cloth diaper experiment, continued...

Several of you have asked about my cloth diaper experiment so I figured I'd post a bit more about that little journey as it's progressed so far. I'll post our vacation, part two soon. Stay tuned!

We have been using the bumgenius 3.0 one size pocket diapers on Dylan for about two months now. I began by buying 3 diapers from diapers.com. Since I didn't want to make a big initial investment in these diapers for a couple reasons (ranging from expense to possibly not liking them), three seemed like a good number to start with. The diapers normally retail for $17.95. This is the price found through a number of cloth diapering websites. However, the breakdown of the deal I found through diapers.com is as follows:

3 diapers x $17.95 each...............$53.85

First time order code................(-$10.00)

Shipping.........................................Free

Total cost.....................................$43.85
Total cost of each diaper..............$14.61

This is a perfect way to try this particular diaper because I have seen them re-sold USED for $15 or $16 on sites such as diaperswappers and craigslist. So, if you are at all thinking about trying a one-size cloth diaper (fits babies from 7 lb.-35 lb.), but you don't want to lose out on the money if you decide you don't like them afterall, this would be the perfect solution. Order a few from diapers.com (enough to qualify for free shipping), use a $10.00 coupon code (if you're a first time customer) and receive them in about 2 days. If you decide to do this, please consider using the $10.00 coupon code of CGibson. This is the referral account I created which will give you, a first time customer, the $10.00 off and it'll give me a $1 credit toward my next order. Once you become a customer, you can create your own referral code so that you can do the same thing and begin earning credits for yourself. Their shipping is super fast and I've been happy with them so far.

After diapering Dylan with alternating just three one-size pocket diapers (and washing them every day) with disposables, I went ahead and decided to buy a few more cloth dipes since they were working well for us. Pocket diapers have a waterproof outer shell with a pocket to place an absorbent (in this case, microfiber) insert. For heavy wetters and nighttime use, you can add as much as you would like and can fit into the pocket. In this way, the pocket diapers are nice because you can customize the absorbency to suit your child.

For our newborn who will arrive in less than two months, I purchased some fitted diapers that were in excellent used condition. Fitted diapers, unlike the one-size diapers described above, need to be sized according to your child. The diapers I purchased come highly recommended as newborn diapers. They are Kissaluvs size 0 and require a waterproof cover since the diapers themselves are not leakproof. The covers I purchased from the same seller include 2 extra-small Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, 2 small Bummis Wraps, and 1 small Polar Bummi.

Since newborns (especially those who are exclusively nursed) go through so many diapers in one day (at least a dozen), I figured I'd need a few more diapers to supplement this stash. I purchased a set of 6 prefold diapers (which are likely how my parents diapered me), two more small covers and a snappi (takes the place of the pins my parents used) through a starter set at cottonbabies.com. This set will help me supplement my Kissaluvs stash and will also help me get used to diapering with prefolds and covers which some people prefer for newborns. In my opinion (and keep in mind that I've never cloth diapered a newborn before!) I can only imagine using prefolds on an infant who does not move or wiggle nearly as much as Dylan ever did. There's no way I could use prefolds on him without making a mess and losing patience since he's always been a strong and very active child. The way my "in utero" baby behaves, however, is very different than the way Dylan was in the womb. When pregnant with Dylan, I noticed that there were times when he didn't move. With this one, there are times when he or she moves. Very different! So hopefully, the prefolds will work well on this baby. It's also a cheaper way to cloth diaper. Of course, when Dylan becomes potty trained (which isn't happening anytime soon), his one-size diapers can be passed to baby no matter how small she or he is. That's the beauty of the one-size diapers!

For the fun of it, let's just do a price breakdown of diapering a newborn...

Prices found on Pampers Swaddlers (my favorite newborn disposable) at 20% off through diapers.com

-size N (newborn) case: $19.99 for 92 diapers and will fit baby up to 10 lbs. (at 12 per day this case will last about 7.5 days)

-size 1 case: $37.99 for 216 diapers and will fit baby from 8-14 lbs. (at 12 per day this case will last about 18 days)

So, for about 26 days (about 3.5 weeks), I could spend $57.98. If I purchased another box of size 1's I would spend a total of $95.97 and I would be able to diaper my baby for a total of about 44 days (1.5 months).

How much did I shell out for my newborn? I spent $83 for 16 Kissaluvs, 6 prefolds, 7 covers, 1 snappi. Of course, there's the cost of laundry to factor in. In my opinion, though, it's a small price to pay because if we decide to have another child...and that's a strong IF since I really don't like being pregnant for the first 6 months--we'll be totally in the green when it comes to the first three months of diapering. That's a financial stat I really like. By the way, I should also mention that I got a really amazing deal on the Kissaluvs. The seller was a really sweet woman and gave me more than I thought I was even getting. I attribute that to being a "God thing". At the moment, I do plan to put baby in disposables when we're out, at church, and various other times. But when we're home, I'm gearing up to do lots of laundry and put this investment to good use.