Friday, July 03, 2009

Ready . . . set . . . Cloth Diaper!

I have been interested in cloth diapering our baby since before Clara was born, but knowing that we lived in a third floor, one bedroom apartment, and shared three (if they worked) coin operated washers and dryers with 19 other apartments, I knew it would very difficult. Thankfully we just moved into a bigger apartment with a wonderfully sized NON-coin operated washer and dryer that we get exclusive use of most of the time. Still, the idea of switching from disposables to cloth diapers has been very intimidating.

For one, I know no one who currently cloth diapers their babies (in real life)--at least no one locally--that I can learn from and talk to. I do get a lot of good advice online, though.

For two, the huge variety of possibilities makes me want run! And of course everyone who's ever cloth diapered before has their personal opinion about what diapers to use and what system works "best," and, for a perfectionist like me, that's equally intimidating!

For three, we don't have a lot of extra money right now for buying a stash of diapers. I'd love to buy a collection of different kinds of diapers to try out and then settle into what works best for us.

SO, I've been doing LOTS of research, and I keep running into cloth diaper giveaways. Many, many times there is an offer for an extra entry or two if I blog about the giveaway, so far I've avoided this, wanting to respect our readers and knowing that I'm already horribly negligent about writing blogs anyway. If I just put advertising on here that benefits me, then you all might never come back! But then I decided that I'm not giving you, my lovely readers, enough credit. And, who knows, you might enjoy participating in the giveaways too. So, I've decided to do it every once in a while.

In my cloth diapering searches recently, I discovered a really neat site: The Cloth Diaper Whisperer. It has lots of encouraging posts about cloth diapers, the people who make them, and the people who use them. They also have a weekly giveaway on their site.

One of the other things I realized recently is that a lot of the cloth diapers are made up of synthetic materials that sit against the baby's skin. Since I have been avoiding synthetic materials on my baby, in my baby's mouth, or in my baby's sleeping area (other than disposable diapers, ugh!), I realized that I will probably not be buying many popular varieties of cloth diapers and may in fact have to fork over a little more for the organic varieties, when really what I want is the natural fibers. Kissaluvs are definitely on my safe list of diapers that I want to try. I love their little book on how they got started (on the bottom of their website).
Well, tada! I get to share both with you at the same time with a giveaway of Kissaluv's new diaper line at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer. Check out several ways you can enter to win one of Kissaluv's new line of one size (a diaper that fits babies from birth through potty training) diapers. There isn't a lot of information out about these specific diapers yet, but they sure are cute!

I'll be letting you know about my journey and definitely share when I make the big switch and what diaper "system" I end up going with! By the way, I've been "tweeting" lots of different giveaways recently, so if you are interested in connecting with me on Twitter, let me know!

5 comments:

  1. you are going to LOVE greenmountaindiapers.com. she doesn't sell any synthetic diapers, and has great info on using wool, too. we got our prefolds there--inexpensive, reliable, soft and cottony:)

    props to you for doing cloth in an apt with shared laundry. you can do it!

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  2. I do know someone in "real life" who uses cloth diapers, and it is working for her! Unfortunately, I haven't picked up any tips, because I haven't had a reason to ask. Like you, I've done lots of research on the internet and want to try one of everything. Maybe I should start buying now, just in case. :) Let us know how it works out for you!

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  3. my brother and sister cloth diapered....she actually ended up sewing her own etc...might have good advice..i know she tried many kinds...i can give you her email if you like...
    Ann

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  4. i never really understand how to link my blog back to giveaways so i don't do it . . . but, we are planning to cloth diaper this time around. i have been SO overwhelmed, eventhough i have several friends who cloth diaper. . .maybe that makes it even MORE overwhelming. . and then for my shower i got a bunch of disposables anyway :) which i know people like for the early days and for travel, so i'm sure i'll use them. . . and we want to do organic hemp/fleece (check out my registry jamtots.com wiibaby2 password diapers) to see which ones i like. . . and i'm afraid no one will buy them for us and we'll have to fork out $500 for diapers. . BUT. . . that's not MORE than what we will fork out over 2+ possible years of disposables?!!! i'll be interested to stay tuned on your journey and might even join a giveaway or two. . . email me with the email address you use to log into your blog account so i can add you to our readers :) and you don't have to use the 'secondary" access info ")

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  5. I really like fuzzi bunz. I don't know if they fit your criteria or not, but somebody sold me some at a really good price and they are so much nicer than the basic pin/diaper cover system (which I tried for like a day with Mikaela). I really like all-in-ones. Anyway, hope it works out for you!

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