Updates in the Cloth Diaper Adventure.

We've been successfully cloth diapering for a little over two months.  Our stash has grown from three bumGenius! 3.0's to a nice sized collection of 21 cloth diapers, including Fuzzi Bunz, Happy Heiny's, Smartipants, and the aforementioned bumGenius! diapers.  Overall, I am supremely happy with my decision to cloth diaper.  A big shout out of thanks to Margaret over at Creative Madness for the final push that made me decide to just go for the cloth diapers!  I had done a ton of research while pregnant, and got so frustrated at all of the choices!  That coupled with my fear of diaper laundry shied me away from it (and possibly my crazy pregnancy hormones!), but Margaret quelled all those fears for me.  I figured if she could do it with a newborn, surely I could cloth diaper my three month old!  And I can.  And the laundry?  I love it.  Wouldn't trade it for a whole truckload of disposable diapers!

So, when I last checked in on the CDing front, Smartipants were far and away my favorites.  They have some competition lately, though!  I've really enjoyed my new Happy Heiny's One Size Velcro diapers.  I ordered two from Lesley at Cute Caboose...one in Red and one in Kelly Green.  They are so great!  I'll post a full review soon, but my favorite features are the super soft and SUPER absorbent inserts, and also the velcro.  It's not as rough on your hands as the bumGenius! diapers, and the extra loop fabric on the right side tab helps get a great snug fit on my little guy with no leaks, ever!  Hooray!

We've had to move to double stuffing all nap diapers and single stuffing the wake time diapers.  We moved to a four hour schedule, so instead of changing after an hour, then after two hours, then an hour, then two, we've gone to changing after almost 2 hours, then after 3 hours, etc.  Luckily, my Smartipants inserts from Kelly's Closet have held their own (actually, Oliver's own! lol), and have done a great job.  By the way, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all who have ordered from Kelly's Closet through my affiliate button!  Oliver's bum is staying nice and dry in his cloth diapers with your help.  =D

Laundry is the same.  I throw the diapers in, and put them on a rinse cycle (since my washer has a Hot/Cold Wash/Rinse option) with no detergent.  Then I add a mere Tablespoon (!!) of Charlie's Soap (we use the liquid) and two Tablespoons of Calgon Water Softener, and run a hot wash.  I rinse an extra time or two, and then dry the inserts and wetbags in the dryer, and hang the diapers to dry.  The amount of detergent seems scant, but I'm only washing 8-10 diapers at a time, and I don't really think I need that much.  The recommended amount is two Tablespoons, but the one does us just fine.  I add the water softener because I was having ammonia smell issues, and with the water softener I have no issues.  I add half the recommended amount of that, too.  Meh, they are small loads!  Why waste?

Things are going swell.  I couldn't be happier with the choice to switch to cloth!  And Oliver loves his cloth digs, too.  =D  Hooray!