Fluffy Butts

I'm a bit sad today, well maybe sentimental would be a better word for it. I put up my cloth diapers for sale last night. All the tiny ones from when C was a newborn. Selling them for a good cause but still all those memories are rushing back.


I first tried cloth diapers when my oldest was born, almost 17 years ago. I didn't succeed with that very well. Back then it was still all prefolds and pins and pull on plastic pants. A few days into trying them out I stuck her (even got the pin closed before I noticed) and after that I never went back.


When my oldest son was born I was a single mother (well very shortly after) with 2 under 18 months and I myself was just 18- cloth never entered my mind with the exception of passing it over and the memory of R crying.

When my third was born, my sister-in-law had twins just a bit older than P and she was using a diaper service. I was offered the same service as a baby gift but turned it down, as I was afraid I'd get used to it too much then would loose it because of cost (I didn't expect the in-laws to pay for the service her whole babyhood).

Now we come to my fourth, my third daughter, she suffered severe diaper rashes from about 9 months on (yeast ones- that'd crack and break her poor little bottom and wouldn't clear up no matter what cream I tried, or brand diaper I used). I got "desperate" and got my hands on some cloth diapers! BUT these were a bit different than the ones I'd used 8 years earlier with my first! With THESE I didn't have plastic pull-on covers or PINS! These had velcro and I would just lay the prefold in the cover and put it on like a disposable diaper. Oh how it had changed and what it did for my little girl's bum. The rash went away and I was convinced. But I couldn't afford more than a few diapers and had to use disposables for part of the day and wasn't able to keep the rash at bay- so I had her potty trained at 2- just to get out of diapers altogether.




But I held onto those few diapers I had and the wonderful new invention that was the covers. So when I had my fifth, my second son, and I remembered I dragged out the cloth and bought a few more and used them on and off a bit till life and moving 1,200 miles got in the way and I had to destash and go back to convenience.

Well pregnant with my sixth I KNEW I wanted to cloth diaper and only cloth diaper. I've learned so much about parenting and babies and really what is better so everyone- the Earth, my little one, the people around me, our pocket book. It was easy to convince my husband- anything that saves money is a GOOD thing and secretly inside he's a bit of a hippy and cares about what we do to the environment.


So we geared up and made a commitment to ourselves. Looking for my stash was one of the highlights of my pregnancy and also on of my lows. I researched and researched finding there would be noway for us to afford to buy a new stash of the best dipes out there but with buying used and maybe getting a good deal with a WAHM I could stay within our $300 budget (for the first 6 months, with adding on a few at a time as he got older). I got many good deals and found what I thought was a great online WAHM store. And then I got swindled- for almost $200 and at nearing my due date.


This "WAHM" was a scam artist, who never sent out the dipes people ordered- lucky I was able to dispute it and got my money back. With the money back I decided to try my hand sewing my own diapers, it looked easy enough and I was successful for the most part. The really hold up: THE VELCRO! I was never able to find stuff that worked well or didn't break EVERY needle on my sewing machine. My diapers looked cute and absorbed well but wouldn't stay on by themselves.



I've had a really good friend send me some TLC dipes that I just needed to fix the elastic in and really prefolds (compared to the ones you can buy at Target). We use those daily and are our favorites. There are some I got used that are larges that we may never have used (since our little guy is a little guy) but I was able to take the design from a local WAHM and make them one size with just some elastic, toggles and buttons. I still believe I can make some good dipes but want to try snaps instead of velcro, or maybe just some fitteds to use with a Snappi or cover alone. Recycled fabric is a new medium for me!

But he's growing and now is getting close to the large size dipes we thought we may never need. And the newborn dipes sit unused, waiting for another bum to cover. So time to sell them and pass along the memories and deals I got.

We have had to use a few pack of disposables on his little bum- the first few weeks after he was born, the time when the flu ran amuck around the family and when we just recently moved and didn't have a washer/dryer and didn't want to let the stash go to ruin. We've tried to use more "environmentally" sound dipes in those occasions but really throwing them away killed me.




We've found our favs- Fuzzi Bunz for pockets and Happy Heiny's too. Kissaluvs for fitted- fit especially well for little ones Covers: Thirsties are nice but I really prefer Wonder Wraps. And I'm starting to enjoy prefolds again- yes pockets and AIOs are easier to use but prefolds and fitteds without covers are great in the summer.

My son will not be in diapers forever and I will miss the look of his cute little bum crawling around in his cloth dipes. But maybe some day (when I have more time) I'll try my hand again at sewing the sweet things and make some for others little bums.