I have a friend IRL who uses prefolds and covers. I was determined with LG I would use prefolds. So I went to Green Mountain Diapers and got some of their popular prefolds in the two smallest sizes and some covers.

LG hated them, cried when I put them on. She’s a big baby and they seemed difficult to put on. I was not a dan. She has a sensitive tushy and I think the rash from her disposables made the cotton too harsh on her skin. So I decided to try a fitted, I read about all the rage of Goodmama diapers and thought well things are often popular because they are good (as I learned with Wollmeise yarn) so why not try it.

I ordered 2 of them, and I now am utterly hooked. I used to think “tsk tsk” to the moms posting photos of their stashes, why spend so much money on them? Now I understand why. They are worth every penny, and while I do feel they are a bit over-priced I am still going to save loads of money in the long run, and help out the environment a little bit or at-least keep some poop out of our landfills. It’s really nice not having to buy diapers at the grocery store.

I learned a few things along this journey to being a “CD Momma” and I am in a very good place and proud I’ve been able to CD nearly full time (I put on disposables aka ‘sposies when I leave the house, and at night, but I am working on using cloth those times as well). I have learned that if you breast-feed then it’s super easy to clean them. I just pop them into the washer and I’m good (I use Nellie’s). No weird stuff or toilets or anything else involved. I’ve learned about ‘Dryer Balls‘ which really come in handy when washing bath towels if you want them to be super absorbent, everyone should own a pair. I’ve thought more about how I consume energy, about how a cloths line shouldn’t be perceived as a sign of poverty. 

I even have cloth wipes, and those really blow my mind because they could be thrown in with the normal wash. Why are people wasting gobs loads of money on purchased ones (tho sometimes I think the disposables ones are as good as a magic eraser) because wow the cloth ones are super easy to use and oddly seem more effective then the wet kind. It’s made me think about waste in all aspects of my life, like paper towels in kitchens and how often families in our current culture use them to do things as simple as dry their hands daily. An amazing amount of waste.

I now have a nice little stash of 29 diapers. With a young baby I do sometimes go through a dozen a day, or almost half my stash so that’s two days of diapers before laundry is due. It’s amazingly easy to wash them and I actually enjoy putting them away because of the cute prints. I waited for a sale to get many of them, and even bought a few used. Goodmama now has some really neat diapers called “Goodmama Ones” which have a built in waterproof layer so they don’t need a cover and these are now my favorite. They are minky on the outside and velour organic bamboo on the inside and its pretty much the fanciest thing you have ever seen for a baby bum. They are also trim enough that I can get normal clothing over them. I’ve found some of the “prints” fit better then others, and now that I have Ones I don’t know why anyone buys anything else but I guess it’s all about the cute prints and I bought a bunch of those before I knew about the One. Women and their shoes, purses, yarn and their cloth diaper prints. It’s a good analogy, because there are so many styles it can become addictive. 

I’ve made a promise to myself to stop here, to knit my own longies (aside from the 1 pair I purchased, and the wonderful up-cycled Woolybottoms that I occasionally grab – fantastic prices too). One fun thing about CD’s that is a bit odd is the resale value is pretty high. So you can sell a used diaper for nearly what you purchased it for and get a new print. I sold one just today on Hyena Cart’s Spots which is apparently a very popular site with CD momma’s, it’s like the Craig’s List of Cloth Diapers.

I’m even knitting my first pair of longies (wonder pants pattern):

So I’ve come full circle with CD’s and I am so happy to actually be “doing it” full time like I wanted too. It gives me a great excuse to knit some cute pants for my little girl. If you are thinking about using cloth diapers and have any questions please feel free to ask away! I’ve learned a lot the last few months.