Ian's Prefolds Love Profile

Our next interview of a cloth diaper user is yours truly. Even though this blog is saturated with our experiences using cloth, our little guy Ian needed his debut on the Prefolds Love Tush Profiles :)

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Name and age of your cloth diaper wearer...

Ian, 8 months

Your cloth diaper system and why you chose it...

Prefolds and covers. It was the cheapest and lowest maintenance.

Why did you decide to cloth diaper?

I hated thinking about how much waste we created by throwing away disposable diapers, and my husband hated the money that was thrown away with them.

How long have you used cloth diapers?

We started our preschooler in cloth for naps/nights a year ago September, and we started our baby Ian in cloth when he was 2 or 3 weeks old. (We waited until his circumcision healed; although, if I could do it again, I wouldn't wait.)

What processes or products have you changed from when you first started?

We started our preschooler with Flips covers and stay-dry inserts for naps and night. Then we got Thirsties Duo Wraps and cotton prefolds for our baby. Now we use the prefolds and covers for both of them. I used to hand rinse each of the inserts then keep them in a closed container. I soon realized covering them made them stink and rinsing them didn't make a difference. We now only rinse when there's poop (now that Ian's eating solids) and the diapers go in an open pail with sprinklings of baking soda.

What is your wash routine?

1) cold rinse, 2) long hot wash with a small amount of free and clear detergent, sometimes some borax, and a little vinegar in a Downy ball, and 3) another short cycle on cold to be sure all the detergent is out. The covers get dried on low heat, then the prefolds get dried on high heat all with dryer balls instead of dryer sheets.

What are your preferred cloth diaper brands/products?

I love the Thirsties Duo Wraps and am very happy with the GMD prefolds. I also really like our Planet Wise pail liner.

#1 reason you love cloth diapers?

I love knowing that we're not contributing as much waste to the landfills anymore. And we're both pretty happy to not be spending money on diapers all the time. Also, a benefit I never imagined, no blow outs! We had a couple terrible experiences with disposables in public when he was exclusively breastfed. But poop has never leaked out of our prefolds and covers.

What is your biggest cloth diapering challenge and how do you get over it?

They take a little more time and energy, which I don't notice when it's part of my routine. So if we have to use disposables, instead of letting myself think of how "nice" or easy it is, I just try to get back into cloth as soon as possible and get back into the routine. And now that we've put the microfiber inserts to rest, we don't really have stink issues anymore which was another challenge.

What is your cutest cloth diaper/cover?

I love Thirsties' Blackbird print. My other favorite designed covers are from Weehuggers, but we don't currently own any in Ian's size.

Money you've spent on cloth so far...

$351.81 for our "stash" which covers birth-to-potty training, including wipes, multiple sizes of prefolds, Snappis, stay dry inserts, two-size and one-size covers, pail liner, small wetbags and shipping fees. I've thought about trying a couple other products, but we're basically done buying.

Doing this "interview" gave me a few more ideas on articles to write. So more to come on our cloth diapering experience!

You can also find me on Instagram @TrinaRCress or my personal blog BeginnerBeans.com.

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also see:
new to cloth? start here...
prefolds & covers 101
all posts on pregnancy, baby, cloth