As you prepare for the arrival of your first little one you find yourself having to make many decisions that really you have very little if any experience in. As Michael and I thought about diapering we were very interested in looking into cloth diapers. While babysitting in high school I had a family that used cloth diapers and I remembered it being fairly easy (mind you that it was the occasional diapers as to daily diapering). After doing much research I found a company Jillian's Drawers who not only had competitive prices but was extremely helpful over the email and phone. They helped give me the confidence that we could do this! So the weeks before Hadassah arrived we made our first order of diapers, washed them, and get everything in order. Over the next few weeks I wanted to take some time to help the everyday person get a closer look at our journey through cloth diapers. Who knows...maybe one of you will get inspired to start this journey as well! While it hasn't always been easy it has been so worth it. 
The first 2 weeks we used disposable diapers. This is not necessary but I personally found Haddie much too small for the big cloth diapers. At about 2 weeks we made the switch. Above are pictures of Hadassah in size 0 Kissaluvs (She is 1 week in these pictures). Kissaluvs are considered "fitted" diapers. They need to be worn with a cover or you will have a wet mess on your hands. 
As you can see, they have a way of folding down and snapping so that there umbilical cord/belly button can heal. Once it has completely healed you can undo the snap and it looks like a normal diaper (shown below).
They come in several colors or in unbleached textured fleece. There is elastic around the legs as well as around the back. Unlike most parents of newborns we did not experience any breastfeed blowout diapers. The Kissaluv (with the cover) kept all the mess in while leaving her clothes and bed clean! This made for a very happy mommy! We personally opted for the unbleached diapers as they are about a dollar cheaper. A 12 pack is $143.40 or you can by them individually for $13.95 Right now there are one sale (a new version has come out) for $10.45 each. They fit a baby from 5-15 pounds or until about 6-8 weeks depending on the size of your baby. 
We also bought some infant Indian Prefolds (above left). They fit babies 7-15 pounds. It was very handy to have these around when we were a bit tired and didn't have the Kissaluvs washed and ready. They are VERY reasonable ($2.00/each) but not as easy to use. You can either fold them and lay them in a cover or use a Snappi (I will talk a bit more about prefolds in another post) which is a way of fastening the diaper without using pins! 
For a cover we used a Prorap Classic Diaper cover. The combination of the Kissaluv and the Prorap made our journey with cloth diapers wonderfully easy! They cost $7.50 each. 
The newborn size (which is what we used) have a cutout for the umbilical cord. They fit babies 6-10 pounds. We eventually had to buy another cover when Hadassah started to enjoy milk and started to grow! We used the Thirsties diaper cover (I will talk more about that cover in another post) once she outgrew these. 
This is the best part of these covers! They have a wonderful double gussets which really do keep in all the mess! I promise you that they only time we had a blow out diaper was when we were on vacation and used a disposable diaper! 
One trick with cloth diapers is finding diaper cream that will work with your cloth diapers. Most diaper creams have water repelling properties that would keep the mess from soaking into the diaper = major problems. However, if you do find that your baby has a rash then I do recommend a few products. The first is Method Diaper cream. It is supper light and works wonders. We did not need to use a liner in between the diaper and the cream with this one. A little bit went a long way. The other one is Burt's Baby Bee. Again we did not use a liner with this but you should always check with the company who made your diaper before you choose to do this. This cream was thicker - more like traditional diaper cream. We found that in general Haddie did not have a problem with diaper rashes (many people think cloth diapers are a cause of diaper rash). As long as we changed her on a regular basis, she was fine. 
What about when you go out? Can you still use cloth diapers?? YES!! Unless we were going out of town where we would not have access to a washer and drier we used cloth diapers. They make something called a wet bag (the one above is called a Wahmies) to put your dirty diapers in while on the go. It even had a little cloth that we could put a drop of essential oil on to make it smell wonderful! Everyone always wants to know what smells so good! I am glad to let them know that it is Hadassah's dirty diapers! If you have access to a toilet and you can dump the dirty diaper contents - I would recommend this. If not, just fold up diaper and wait until you are at home. This bag would fit all we would need if we were gone for the day. Now that Haddie is in larger Kissaluvs we would need to bring along a larger wet bag if we were going to use more than 3 diapers (I think). While they do take a little bit more space (before and after) I have not found it to be a hassle. 
