The Poop Scoop

The Poop Scoop by Sara Eiser

Catchy, huh?

Cloth diapers have become such a part of my life that I figured I’d share my experiences with all of you. There are so many different ways to cloth diaper, and all of them valid. When Toby was an infant, I religiously cloth diapered full-time, and I drove myself crazy trying to keep up. If we were out and had to do a diaper change, I stuffed the diaper into a plastic bag and back it went into the diaper bag. I had wonderful instances of reaching into my diaper bag and pulling out moldy old diapers from a week ago that had been tucked under the wipes.

Needless to say – I wasn’t having fun.

Finally, I realized that I was missing the point. Every cloth diaper I used was a diaper that stayed out of the landfill. Once I started to look at it as a positive when I did use cloth instead of a negative when I didn’t, my whole relationship with diapering changed.

So what do I use and why? First, here is a great diapering glossary. If I use a term you’re not familiar with, it will be in there.

When we started out, we were clueless. Someone pointed us in the direction of Sunshine Diapers’ Full-time Newborn Test-Drive Set. It was the best possible option for us – two parents who had never known anyone in real life who had cloth diapered, but were interested in trying. The test-drive set gives you almost every possible option so that you can try them all out and decide which you prefer.

Chinese Prefolds

For a newborn, we ended up going with flannel fitteds. These diapers were exactly like disposables, except that they had velcro at the waist and needed a waterproof cover to go over them. They were easy, and when you’ve got a newborn, easy is key. We decided on Thirsties for our waterproof cover, mostly because they seem to be the only brand with lovely, wide leg gussets for extra leak prevention.

Most of my friends use pocket diapers for the newborn stage, but I have to say that they were my least favorite type of diaper. I didn’t like having to stuff them, and frequently was left with all the inserts dirty but the outsides clean. You can, of course, judge for yourself if you get the test-drive set.

Once Toby started to grow out of the fitted, we wanted to reevaluate where we were on our journey. We had come to terms with the fact that we were not full-time cloth diaperers, and were looking for something that was easy to use, easy to clean (!!), and cheap. We decided to take the plunge and go with DSQ (diaper service quality) Chinese Prefolds.

Snappi fastener - no more pins!

Yes, these are your grandma’s cloth diapers – the ones she whined about, and the reason she ooed and aahed at your cute disposables at your baby shower. There is one huge difference, though. When you pair these with a Thirsties liner (just like we did with our fitteds), they are completely leak-proof. There is a thick middle layer in these prefolds that soaks all that wet up, solids don’t get stuck in velcro or in any little gussets in the diaper – they are amazing. We also don’t use pins any more, so you can reassure your grandmother of that as well.

You attach the diaper to your baby with the Snappi fastener, which is another big difference between how your grandmother diapered and how we do. Forgive me for being dramatic, but the Snappi fastener has revolutionized cloth diapering. No more fighting with pins, poking yourself, having them rust stains on your diapers. This fastener is both idiot-proof and secure. This is an absolute must for anyone planning on using prefolds. In fact, buy two. Or three. Just in case.

Want to see it in action? Here’s a video I yanked off YouTube.

So that’s where we are now. My new favorite vendor for cloth diapers is RG Natural Babies, a company run from home by a husband and wife team. Their service was prompt, they called us to confirm something in our order that didn’t seem to fit, and they added in some of their soap beads as a freebie to give our new toddler-sized prefolds their first washes. Their prices are also the most reasonable we’ve found, and they have frequent sales and good packages to help reduce the up-front cost of cloth diapering.

I’ll leave cleaning the diapers to a different post, if I can get Keith (the laundry guy) to guest post about it. Remember that cloth diapering doesn’t have to be a full-time commitment, and it doesn’t have to inconvenience you. Even one or two cloth diapers a day or only overnight saves you money and saves diapers from ending up in landfills.

Sara

Sara Eiser lives in Conestoga, PA with her husband Keith and two children, Tobias and Naomi. They are a Jewish family who practices attached, eco-conscious parenting. Sara works part time as the Cantorial Soloist at her synagogue and keeps busy the rest of the time with the kids, their remodel of a 200 year old farmhouse, and their garden. You can follow all of Sara’s posts at her blog, The Covered Wagon.