Groovy Booty

I told Jason we must be becoming hippies... natural birthin', breastfeedin', cloth diaperin' hippies.

Drew is a hippie too!

He says we're not hippies because hippies smell bad (and we obviously don't).  I say we're rebels!  Either that or just too poor to afford anesthesia, formula, and disposable diapers!

So, cloth diapers you may be asking?  First off, take a look! Not the cloth diapers you may be imagining.

They're called gDiapers.  I've talked about them before.  Basically they are considered a "hybrid" diaper.  You have a cloth outer and a disposable inner.  The inner part is biodegradable; all you have to do is rip it open into a toilet, swish with a stick, and flush!  No diaper genie, no landfill mess, no piles of stinky diapers... BUT the biodegradable refills are more expensive than regular disposable diapers (and Jason and I don't have a lot of extra $$ to spare).

But the "gee"niuses at gDiapers came out with the cloth insert (since I last discussed diaper options)!  A perfect choice for us!  No worries about folding and pinning regular cloth diapers, no worries about leaks or plastic diaper covers (the outer shell has a plastic liner inside), and it saves us moolah!

gPant on the left, plastic snap-in liner, gCloth insert on the right

All put together

The biggest inconvenience I've found so far is all the stair climbing I'm now doing!  Instead of having "diaper changing stations" around the house I find it easiest just to change him in his nursery where I keep the pail for the dirty inserts and where I keep the clean and pre-loaded gDiapers.  But hey, I'll have a nice buttocks, right? (YOU try carrying a 12 lb. baby up and down the stairs 5+ times a day!)  Really though, I keep a bunch of the gPants preloaded so all I have to do during a diaper change is take the old one off, toss the insert into a pail and put the new one on.  I toss the inserts in the wash every evening or every other evening, then put them on the line in the morning (or in the dryer if I don't have enough clean ones left over). We installed a diaper sprayer for the particularly messy inserts, but in general breastfed baby poop is water soluble and doesn't need to be cleaned off (or so I've been told).

Is it really more environmentally friendly?  Well, besides the fact that disposables don't break down for at least 500 years (at least that's not as bad as the 1 million+ years it takes styrofoam!), there also aren't as many chemicals used in the production of cloth diapers (or the packaging and shipping!).  I know there is more water waste and chemicals used in cleaning, but I am trying to offset that by using environmentally friendly detergent and by line drying!  (Line drying is supposed to help bleach out any stains too!)  Check out the clothesline Jason and I built:

And does it really save money?  Our initial investment was a bit high.  I paid about $110 to get 6 gPants and 12 inserts on diapers.com (with coupon code workingmom15 for 15% off).  Because I can't resist cute colorful things I bought another gPant in a color I wanted for $15 off Amazon.com (because I had 20% off + free shipping).  Then I also bought another package of 6 inserts for $25 at Babies R Us (I used a $2 off coupon that came in one of my packs of gPants).  So I spent about $150 and I have more than enough gPants and inserts to last me 2 days.  Let's say we go through 8 diapers in a day (fairly average for us).  That's 240 in a month.  A box of 150 diapers costs about $40 making each diaper 27 cents; that's about $65 a month.  So, in less than 3 months we will have paid for our gDiapers.  And unless Drew is miraculously potty-trained by 5 months that means we will be saving money!

Leaks?  Well, so far, yes....we've had a few.

Oops!

I'm attributing it to a) the fact that I bought size "Medium" which fits 13-26 lbs. and Drew is not yet 13 lbs. (It didn't seem worth it to buy "Smalls" knowing that he will be 13 lbs. sooner rather than later).  And b) me still learning to put them on properly.  I've been having less leaks as each day passes.  I'm actually surprised how absorbent the liners are.  They are made of cotton fleece and hemp- the cotton helps keep the moisture off his skin and the hemp absorbs all the liquid.  I actually have a hard time telling if he's wet sometimes!

Overall I'm very pleased with them.  Besides the fact that it saves us money and is better for the environment I haven't even mentioned that he has less diaper rash!  Without all the chemicals next to his delicate skin his diaper rash has cleared up!

And on top of all that they're just so darn cute.  Check out Drew's cutie "g"roovy booty!

Snuggling with Daddy

Drew looks good in green!

Girls, we know you gotta have neutral toned under-garments too, right

 I still want this one though:

Won't help with the money saving aspect :P

We will be still be using disposables when we're out and about, on vacation, or when someone else is watching Drew, but these work for us at home!

Considering cloth diapers? There are so many different types and styles.  Research them and find one that's right for you!