Cloth Diapers, For Real Now

So, I made the decision while I was pregnant that we would cloth diaper this baby. I decided this for several reasons.
#1) It is the environmentally responsible choice, which I always try to chose whenever reasonable.
#2) Babies who wear cloth train much faster.
#3) I felt like it could be more cost effective.

Those of you who know me well know that I rarely make a decision without significant research, and back in the Spring, I found researching cloth diapers to be surprisingly overwhelming. (Click back to this entry from April to see what I mean). The options are practically endless, leaving me with more decisions than I realized. It is not just cloth or disposable any more. There are all-in-ones, prefolds, covers with liners, g-diapers, etc.

After much research, I decided to go with a diaper service. Here in the Los Angeles area, I found Dy Dee Diapers. Basically, they deliver an inventory of diapers each week. They charge for the amount of diapers you use, and right now it works out to about $20 a week, which is about the same or possibly less than we spent on disposables with Vinny. In the long run, I am convinced this will be significantly cheaper, as she will potty train faster. The diapers that they deliver are the the traditional prefolds. This basically means that they are the type of cloth diapers most people picture- white squares in three sections. You can put them on the old way- with pins, or you can use snappis (these little plastic things that work like pins but way easier), or you can use a cover. The covers are these thin waterproof things with Velcro. At first, I sort of felt the covers were stupid, like they'd  have to be washed each time which defeats the purpose of a service, but actually, they are waterproof on the inside, and most of the time nothing gets on them from the cloth, but if it does, it is really easy to wipe it down and then just put it back on. They hold the diapers on tighter and prevent it from leaking on clothing. I am finding pinning with covers to be sort of a good idea right now, since she is so small, and I want the pins to make it tight enough.

So.... how is it?

I love it. At first, as we were leaving the hospital, I was a little nervous. We used disposable in the hospital, and going home, I was a bit afraid of it being extra work. Because of the service, it SO is not more work. In fact, it is easier. All I do when I change her is throw the dirty diaper in the Dy Dee bucket, no different than disposables. No dunking, no rinsing. They will be here next Monday to pick it up and leave me fresh ones.

They are way absorbent. They don't soak in like regular diapers, but they don't leak at all, ever. It is awesome. I thought it would be hard to clean poopy off of them, but you can actually use the sides of the diaper to clean it off way better than with disposable. I remember when Vinny was newborn, breast milk poops seemed to leak no matter what we did. It was like we changed his clothes every time we changed his diaper. That totally doesn't happen with these.

It is going to take Marc some time to get the hang of the folding and whatnot, but he is willing, for which I am very grateful. I ordered a few more covers today and some snappis, since I am finding pinning to be helpful and the snappis are supposed to be just as effective but easier.

So... if you are a new mom considering cloth, I highly recommend it, particularly if you can find a service. I can't say that I would be as thrilled if I was thinking about washing and drying these.