5 months in and still going strong with the cloth diapers. I have to admit, I really enjoy using them! (Never thought I'd say that about diapers!) And so does Jay...which is even more surprising! He was frustrated, almost mad in the "I will give you permission to buy these but I'm not happy about it" kind of way when I first discussed cloth diapering with him, but now he swears by them and is glad we made that decision.

At first thought, cloth diapering sounds like a lot of work, and gross. I will tell you right now it is neither of those things! Sure, it is more laundry, but between our clothes and the baby clothes we are constantly running the washer anyways and its not a big deal (plus, we don't pay for water or electricity, which is a plus too...)

Before Carter was born, I bought 12 Fuzzibunz all-in-ones, which means that you can use them from newborn until toddler. This cost me $220.

Since then, I have gotten 8 for free. 4 of them were a promotion, where you got one free for every 4 you bought. The other 4 were because on 4 of the diapers, one of the snaps popped off and fuzzibunz sent me replacements. Even though it stinks about the snaps, they are still usable, as long as we avoid those snaps which is easy because there are so many different ways you can size and snap them to fit. 

So now, having 20 diapers, we only have to wash them about every 4-5 days, which is not bad at all!

I will admit that I'm having some problems with leaking from the leg holes, but I think that it is probably because I don't change Carter as often as I should, and he is a heavy wetter. I got some hemp inserts to use overnight doubled with the regular inserts (they are supposed to be more absorbant) and he rarely wets through at night. If I can afford it, I would love to replace all my inserts with hemp ones. Much better than changing outfits all the time which is what I do now!

We still use disposable diapers when we go out. It is just easier to be able to throw away the diapers instead of put them in a wet bag and carry them around in the diaper bag. Also, we use disposable when we go away on vacations (like to Nashville) because I'm not going to just assume that anyone will let me use their washer for my son's poopy diapers.

Which leads me to another point-they are not gross as many people assume. Poopy diapers are gross no matter what kind you use-disposables or cloth. When Carter has a poopy diaper, we use cloth wipes sprayed with a mixture of water and this stuff, (its pretty much like 95% water to 5% diaper juice-it goes a long way!) and wipe his butt, then spray the poop on the diaper with this stuff, which really helps get the stains and stink out. We remove the insert from the pocket, and then we throw them both in a trash can with a cloth, reusable antibacterial liner. When we start to run out, we just dump the whole thing (including the liner) into the washer. Breastfed poop is water soluble, so that is all we have to do! When its just pee, we just skip the wipes and the spray altogether and just make sure his bum is dry before putting on a new diaper. 

When he starts eating solids (in one more month...eek!), his poops will no longer be water soluble and our routine will change a bit. I got flushable diaper liners that we will use, and then when a poop arises (they will be more solid than they are now), all we will have to do is remove the liner and throw in the toilet. Honestly, I think it will be easier and cleaner than dealing with liquid-y breastfed poop like we do now!

I would say that as of now, we are probably nearing the point in which we have made up for the cost of cloth diapering, but are not quite at the "savings" phase yet. We've only had to buy a couple of packs of disposables so far, as well as a couple of packs of wipes for on the go. (By the way, don't waste money on anything other than Pampers Swaddlers diapers! Learned that the hard way.) I did some calculations, and if we used disposables, we would have spent at least $300 so far on diapers alone, not including wipes. With the $220 Fuzzibunz purchase plus the hemp inserts, the sprays and the liners, we are probably hovering around the $300 mark. It is nice to know that at least the diapers have paid for themselves at this point-and hopefully we will have another year and a half use out of them for Carter, and then again for a new baby! At that point the savings will be enormous.

Although I do like the fuzzibunz, I am thinking about buying a couple of other brands to try them out and see if I like them any better. There are lots of brands out there and there is never a downside to increasing the stash! :) I kind of wish I had done this first instead of buying all of one brand, maybe other brands don't leak out the legs as easily as the fuzzibunz do, who knows?

Anyways, I certainly don't judge people that don't have any interest in cloth diapering, but I'm here to say that it is certainly worth consideration!