Diapers

On Wednesday morning I realized that our son needed diaper wipes at school, so I brought our only pack, leaving us none at home. Everything was closed on Thanksgiving, and I certainly wasn't going anywhere near Target on Black Friday. Luckily, we have cloth wipes and diapers that we use in combination with disposables, so we are never really "out" of diapers or wipes.

In general, we use cloth diapers during the day and paper ones at night, during vacations, and in our to-go diaper bag. At school, he uses cloth diapers but disposable wipes. As with everything parenting related, it is good to start out idealistic but be flexible for those times when you need to go down the easiest path.

We use Bum Genius diapers and like those. They have a snap system, so it is one size fits all. They are a pricey investment, though. For wipes, we use Baby Kicks organic cotton-hemp blend and a little squirt bottle. Those are amazing and never stain! They are also soft for wiping noses. It is good to start out with between 20-25 of each. Some people install an attachment to their toilet to rinse out the diapers, but we didn't do that, and nothing bad has happened to us or the diapers or our machine. We simply shake out anything solid into the toilet and then wash all of the diapers and wipes in one load every two or three days. It's really not as gross as I expected it would be.

Disposable diapers are expensive and so wasteful. Cloth diapers are expensive initially and take more time to deal with. Neither is perfect. I took a post-natal yoga class where one mom was already potty-training her 3 month old. Who knows how that worked for her; for most of us, we have to figure out how to deal with diapering for about two years.