Thursday, June 9, 2011

cloth diapers...so far

Clara in her bumGenius glory
 
We've been using the bumGenius diapers for about 6 weeks now.  I was so excited about them!!  Ridiculously eco-friendly, cost effective, and adorable to boot!  What's not to love!??

Unfortunately, I can't say that I'm in love with them.  I find the care and maintenance to be OK - it's only annoying when we can't get a washing machine when we need one (but that wouldn't be a problem if we had our own washing machine in our home).  Tommy, who is the one who typically washes them has no complaints...he thinks they are easy. 

The thing that irks me is that they leak.  Frequently.   I tried "stripping" the inserts by boiling them in small batches on the kitchen stove - made no difference.   Literally, last night I got peed on...TWICE.  (that has actually never happened before for the record.)  FYI:  we double stuff them at night - which typically absorbs all of it.  We had leaks with regular diapers too - soo...maybe it's just one of those things???


We will keep using them...can't give up on them right away - not after the huge initial investment we made!  For the record, I bought 8 brand new bumGenius diapers and then bought 12 used bumGenius diapers on Ebay.  I went with that brand because I have friends in real life who really liked using that brand - so I felt comfortable with that choice.

I hope that they end up being fantastic!!  (I can tell what IS fantastic - not spending $50/week on diapers!!  Wahoo!)

*UPDATE:  I reread this post and noticed that I got my diaper numbers wrong so I fixed it!!  

5 comments:

  1. You know, I noticed at first the cloth diapers aren't as absorbant...but after washing for a week they get better? I just bumped up a size and had initial leakage, but now they seem to be soaking up the ickies. Keep us updated!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know about diapers, but fabric softener reduces the absorbency of towels and the such. I am sure you are using something uber gentle, so it is just something to consider.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jes, I've used Fuzi bunz with both my kids and they don't leak. Are these a one size fits all type? If so, they will likely fit her later. Also, it gets better after 12 weeks. Before that they squirt out stuff more. I also use one disposable a day -- a night. I don't mess with my night time sleep. What are you washing them with? I do a prewash on cold and then a hot wash with Charlie's soap or VASKA. If you are using regular detergent it can begin to create a film on the diaper, which makes them less absorbant. I also hear that the washer you use has to only use the one type of detergent because it's left over in the washer. I have MANY MANY blog post about cloth diapers on my baby blog:
    http://www.babyclark2008.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. PS my total bill to outfit two kids in diapers has been about $750 for the cloth and still going with Harper at 19 months. The average American family spends $3,000 PER BABY!

    ReplyDelete
  5. There's an old fashioned thing one of my friends used: they are called wool soakers. Google them - they help with leakage from what I understand. Don't hold me to this though, I'm only a innocent on-looker to the whole parenting thing.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails