gone granola.

So I have in fact, completely unintentionally, gone a little bit granola with motherhood. I was gifted some cloth diapers (which can be pricey as an initial investment) and was originally planning to sell them, cash moneys! But then I got to thinking, well these things are cute... why don't I try them out. I must say, I probably would have written them off completely if it weren't for my friend and neighbor, Rachel, who had her baby girl a few weeks later than me, who was planning on using cloth from the start. I figured, well shoot.. if I have someone's brain to pick, and someone to watch by example... this could totally be doable. And it is!

1st, however I must say, if you don't like getting handsy with baby poo & pee, then maybe this isn't for you... but if you ask me, you're going to get baby poo & pee up in your hands and on your clothes regardless, so this really doesn't make much of a difference in my opinion. And lets be honest, baby pee is like water anyway, so who cares about touchin that biz.

2nd, I decided to wait a couple months to try Taj's out, because I wanted to deal with less poo cloth diapers, and I'm glad I did. I waited until he was pooping once every day or 2 days, and it's been great. Also, if you're kiddo is like mine, and explodes when this time comes (blowouts and newborn poo galore), then I would highly consider cloth, only because these things will trap the crap! Taj leaks pee from time to time, but never blows out poo. High five.

So anyway, while moving in the direction of cloth diapers, I was thinking to myself... well why would I use disposable wipes, do people use cloth wipes too? And I found out that that's a thing too! Haha. I was totally out of the cloth loop here, so I decided to hit Rachel up and see what that was like as well. And again, this has turned out to be a good idea as well, because honestly it doesn't make sense to me to be tossing some stuff in a trash can, and some in a cloth wet bag to be laundered. Why not launder it all? So there I was, ready to purchase some more cloth goods, and to commit to it. I started out like a hybrid, 50/50 cloth/disposables, and am now a 90/10... the 10% being a disposable at night (I don't want him leaking/getting a rash at night, so I don't even bother with cloth here). I have 8 diapers (16 inserts) for Taj, and it's more than enough to get us through 2/3 days!

So anyway, if any of you are curious about this world, here's what goes down in this house.. and it's all really easy if you ask me.

1. Charlie Banana One Size cloth diapers: These are what we were gifted, and I have really loved them. They're a pocket diaper, and they come with liners to stuff in them that you just pull out, and toss in the wet bag when they need a change. I however, do not use the pocket. I place the liner outside of it, and lay a thin cut of fleece on top (micro-fleece from Joann's) to keep Taj's little tush dry. This has worked out very well for us, because I figured, why get the diaper wet, too? Just soak the liner, and toss that if he's only filled it with pee. This method has been good to us, and I would def recommend these diapers. Fair warning though: the sizing strap sneaks into the hole- so be sure to size them tighter than you would think, to try to avoid unnecessary leaking. That said, I know there are LOTS of other cloth diapers out there that are each a little different, that I'm sure are great too. I just like that these are an all in one deal. One size- liners included.

2. Itzy Ritzy Medium Wet Bag: This is what I keep folded up in our diaper bag to toss his dirty diapers into. At first I used to use disposables when I went out (hybrid, remember?), but I found that this was just easier to do, rather than switching before/after going anywhere. The nice thing about this is I can toss wet/spit up clothes or even a wet swimsuit into it while we're out. Handy for sure.

3. GroVia Cloth Wipes: These are the wipes I use for Taj's little bum. I'll explain next about the mixture I make for them, but these are awesome. Thick, absorbent, and soft. I keep them stored in a wipes warmer. They fit perfect and work great.

Wipes Solution:
So, I thought it would be ridiculous and a bit cumbersome to make my own wipes (talk about unnecessary right?!), but quite the contrary. So easy to do, and they smell so good, and work great. So here's the concoction I make, and it's been great.

12 cloth wipes
2 Cups hot water
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp baby wash
5/6 drops of essential oil (ie: lavender, tea tree, etc)

Mix it up, pour it on your wipes (I do this in my warmer), wring it through, lay them down... and fa-lah! You're good to go for 2/3 days, until you need to wash them all with your dirty diapers!

So there you have it. I get most of these things from Amazon (Prime + Amazon credit card = heaven!) And I toss everything into a washable-reusable Diaper Genie bag that I found online HERE. I bought 2, to make sure I always have a clean one ready. I already had the genie and it's a great diaper pail, as is. In fact, you could use these liners even if you were tossing disposable diapers in the trash bins.. just empty them out every few days, and then you wont have to purchase the refills! Just a thought. Also- with regard to onesies- I do have to dress Taj a size up, since the cute little diaps are bigger than disposables. But this isn't a problem for us, since he's such a long body and pretty much needs a size up regardless.

So anyway, this world seemed silly to me, until I jumped in... and I honestly love it! It hardly takes more time to do, and we're saving money by buying disposables seemingly never.  I will say this... I am beyond good at doing laundry. It's one of my domestic strong points, so if you hate laundering, then I guess this isn't for you. But if you're good at it, and you've got your own W/D.. I say go for it!

Stepping off my Hippie soapbox.
Adios.

Air