A while back I decided to cloth diaper.  Remember?  It was a moment of genius.  Haha.  Well, now 5 months into it I'd thought I'd give an update.  I'm not going to get all diapery-than-thou on ya.  It's just that when I dove head-first into cloth diapering, a couple people reached out to me, and it was a huge help (Hi April!  Hi Erin!).  So with that being said, I thought maybe my experience could help someone (you, possibly?) make an informed decision about cloth diapers.

Jude's 1st time in a cloth diaper--phone pic.

The first time I put a cloth diaper on Jude I was giddy.  As in, I'm really doing this!  These things are so cute!  I sent a few picture texts out to prove it.

The first time I had to change a messy diaper, I literally held it out as far as I could while I gagged all the way to the bathroom.

Two things my mom said to me really stick out:

"Well, they invented disposables for a reason." & "In the big scheme of things, it's really no big deal."

On any given day, one of these phrases is my diapering motto.  We have good days and bad days, but it's just a matter of what you get used to.

I've found that:

**Cloth diapers are a bit bulkier.  At night we put 2 inserts in, and it feels like a really full diaper.  But his bum still looks cute.

**The first few times we used cloth diapers we had leak issues.  I think this is because I ignored the instructions and didn't wash them first.  That, and I think we didn't snap 'em on tight enough.  Since then, we only have leak issues if I am out and about and go to long without changing him.

**The fact is cloth diapers aren't as absorbent as disposables.  ~2.5 (daytime) hours is our limit with one diaper insert.

**That being said, Jude does get diaper rash a little bit easier with cloth.  And I guess for us that is the major downfall, because we can't use diaper rash cream (it ruins the absorbency of the cloth diaper).  So, for this reason, we also try to be diligent with timely diaper changes.

**I am amazed at how white and clean cloth diapers come out from the wash.  If you have a breastfed baby, you know that that stuff STAINS.  But, surprisingly, cloth diapers (for the most part) squeak on past.

**We do more loads of laundry (every other day for us).  But, it's really not a hassle.  Truly.  It's not like folding a thousand of your husbands white tees and socks.  There's really no folding at all, which is why it's bearable for me.  When we wash our cloth diapers we rinse on cold, wash with special detergent on hot, dry on LOW heat (this is an important step), and then take 'em out.  I usually put the inserts in when fresh out of the dryer while Jude crawls around his room.  Takes like 2 minutes.

**We have 12 diapers.  I think 15 would be ideal.  Jude wears his cloth diapers at night, and in the mornings until I take him over to Rachie's.  If it's my day off, we do cloth all day.

**Messy diapers can be dealt with 2 ways:  the diaper sprayer and diaper liners.  We have both.  I'm a real fan of the diaper liners because it catches the mess, and then you can either flush it right down your toilet or throw it away.  Our diaper sprayer has also come in handy.  You just have to get the technique down so that when you squirt off a diaper, it doesn't *spray* everywhere.  Lovely mental image, I know.

**When we change a diaper, we clean it off if needed, pull out the insert, and stick it in our diaper bag behind our laundry room door.  Usually smell isn't an issue.  For real.   I like this bag because the zip at the bottom allows the diapers to easily be put in the wash.

**And if you're still reading, you should know that this whole post could be condensed into a one-liner from Crockett, "Yeah, they're actually pretty manageable."

See.

P.S.  As summer approaches, I'm curious about cloth swim diapers.  Have you used them??  Thoughts??