lanolin, baby shampoo, and water, and then laid flat to air dry. Wool must be hand washed, but with its antimicrobial properties does not need to be washed often and does not immediately get stinky.

Hybrid or All in Two
Similar to PUL wraps, hybrids are simply put a cloth/disposable option. Instead of putting a cloth diaper/insert into the hybrid (or just occasionally) hybrids can house a disposable option. A eco friendly soaker, that will either break down in a landfill, compost, or flush (depending on the manufacturer’s instructions) is placed into the cover, and when it is wet or soiled it is disposed of and a new disposable insert is put in. Some parents prefer this option when traveling, or when at daycare, and then use prefolds or inserts in them when not on the go. The advantage of this type of system is you are not carrying waste with you when you travel, the disadvantage is that even after the initial investment, the cost can keep accumulating. The cost is around $14-18 for the cover only, and disposable inserts run between $5-10 for 20.

Up front, diapers may seem like a big investment, but they will pay for themselves before the baby is born, even when you use the most expensive diapers. According to Diaper Decisions the cost of cloth is between 6 and 23 cents per diaper change, including the cost of washing. Where the cost of disposables is about 36 cents per diaper for the most common brand. That doesn’t even count the extra washes of clothing from blowouts. 30 to 13 cents may not seem like a lot, until you figure that if your child potty trains at 2 1/2, you will have changed 7200. At a minimum, you are saving between $1,000 to $2,200, now imagine how much more you would save if you re-used those same diapers on another child, or sold them when you were done to recoup between 50-75% of your original purchase price.

Speaking of the kiddo in diapers… baby girl rolled over from back to belly, and then belly to back this morning. This is a day for milestones indeed!

Bobby is almost finished with his first week of school at his new school, and it seems to be going well. I am exploring low cost textbook solutions and playing around with a new program called “The Grocery Game”, so far I am saving around 31% off my grocery bill. Had we paid the shelf prices, we would have spent $185.52, instead we spent $128.80 for a savings of $56.72. Not bad for my first week. Now I just have to work on cooking more meals at home and more careful meal planning. I am going to pay closer attention to my frugal living message boards on Diaper Swappers and the Grocery Game board.

Here is Sophie next to the letters her talented aunty Autumn made for her. I love how they turned out, I totally was not expecting being able to get the letters for her name as I was seeing them for about $14-16 each on Etsy, and I cannot see myself spending $84-96, though I was tempted to.

Sophie had her well baby check on Thursday. At 12w1d she was 9lbs 11oz and 22 long. She is healthy and growing on track. Her rash on her face earned her a referral to a pediatric dermatologist up @ Children’s Hospital in Denver.

Everything is breaking in our house… Bobby’s XBox 360, the drum kit to Rock Band, thankfully both are still under warranty. I also need to get off my tail and replace two other things under warranty as well, my kitchenaid pan and the broken toy bar I need to return for Sophie’s swing.

Bobby is also starting school again this week, to get his Bachelors. Unofficially he will only need about 3/4th of the classes as his credits transfer very well, and his entire associate’s transfers in full.

Last week I took Sophie to the ped to see the cause of her horrible rash (below)

Turns out my poor honey has sensitive skin and a very bad case of baby acne. It is clearing up a little bit, this is what is looks like today:

Hopefully it clears up soon, poor little girl.

I also got the CUTEST diapers last night, they are embroidered on the bum! They are called Green Acre Designs, or GADs and I adore how cute, and well made they are. We won’t know how they fit until she gets a little bigger though. Aren’t these darling???

Brown w/ pink snaps & fleece with a monkey.

Pink paisley butterfly with purple snaps & fleece.

Yellow celestial image with blue snaps and fleece.

So so cute!!

Matthew woke up this morning with a little bit of a red bum, and I decided I would allow him to “air out” so to speak and let him have his much loved “diaper free” time. Accidents don’t bother me because baby pee is easy to clean and it is a great lesson that will hopefully aid eventually in potty learning. Well, he was playing in the front room and came asking for a diaper, so I put a diaper on him and all was fine.

Well, baby A. had just woken up from a nap, finished her milk, and the new milk caused the expulsion of the old milk so I went into the front room to her diaper bag to get her a clean diaper. While in the front room I noticed a strange puddle on the window sill and the table runner of the window seat. I look around and see a wipe (I use cloth wipes, this one was an old diaper and super absorbent) that had fallen out of the laundry basket when I was folding and putting away Matthew’s diapers and wipes. I clean up the pee (light bulb comes on to explain WHY he wanted a diaper) and then head upstairs to put it in the pail. Baby A. is crying, because who wants to lay in poop, but I have to get this wet cloth into the pail before I change her.

While in Matthew’s room, I find that he has climbed up onto his dresser and is finger painting with a tube of Desitin that I keep on the changing table/dresser for bad rashes. I remove him from the dresser and he promptly starts messing with something else he shouldn’t, so I go to my bedroom and grab a doorknob cover so he will stay out of his room while I am busy with A.’s diaper. In the time it takes to do that he is back in his room holding onto a toy for dear life; I pull him out, put the cover on while he throws a tantrum at my feet.

I calm down A. and get her cleaned up and in a fresh diaper. While I am doing that, Matthew finds a step-stool and has started to help himself to a glass of ice water from the fridge and manages to spill it all over the floor. I get a paper towel and clean that up, and by the time I manage to get back to A. who is wanting held, Matthew has now found my Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and is “cleaning” his mess. I get that and the stool away from him and he is already rummaging through the cupboards for something to eat. A.’s dad is supposed to pick her up shortly, so I have no time to put her down to scream so I can feed him. So he gets into the Cheerios and starts squirreling them away in one of his toys.

A. starts to get upset because she is gassy or something and so I have to turn my attention back to her and he is back in the cereal that now decorates my kitchen floor. I grab a broom to try to clean it up and he grabs a dish rag and his it on her face and is pushing it down trying to “help clean” her, not cool so I drop the broom and go back to her and put on Sesame Street trying to distract him long enough to get her out the door. Writing all this makes me realize HOW I can be so tired at the end of the day and get nothing done whatsoever. I remember now how the house managed to stay so clean when I was working out of the home before Matthew was born and Austin and Christopher were in school and daycare.

No wonder I have not had a chance to eat! ]]> http://www.sumnerrain.com/2007/03/02/how-much-is-that-potty-in-the-window/feed/ 0