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This is a post about putting on cloth diapers. I call this fold the…
Gutter Fold
The diaper on the left is in the angle fold, on the right is what I am calling the gutter fold. (I did just find this here called the jellyroll.) I started doing the gutter fold after dealing with too many leaks using the angel fold. It is not perfect, but it is better.
Go to my flickr page to see the fold more in depth. Anyone else have suggestions?
Please do not use photos or information from this blog without permission from the author. Thanks.
I mentioned that we were switching to cloth diapers a while back. After quite a few months of cloth, I am ready to report. In summary, I find the savings to be great, and the small bit of extra work very worth while.
Over the months, my mind has changed on which diaper style I like the best. I can boil it down to three favorites:
The best All-in-one: SposoEasy -These are designed so well. They have a perfect fit, and they wash and dry very well.
The best for newborns: Kissaluvs size 0 -These are just so soft, and they catch everything. Never a leak. Cons: They are not 100% cotton, and they do take longer to dry than other diapers.
Best overall: Cloth-eez brand prefolds
Prefolds do require a little more work on your part when it comes to putting a clean diaper on the baby, but the benefits are great. Prefolds are very inexpensive- $1 to $3 brand new. Because they are not fitted, baby can fit into them longer. You reshape them to fit as you go. When it comes time to wash and dry the diapers, the prefolds are easiest to clean and the fastest. This is very important to me. Some of the WHAM diapers I have take almost 20 minutes longer to machine dry than the prefolds. Prefolds hang dry in no time here in Florida. They may not be as fancy as some fitted diapers, but you have the diaper covers to get fancy with.
There are so many reasons to use cloth diapers rather than disposables. For me, the biggest reason is the price. The savings can be as much as $1500 per child. We are a family of 5 with a single income. If it cost more to use cloth, the chances are it might not be possible. So that is one reason I love the prefolds, anyone can afford them. Those beautiful fitted diapers and easy to use All-in-ones would be nice, but they are too expensive for us. I recently started using the cloth wipes, and they also are helping save us money. Baby wipes are almost 3 cents each. That adds up too quickly. A spray bottle with Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion and cloth wipes (which are easy to make at home) are very easy to use.
Here is another good reason:
Cloth Diapers Are Healthier For Your Baby…
What should be of serious concern to all parents are the toxic chemicals present in disposable diapers. Dioxin, which in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases, genetic damage, is a by-product of the paper-bleaching process used in manufacturing disposable diapers, and trace quantities may exist in the diapers themselves. Dioxin is listed by the EPA as the most toxic of cancer related chemicals. Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) – a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. Disposable diapers also contain sodium polyacrylate. If you have ever seen the gel-like, super absorbant crystals in a disposable than you have seen this first hand. Sodium polyacrylate is the same substance that was removed from tampons because of its link to toxic shock syndrome. No studies have been done on the long-term effects of this chemical being in contact with a baby’s reproductive organs 24 hours a day for upwards of two years. Studies have also been done to show that the chemical emissions from disposable diapers can cause respiratory problems in children. Cloth diapers, on the other hand, are free of the many chemicals contained in disposable diapers.
There are times when a mom or dad needs a disposable. We found these eco-friendly diapers at Target: Nature Babycare diapers. They are made from corn and will biodegrade in 40 days rather than the usual 75-100 years. They will never be better than cloth though.
Using cloth diapers is easy. Give it a try.
