Did you know that disposable diapers will be going up in cost by 6 – 8% in the next month? I found that out the day after I made a large order of cloth diapers about six weeks ago – it was satisfying to find out after I made the order.
I first tried cloth diapering about 6 years ago, from a position of wanting to save money. I bought the Walmart kind of prefold diapers (not knowing that there are huge differences in the quality that affect how effective they are, and these are the worst). And they were terrible. I gave up after several months because my baby at that time always seemed to be wet. I tried to cloth diaper my next child as a toddler, to make him aware of his wetting and motivate him to toilet train. It didn’t help because he didn’t care. Next child – I once again tried with with my toddler last year, after making my own flannel contours. It was a good try, but my older kids hated changing cloth diapers and I gave up once again.
So what happened between then and now? About a year ago, I was in the thrift store and found about 20 brand new cloth fitted diapers, and since they were .45 each, I couldn’t not buy them. 🙂 (They would have been $15 if I bought them from the original source.) Fitteds are one piece diapers that fasten like the typical disposable diapers, but don’t have a waterproof lining (you can put a waterproof cover on top or just leave it off). I had never used anything like that, because I was doing the most affordable cloth diapering I could, and never even considered anything that pricey.
Even after buying the entire lot for the less than one brand new would have cost, I didn’t use them with right away for the baby when he was born. I felt too busy with all the stuff that comes along with having a newborn, and the memories of all my unsuccessful cloth diapering attempts were fresh in my mind and outweighed my enthusiasm for it. But after about 4 months, I remembered about them and pulled them out of the closet.
Wow, a change it was! First of all, they were so convenient! This made a major difference in a house like ours, where all the kids age 7 and down change diapers. Using fitteds is just like using disposables, in terms of putting them on. No folding necessary. So I used them on a regular basis, my main complaint being leaking, because I didn’t realize that a cover was necessary for them. If I had known that, I would have saved myself some aggravation. But all in all, it was a positive experience, and it’s no one’s fault but mine that I was ignorant.
By the end of June, those diapers were getting too small for the baby. I was enjoying finally successfully using cloth diapers, and didn’t want to go back to disposables. So off I went to research the options. Oh, my gosh, do you know how overwhelming the sheer amount of information on cloth diapering is?? There are so many choices, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, that my head was spinning. I wanted something affordable, and I wanted something convenient. And it didn’t seem that the two were possible.
But I persisted in my research, and finally hit pay dirt. Or at least that’s what it felt like to me. At clothdiaper.com, I found that they were selling fitteds at almost 50% of the cost of other diaper sites. The reviews I read said that they were strong and wore like iron, something important to me since I want them to last once I’m buying them! Not only were they much less expensive than anywhere else, there was a discount for buying 12 or more, and then a larger discount for buying 24 or more. I decided to buy 24 of the size large, and they came to just $7 apiece. That honestly was a bit of a splurge for me, but it’s been worth it. Because they are adjustable thanks to the snap tape, I can use them for my 10 month old or two year old. I really appreciate things like that which simplify my life.
Then I bought 4 dozen Indian prefolds that were seconds, so they were much cheaper than the brand new price. Prefolds are flat diapers that have to be folded inside a waterproof cover. They were $12.96 a dozen instead of $24 a dozen new; this price included the $2 per dozen discount when buying over 4 dozen. I figured it would be good to have more than just 24 diapers for two children, and also the price was so good that I felt I would kick myself if I didn’t buy them when they were available. (Unfortunately, they’re out of stock now, but keep your eyes open on their site for when they have them come around again – I noticed a couple of nights ago that they now have a couple of other sizes selling as seconds that they didn’t have when I made my order.) When the order arrived, I saw what made them seconds – almost all of them had small smudges of dirt, as if it had been dropped on the floor. Since the diapers have to be washed and dried a few times before using them anyway to prep them, the little marks didn’t make a bit of difference to me, and they came out of the washer spotless.
Then I bought some waterproof covers from another site. I’ve purchased diaper covers in the past directly from the makers of Prorap, and they have seconds available for $4.75 each. I haven’t been able to tell the difference between the seconds and regulars, and the price is significantly less than buying them retail anywhere else (usually about $9). I’ve been happy with the quality, so if you like functional and don’t care about it being plain white, this works great. I recommend the Classic style, not the Basic. The Classic feels more like cloth, the Basic is kind of like institutional vinyl. I prefer diapers and covers that snap rather than velcro, so when I spoke to them, I asked if they had any covers with snaps that were seconds. I got the last two. 🙂 The rest were all velcro, which is fine, too. http://www.prodiaper.net/ – You have to call and ask for the seconds; you wouldn’t know they exist from looking at the site.
If you’re on a tight budget, I’d go with just the prefolds and wraps, and for under $100 you’d have a good sized stash to see you through. If you have a little more financial wiggle room, I really like the fitteds for simplicity. They also are less bulky than the prefolds.
I didn’t post about this right after making the order, or even receiving it, because I wanted to use them and see how it worked out for us before sharing with you. We’ve all been very happy with these, and agree it was money well spent. I hope that if you’re interested in cloth diapering, I’ve saved you at least several hours (I spent DAYS) of research on how to keep the costs down!
Avivah
