Cloth diapering: One year later

As of 7:11 a.m. this morning, marking the moment when I last changed a poopy disposable diaper in 2011, we are celebrating the one year anniversary of exclusively cloth diapering Little Guy. This means my grand total of disposable diaper expenses for Little Guy's first year was $29.99 plus tax, which is what The Husband spent on a box of Pamper Swaddler diapers during a midnight Target run that first week because I was too afraid to use our cloth diapers while we were still applying extraordinary amounts of Vaseline on the, uh, male appendage that had been snipped.

Our cloth diaper expenses are a bit harder to total. We were lucky enough to receive several gifts of cloth diapers and gift certificates at my baby shower, and I was also able to use "points" collected from subsequent purchases to order cloth diapers for free at kellyscloset.com. For the sake of simplicity, I am going to tally the expenses of our current stash in order to give parents an idea of how much it would cost to start cloth diapering in the Yuppy-Hippy family style (that is to say, doing laundry every 2-3 days and using one-size pocket/all-in-one cloth diapers that grow with the child).

We have 21 Bum Genius pocket/AIO 4.0one-size diapers. This is my absolute favorite diaper. If you buy in bulk, the cost is about $17 per diaper (for purchases of 12+), or $18 for individual purchases. If you were just starting out, 21 diapers would easily be a complete stash, allowing you to do laundry every other day, and bringing your grand diapering total to about $350. 

Of course, many cloth diapering mamas find it impossible to resist some of the more adorable prints out there, like this Rumparooz Robotronic print one-size pocket diaper, and in the beginning most families choose to experiment with several brands and types of cloth diapers before settling on the perfect fit for their baby and lifestyle. This was the case with us, which is why I also own around $200 worth of diapers in the following brands:

• 4 Fuzzibunz one-size pocket diapers, at a cost of around $19 per diaper. These have a very different profile as compared to the BumGenius, and can give a superior fit to the baby due to three points of customization. However, I hate having to undo and redo the silly interior buttons in order to change the fit, and so these got put to the bottom of the stash. 
• 2 Rumparooz one-size pocket diapers, at a cost of $23.50 each. I purchased these diapers solely for the Robotronic and Lil' Monster prints. The fit is very similar to the BumGenius diaper, although perhaps a bit bulkier in the smaller settings. I prefer the interior stay-dry material that BG uses, although the Rumparooz diapers have internal gussets that are better at stopping leaks. 
• 2 Itti Bitti one-size diapers, my biggest splurge. I used points to purchase these diapers for free, otherwise they come in at a cost of about $27 per diaper. Honestly, they were my biggest disappointment. I never got the fit right on Little Guy, and I didn't like how the interior snapped in instead of using a pocket placement. They are super trim, though, and I am pretty excited to see how the fit will work on a newborn. Little Guy was already 5 months old when these arrived in the mail, and I think they have the ability to be the smallest diaper in my one-size stash.
• 1 Happy Heinys one-size pocket diaper with hook and loop closure. This was the first diaper I bought that used hook and loop (Velcro) as opposed to snaps. I spent $19 on the glow-in-the-dark skull print, and the diaper is overall pretty similar to a BumGenius, although I think the quality is a bit lacking. I would be open to purchasing more hook/loop diapers in the future, although they are a pain in the wash because they stick to anything and everything.

Speaking of wash...perhaps you're wondering about the maintenance aspects of cloth diapering for a year. For the record, this is what my diapers look like today, after being used for a year:

That's right: They look brand new. I won't lie, I did go through several months of experimenting with wash and dry cycles, and they've also given me some headaches when working with other washers/dryers on the road (we have cloth diapered through at least 6 road trips), but it is honestly just an extra load of wash every other day.

We have a top-loader HE washer, and I wash by putting in one tablespoon of Rockin' Green detergent (a cloth diaper specific detergent that sells for around $15) for a cold wash on the gentle cycle, and follow with a hot wash gentle cycle, double rinse. I get about 60 loads out of a single bag of this detergent.

I dry in the sun as much as possible, and otherwise do a double cycle in our dryer on the higher heat setting. (Some of this is against what BumGenius advises, and so I would encourage you to do some research with your manufacturers as you can void the warranty by going against their recommendations.) My diapers look immaculate and if I was interested in re-selling (which is another selling point for cloth diapers), I would likely get top dollar.

In finding the best type of diaper for our lifestyle we also tried some pre-folds and fitted diapers (we spent less than $80 here, and I donated much of our pre-folds/covers to a family in diaper need). You can read more about those options here, but in the end, the pocket diapers were just as affordable and much easier to use, care for, and explain to family/friends/babysitters. 

Last week, we survived our greatest challenge in cloth diapering: Treating a nasty yeast-based diaper rash while remaining in cloth. We did this through lots of nekkid time, using the diapers I liked least while having to use the zinc/nystatin cream, and using bleach in our wash cycle (which was turned up to above 125 degrees F to kill the yeast). My diapers and, most importantly, my son came out of this in three days with nary a mark or complication. 

Other than this yeast rash, Little Guy has had very few diaper-related problems. We've never had a poop explosion, although we have battled leaks throughout the year. Mostly these are related to fit, as working with a one-size cloth diaper you sometimes deal with entire weeks where you can't get the perfect fit because the baby is going through a growth spurt. Also, on the road we have dealt with detergent or wash-cycle related build-up that has contributed to leaks, but was easily solved. I can't boast that we've never dealt with a diaper rash; we've had several, although until the yeast rash, I had never had a rash that hadn't cleared up in 48 hours and I've never worried that it was related to the diaper -- only that we had missed changing a poopy diaper within that important 15-minute window because we have a ninja pooper (he gets that from his father, definitely not me). 

And now, with that image of  The Husband, the ninja pooper, and all those dollar signs and calculations, I leave you for the day. Questions? Leave 'em in the comments!