Here is a picture of Hadassah's changing station. To the right I have a wet bag. When Haddie has a wet diaper I can put the diaper and the wipe straight into the wet bag. For smell control wash diapers every other day and put a small cloth with essential oils on it. Below I have a number of bins. I do not know what I would do without these bins! I have the two on the top right for cloth diapers (one for Kissaluvs and one for Prefolds). Then I have two on the bottom for extra covers, liners, inserts, and wipes. That brings me to my next point...
Cloth wipes vs. disposable wipes. Until recently we just used disposable wipes. One of the main reasons why we decided to use cloth diapers was because of cost. It adds up to use disposable diapers. Well when Hadassah was about 8 months old I decided that wipes were starting to get more expensive as well. I decided to make the switch to cloth wipes. Why not?? I was already washing diapers. What was a few wipes? I bought 4 packs of the Gerber wash cloths and went online to make my own solution. 
Here I have the wipes on the left and the solution in a plastic container in the middle. 
Our basic solution is water, a little baby soap, a few drops of baby oil (makes it easier to wipe) and some essential oils for fragrence and some of their healing properties. For example, Tea Tree Oil is a natural anti fungal. Haddie was always getting infections when she was on a really strong antibiotic. Once we added Tea Tree Oil and a little vinegar (also a natural anti-fungal/antibiotic) her infections went away - without a prescription! I have been very pleased with using our own wipes - it is maybe a bit easier. With disposable wipes we had to put them in a separate garbage. With the cloth wipes they just go in the same pail as the diapers! We do use disposable wipes for church and when we go out. 
Here is the wipe solution. Distilled water helps it stay fresh longer!
Dip the wipe...
Squeeze out excess solution and wipe!
While some people seem to think that washing diapers is a lot of extra work I have not found this to be so. I must admit that there are times when I wish we did not have to do an extra load of diapers but then I remember that I only have to use one outfit most days (unless her lunch gets a little crazy). The diaper covers do not need to be washed each time. You can use a wipe to clean them and then hang them dry. When I am about ready to do a load of diapers I grab all but 2 or 3 and wash them. 
When Hadassah has a dirty diaper we bring it to the bathroom to dump the poo into the toilet and to rinse off the diaper. To store the dirty but rinsed diapers we got a basic diaper pail made by Safety First. We then put a wet bag in so that we have a dry pail. No diaper pail full of water solution!
We pop open the top and toss the dirty diaper in!
When it is full or when it has been about 2 days we wash the daipers, wipes, and the wet bag. I only wash the smaller wet bags every other wash. I find that they do not need to be washed every time. 
You may be wondering how I rinse the dirty diaper. Michael installed this handy diaper rinser on our toilet. I CANNOT imagine life without this. I simply hold the diaper over the toilet and spray the mess off! I love it!
When it is time to wash I take the wet bag and empty its contents into the washing machine.
I empty the diaper pail wet bag and put that wet bag in with the diapers, covers and wipes. 
You must use approved detergent - we use Tide Original he - we have only ever had one stain on the diaper and that is because it was a dirty diaper that got left for a whole day while we were out and about.
Then wash! I wash my diapers on Hot/Cold with an above normal soil level and add a Pre Wash to that. I know the picture shows warm cold but I never wash them on warm. I always do Hot/Cold or Extra Hot/Cold. I then dry them on high in a dryer or when it is warm you can line dry them. I know that some people are not for cloth diapers because of the water use. If you can get a he washer this will help a lot. I also believe that early on you will do less washing as the diapers hold in the messy diapers and you will not need to clean sheets and clothes like you would if you were using disposable diapers. Not to mention - it is a lot cleaner to not throw away human waste! It is recommened that EVERYONE dump waste into the toilet before throwing the diaper away. Using cloth diapers helps to ensure that this will happen.
I hope that this has been helpful! I will be sharing more in future posts but this will give you the basic idea of how to use cloth diapers! I have been surprised at how easy it is to use them. Not to mention how cute they are! Feel free to ask any questions you might have and I will do my best to address them in future posts!
