Cloth Diapers Saved My Son's Butt

 When I got pregnant with my first kid, I knew immediately we were going to cloth diaper. After my own experiences with switching over to cloth pads and period panties (which you can read about here), and the fact that both my husband and I have sensitive skin, cloth diapering seemed like the best solution.

When I was a baby, my mom said I had diaper rash all. the. time. She kept my butt slathered in Desitin. My rashes were so bad, in fact, that I have actual memories from toddler age asking my mom for Desitin because I had a rash. I even bought Butt Paste and Desitin as an adult to help treat my rashes during my period. 

When I made my initial switch to cloth pads, I no longer had need for diaper creams for myself, but I also knew that eventually I'd need some kind of cream for my kids. My decision to cloth diaper, coupled by my nesting urges, sparked me to research alternative, greener cleaning methods (and, ultimately, diaper creams). I started by phasing out all of our harsh, chemical laden cleaners for "green" cleaners and washable rags instead of Clorox wipes. 

It was a struggle at first, but I quickly found that the green cleaners I was buying (Blueland) worked almost as well as the giant jugs we were buying from Costco. I won't lie - I had to put more elbow grease into scrubbing the shower, the microwave, and the toaster oven to get them clean. But they still got clean. When I was pregnant, my sense of smell was pretty intense, so I also appreciated the milder smell of the green cleaners over straight Clorox wipes. As an added bonus, I found the Blueland products were cheaper because I used less and ordered them only once or twice a year, compared to buying Clorox wipes and Scrubbing Bubbles once a month. I simply washed my rags, refilled my glass spray bottles, and kept on going.

I also bought castile soap instead of baby wash, and simply added lavender oil to it for a pleasant scent. Again, it was a lot cheaper than continuously buying baby wash, and it was much simpler of a product. for years, I had been making my own body butter, so making a baby moisturizer was simple. I followed it up by making my own diaper cream, too (although I admit that I ended up splurging most of the time on All Good Goop, a calendula based cream that works for diaper rash, cuts, scrapes, bug bites, burns, etc - we've used it on plenty more than red bottoms).

But, you know, back to cloth diapering. I'm really long winded, sorry.

I did a lot of "research" before I started buying cloth diapers, but I did the wrong kind of research. I knew the different types of diapering systems - wool, covers/prefolds/flats, pockets, all-in-ones - but I didn't do enough researching into what would really be the best option. I invested myself in pocket diapers from cheap companies and spent waaaaaaaaay too much money (although I attribute a lot of that to the beginning of COVID and the fact that cloth diapers suddenly became quite rare, due in part to shortages in disposable diapers and part due to insanely long shipping times from suppliers in China). I also joined a bunch of cloth diaper groups on Facebook and got sucked into the magic of buying used and surplus diapers in discontinued prints (cough, $300 for six handmade Care Bear diapers, cough) and spent way too much time sitting in my rocking chair, holding my sleeping newborn, arguing with random moms in cloth diaper groups. I relish the day I started to type a nasty response to a mom who was criticizing my choice in laundry detergent (Rockin' Green), when it dawned on me that I could just leave the group and didn't need to listen to those rude women. It also occurred to me that I was one of those rude women, sitting on my ass, doing nothing productive (except feeding a newborn), and arguing with other rude women. What kind of life is that?

During my initial research, I learned that a lot of moms don't use cloth diapers until their kids fit in one size diapers (there are generally two sizes - newborn and one size). Since most babies grow out of newborn sizes very quickly, many moms deem it a waste to buy a stash of newborn diapers that you'll only use for a month or two, compared to the OS diapers, which you can use until your kid potty trains. I agreed with the logic, so my husband and I decided to buy newborn disposables and wait until Thorin fit into the OS diapers before moving over.

But my son was a crazy peer. I mean, he wet through his diaper, pajamas, and sleep sack not just once, but four or five times a night. During the day, he frequently peed through his diaper and our clothes. At the peak, he was going through 25 diapers a day.

Twenty-five diapers. A day.

