Fluffy bums: getting started with cloth diapers

Let me cut to the chase:  cloth diapers are good for the environment, good for your wallet, and probably good for your baby (just think about it this way:  if you had to choose between papery scratchy underwear, and soft cotton, which would you choose?).  Getting started with cloth diapers can be slightly intimidating, though, since most of us don't have anyone in our family who has used them.  Read on for some suggestions about the easiest ways to get started.

My suggestion is to find a cloth diaper service in your area (most large metropolitan areas have one, if not several; we used Tiny Tots), and sign up for their minimum service period, usually 1 month.  A cloth diaper service will deliver clean diapers to your doorstep once a week and pick up the dirty  ones.  This usually works out to be slightly more expensive than disposables--a dollar or two more a week--but since there is a bit of an investment in buying your own cloth diapers, it makes sense to try them out with a service first.

In addition to signing up for a diaper service, you will need to buy 2 diaper covers, 1 package of snappi fasteners, and if you don't have one, some kind of large clean pail or trashcan with a lid.

Since a picture is probably most helpful, below is an illustration of the most common kind of diaper (called a "prefold") provided by a diaper service, and how to put it on a baby.  You'll see that the diaper can simply be laid in the cover, or it can be clipped in place with a fastener.  You are very unlikely to get any leaks, even with a huge poop, if you use a fastener.

The ingredients:  a "prefold" cloth diaper, upper left, a diaper cover, lower left, and a baby!

A diaper fastened in place with a Y-shaped snappi clip

A diaper simply laid in the cover, with the bottom half folded in thirds and tucked into the cover's "pocket".

The finished product: a fluffy bum

After a month or two, you may decide that you've fallen in love with cloth diapers, and that you're ready to purchase and wash your own.  This will definitely save you money over the long run.  I decided to stick with the system shown above: a cloth diaper and a separate diaper cover.  (Some people prefer a more expensive system, where the cloth is built into the cover, called an "all-in-one"; you put these on exactly like a disposable).  So how do you wash your new cloth diapers?

Where the gender gap in costs begins...Baby Gap!

So, our family made a little pilgrimage to baby Gap last week to exchange some Chanukah gifts.  I had my eyes peeled for pants that could possibly squeeze over my baby's ample bum--and her even-more-ample cloth diapers.  Most pants just don't fit.  And then I saw them!  They were in the boy's section. On sale for $12.95.

I wasn't surprised that they were on sale, frankly.  They looked weird!  The crotch of these pants was cut really low, down by the knees. Which meant that they would fit perfectly over a bulky cloth diaper.
Here they are, in olive green.  The tag was labeled "corduroy pull-on pants":

Deal!  I grabbed a pair.  Then I looked around to see if there were any other colors.  And then I saw them in the girl's section, in off-white.  They were identical except that the ankles were gathered rather than straight.  AND...they were $2 more, $14.95 total.  AND, believe it or not, the tag was labeled  "harem pants":

I'm ashamed to say that I'm so desperate for well-fitting pants that I bought the girl's pair too, despite the gender cost differential.  And despite the absurdity of "harem" pants for babies.  Sheesh.