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?

Baby clothes outside the (big) box

So, my baby has maybe 5 items of clothing (ok, not counting socks) that I actually bought for her new--mostly when she was still gestating.

Other than that, everything was via gifts, Craig's list, garage sales, and generous medical school faculty.

I'm really glad that I made the decision to go used, in part for environmental reasons, and in part because jeeezus, that baby grew FAST.  She started out in preemie sizes (she was six pounds and change at birth). She is now very comfortably wearing 12-18 month size.  (Yes, I know, she's not actually six months old yet).  The typical clothing item has lasted under a month before she grew out of it; some were closer to a week.

BUT.

Every so often I still drool over baby clothes.  If anyone out there has a baby in their life that they need to shop for, I suggest thinking a bit outside the (big) box.  Instead of Baby Gap, home of the baby harem pants, try Etsy, home of fabulous home-crafted items.  In my favorite Etsy baby shop, the seller makes things like this beautiful sweater, using felted wool from old sweaters.  They're "upcycled" clothing.  My only issue with it is that, frankly, I'd like one in my size:

Size 6-9 months