To add to that, I had a lot of trouble keeping my milk supply in the beginning (my birth control was affecting it, my supply returned to normal after I quit taking it), and Thorin had a lot of trouble gaining weight. In fact he was in the first percentile until he was about four months old, when he jumped up to the 50th percentile. 

In addition, his butt was constantly red. We tried seven different types of diapers across five different brands, and nothing kept his butt from getting red. Huggies gave him blisters - everywhere the diaper touched him he turned tomato red within minutes, and if he wore them for more than an hour, he'd start to bubble up. The best brand was Honest; he only turned a bit pink in his crack. But still - it clearly wasn't right. And we were spending a lot of money on diapers (considering he was going through double the normal amount for a newborn) and diaper cream (about a tube a week).

So, at 6 weeks, after trying desperately to make the one size diapers fit my less than 10 pound, long, skinny baby, I gave up and bought 15 newborn diapers. Some were cheap scrappers I found on Amazon (that I ultimately gave away after Thorin grew out of them), some were GroVia, some were Smart Bottoms (which were my favorite), and some were KangaCare. 

The first time I put Thorin in a cloth diaper and he peed, I was amazed. His diaper rash was completely gone after one diaper change, without any rash cream. My husband had been skeptical about cloth diapers before we started, but after he saw the magic they worked, he was all in. My in-laws were amazed, and my mom was amazed at how far the technology for cloth diapers had come (she cloth diapered my oldest brother because she was poor, and when I told her what I planned to do, she tried to talk me out of it - she was thinking plastic pants, not snaps with cute, fuzzy Care Bear butts).

Luckily for me, the newborn diapers were anything but a waste. Not only did they work miracles (NO MORE WETTING THROUGH AT NIGHT!), but they saved me the effort of having to constantly buy diapers and creams. I ended up buying more newborn diapers, ultimately collecting a stash of 42, most of which I've kept for subsequent babies. I did have to do laundry every day (when I only had 15 diapers, we had to supplement with disposables until we got more), but I was already doing a ton of laundry because he kept peeing through everything!

As I got used to my cloth diaper routine, I discovered a love for wool covers and flats (which had intimidated me at first). When Thorin was only three months old, I switched over almost full time to wool diapers and invested in a collection of adorable longies (wool covers with long pant legs). I loved using wool because they looked like regular pants, so I could match them with his shirts and nobody noticed he was really wearing a diaper cover (although his diapers were pretty darn cute, regardless). I'm still a huge fan of wool and love using it, but we mostly use pockets and all-in-ones because they are easier to wash and teach others to use - Thorin now goes to a private in-home daycare, and thankfully our babysitter doesn't mind using the all-in-one cloth diapers. Wool would be challenging at daycare, however, because she'd have to set the used pair out to dry and swap them out each time she changed him - plus, she'd have to touch the soggy inserts (which my husband and I are used to, but I don't expect others to do!). 

I wish I'd cloth diapered Thorin from day 1, and rest assured, Rosalie will be. Even my husband has agreed that cloth diapering isn't that hard, and it's a lot easier knowing I only need to wash diapers to have more rather than making a trip to the store, or getting put in a tight spot when the Amazon order doesn't come on time.

Note: at about 5 months, Thorin did slow down peeing during the day (more like 15 diapers), but he picked up peeing at night and started wetting through his cloth diapers. I couldn't add any more absorbency because they were already too puffy as it was, so we finally switched over to disposables at night. I still use Honest nighttime diapers - I buy one size up and we haven't had any wetting issues since he was a newborn. I have noticed, however, that he pees a lot less now (during the day, he's down to about 6 or 7 diapers, which is average). In the morning, his night diapers used to be so heavy and swollen it was a miracle they hadn't leaked. But over the last few months, they've been much less full (even though we've been using size 5 since he was about 9 months old, per an accidental purchase). So I've been considering, recently, trying to switch over to cloth at night, just to save money. It doesn't seem to bother his skin as much, unless he poops (which he sometimes does very early in the morning). I'll update if we make the switch!