making cloth work

Before Elijah was born I did a lot of research: about organic food, about milk paint, about wooden toys, especially about diapering options. Good grief, the range & differences among cloth diapers is overwhelming!

The names alone sound ridiculous, & there's really no way to know what will work until your child arrives to show his body shape & how heavily he wets. I settled on buying a few Gro Baby sets (now GroVia) when the first run of hybrid diapers was 30% off. At 2 weeks old & around 9 lbs, Elijah was peeing through the disposables the hospital had given us, so I tried him in the freshly washed cloth (snapped down to the newborn rise). Success! I could pull the waist snug against his trim belly & the leg elastic didn't leave a gap for leaks. Now, as an 8 month old & around 22 lbs we have him snapped to the middle rise (infant). His diesel legs never have marks, but the fit is snug where it's supposed to be & the shells have stayed in good condition despite the fact that we only bought 7 which are washed very frequently.

I recently emailed GroVia because Elijah keeps getting his diaper unfastened & it turns out that they will convert the shells to snaps for you! If I send our shells in sometime at the end of next week, they will be converted & shipped back while we're at the beach. The timing could be perfect since I won't be using cloth while we're away. Nerdy.mama.excitement.

Now, our nighttime diaper strategy is a bit different to make sure that one diaper lasts the whole night of wetting (10 hrs) without causing unnecessary wakefulness. So far FuzziBunz shells (Craigslisted) stuffed with a hemp liner or two (I found these on sale) are the safest bet. Hemp absorbs more liquid than cotton, resists stains/smells & is less bulky so I can double up when needed.

That is how we make cloth work smart for us, so we're not spending too much $$ & I'm not working too hard. The key is making sure the nursery never smells like pee; that will make you give up. Really.fast.