Micah and Christine

So, what supplies do we have for cloth diapering?

We switched to a natural laundry soap called Charlie's soap and stopped using dryer sheets when I was pregnant with Charlotte. Before this stuff I REALLY enjoyed my dryer sheets, so the decision to begin using fragrance-free, natural products was an adjustment. Two years later, it's all we use and I am perfectly happy with it. It's inexpensive enough, our clothes are clean, and Charlotte's diapers have few stains. (Haven't tried sunning them yet to get those stains out!)

This diaper pail purchase can be classified as one of my crazy-pregnant lady nesting moments. Based on my research I knew that I wanted a trash can for the diapers. But I really didn't like the plastic trash cans that I saw, so I went to many different stores shopping for the perfect one. I found this OXO one at Homegoods. I probably spent way too much for it, but it was the one I wanted. I plan to use it for Charlotte's laundry when we're done diapering. We also have two extra-large purple wet bags. We put one in the trash can and throw the diapers in after diaper changes. When it's laundry time (every two days or so) we throw the whole bag into the washer and put the other bag into the can. 

This picture completely cracks me up. It was taken on October 11, 2009. I am holding my 4-month-old in front of the washer and dryer because I am THAT proud of my new appliances. :) We love our HE washer and dryer. The diapers take two long cycles. Total process takes about 3 hours. Perhaps the length of time is a little inconvenient,  but not as bad as the girl who told me she washed her cloth diapers in the bath tub every night. Holy cow. 

The drying rack is a vital piece of our overall diapering scheme. Our neighborhood covenants do not allow laundry lines, so we pull out the drying rack to dry the diaper covers. Here you can see our pocket diapers drying. On the close left corner you can see an all-in-one diaper drying, too. (If you have any BumGenius One-Size All-In-One diapers like this, the best advice I ever got was to dry them inside-out. Much faster!) The pockets take about 2 hours to dry, I always let the all-in-one diapers dry at least overnight.

There are so many types out there. I tried 3 kinds when Charlotte was little, and this works for us. We use mostly BumGenius 3.0 one-size pocket diapers. (Yep, those are the old style that are no longer sold. What can I say? I bought these two years ago.) They have velcro so they are super-easy to change. We also have several all-in-ones, and a few of the 4.0 diapers with the snaps. We have 25-30 diapers. Nope, I did not count for you. :)

We use pocket diapers, which means that the diaper "shell" has nothing absorbent, but rather something absorbent must be put into the diaper's pocket to hold the moisture. We just use the inserts that came with the diapers, but people use all kinds of things- hemp, pre-folds, other brand inserts. Here I am giving you a peek into my lovely dryer, where we dry the inserts and the wipes. The dry cycle takes about 40 minutes. 

I did a whole post about cloth wipes a month ago, but thought this picture was worth sharing. It's an "outtake" from when I was taking pics for the wipes post- Charlotte was very interested in helping with the wipes. 

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This post may make me sound as though I am a BumGenius evangelist, but honestly I am just glad that we found a diapering system that worked for our kid. These diapers have been on Charlotte's bum from 6 weeks to the present with a few breaks thrown in. When I think about how quickly she outgrows clothes these days, I am reminded of how remarkable that really is.