Cloth Diapering

I know that this blog post might not be of any interest to many of you but I am thinking that some of you young moms out there might be interested!

First let me say that I am not the tree hugger type.  I have used disposable diapers for my first 6 kids, except for a year or so with Eli and Hala.  The only reason I used them then was that I got them cheap, laundry was free at Bible school and we were broke!

And I don’t feel that I have to buy everything made in Canada. (Actually that would be impossible for me living in the Philippines!)

So why have I started using cloth diapers now???

When we moved into our village we were on our last baby, or so we thought!  We figured that burying a couple years’ worth of disposable diapers wouldn’t be too bad and I didn’t have the time to wash cloth diapers.

Then the Lord blessed us with little Beatrice!  And at the same time He was blessing us with co-workers, with one in diapers and one on the way.  I started to think of all the diapers that we would be putting in a hole in the ground over the next couple of years.  Then I spoke with Valerie, our co-worker, about her experience with cloth diapers.  She had been using them for years, even in the Philippines where the humidity is high all the time and she didn’t have a dryer.  So I started looking into what was out there.  Was it really affordable?  Were they going to dry when it can rain for days on end?  How does a baby’s bottom cope with extra fabric when it is 30C plus every day?

The first thing I came upon was pocket diapers.  I had used all-in-one diapers before but couldn’t imagine that they would dry on those very rainy days.  My research said that might be the case.  It turned out that Valerie was using pocket diapers.  From what I read and what Valerie told me, pocket diapers would dry well even in the humidity.  Having extra liners would mean that if the liners weren’t dry, you could still use the extras because the “pocket” dries really fast.  I started getting excited about the idea of using cloth diapers again.  But I wondered if it was affordable.  I looked around and started thinking that I should look for a local shop that sells different brands so I could go check them out.  In that search, I came across Glow Bug Cloth Diapers.  These diapers are designed by 2 ladies that are from Barrie, ON.  That’s where my parents live and is just 30 min away from where we lived!  I went to their website and read all about their diapers.  They were similar to many pocket diapers out there but they had done some of their own twists to them.  But the best part was the price!  They are just $150 for 12 diapers with 18 liners!  What a great deal that is!  And they have the cutest prints for boys, girls and now unisex!

So I decided to pray about it and talk with Chuck to see what he thought.

I figured that it would be easiest to teach one of the village ladies to wash them in our twin tub washing machine instead of me spending the time washing them.  It seemed like a great way to give more work to those who desperately want to work.  We do have a dryer and with finally having our solar system on the way it meant that when the weather was really rainy, we could get them dry in the dryer.

After finding a great sale on their website I went ahead and bought my stock of cloth diapers.  I got a great deal and I had 24 diapers for less than $250!

So what do I think now that I am using them???

They have been great!  The only time I have leaks is when I forget to change Bea.  And they are sooo cute!!!

We are still using disposables at night.  I was suggested to do that as the smell can be pretty strong by morning.

Valerie suggested after we got back to the Philippines to get another 12 diapers just to be sure we had enough.  Turns out that Glow Bug Cloth Diapers was having another sale on their newly released unisex prints.  So I ordered them and have loved them also.  They came with 200 flushable liners free!

I am still not an expert on cloth diapers but I do know that I like what we are using.

Lindy asked me the other day if I would use cloth if we were back in Canada now.  That is a tough question to answer.  If I was just starting out having kids, then I think I would use them as it would be cost effective to use them with several kids.  But with just one kid using them with the cost of liners, water, and electricity, I wonder if it would really save any money.

So there you have it!  The new thing I have found!