Pieter's Prefolds Love Profile

Several friends who have had babies within the last few months are also cloth diapering their little cuties, and I'm so excited to interview a couple for the Prefolds Love Profiles!

Nadja is a friend from college. She was in one of my freshman classes my first semester at Union, and we rocked our final group project together. We've only hung out a handful of times since then, but she's definitely top of my list of people to get to know. She watches her niece and nephews and made this whole staying-home thing look easy before she was even a mom. Now with her own little guy at home, she's also decorated the cutest nursery. Here's more about her experience cloth diapering her little guy...

>>>

Name and age of your little cloth diaper wearer...

Pieter, 3 months

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

I chose the gDiaper system. 1) They are soooo cute! 2) I felt it was a system I could handle. I looked at several other systems and felt I really wanted to do a pocket diaper, and I really liked the fact that you could simply snap out the liner to remove the mess if need be.

Why did you decide to cloth diaper?

I always thought I would use disposables and then I started hearing about all these modern day cloth diapers. I also started to be bothered by the idea that diapers take like 500 years to break down. I recycle and try to be green, I believe that is part of being a good steward and taking care of the earth, which is what our original purpose was.

How long have you used cloth?

2 months. I didn't have the newborn size, just the 8-14lb size. But definitely planning on getting the tiny g's for the next baby.

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

I was putting petroleum gel on his little butt during each change when we were using disposables in an effort to stave away diaper rash. He still got a little diaper rash that cleared up pretty quickly. Now I don't use anything. I have some California Baby diaper cream but I rarely use it.

What is your wash routine?

I dump the contents of the wet-bag into the washer, set the washer on pre-wash with warm water. When that is done I add the detergent (we use ECOS by Earth Friendly Products for our clothes and diapers), set to warm/cold, add an extra rinse and hit start. Sometimes I add some clothes to load at this point. When the wash is done I sort through and pick out the liners before tossing everything into the dryer.

Preferred cloth diaper brands or products...

I really like California Baby diaper rash cream--it smells really good and goes on easily.

#1 reason you love cloth diapers...

I feel good about doing my little part to help the earth and I can change Pieter without thinking, "Oh this diaper can hold more pee" and seeing dollar signs. Plus, I really enjoy the fact that you simply can't run out of diapers. It feels like some kind of insurance for me, haha. There are ALWAYS diapers in the house, you just have to wash them so there are CLEAN diapers. :)

Biggest cloth diapering challenge and how you get over it...

I wasn't sure at first how to clean out the poopy insert and liner, and try to keep the cover clean. And then I had an "Oh, DUH" moment and realized there was an extremely simple answer. Unsnap the liner and drop contents into wet bag. The washer will remove the insert for you. Thank you, brain. :)

Your cutest cloth diaper/cover...

We only have green and orange ones at the moment but I may splurge someday on some cute patterned ones. You know, for summer time when its warm enough to be without clothes. :)

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

Not a dime. But that is because I had put the starter bundle on my registry and my wonderful mother-in-law bought it for me. I expect to spend $215 to stock up on the next size (13-28lb). The sweet bundle on diapers.com is $142 and that includes 6 covers & liners and 12 cloth inserts. But I have found that 12 ensures that you do laundry every single day, and I would like to stretch it to at least every other day. So I plan to purchase an extra 12 inserts to start out with--I may get more in the future. And I want to get extra liners, I have found that to be helpful on extra poopy days.

For more from Nadja, find her on Instagram @nadjavdh or read more about Nadja's process using gDiapers on her blog.

>>>

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