Intro to cloth diapers

Hey friends! 

I know it's been a while! This year has been crazy good! Between going overseas, training for a half marathon, building my candle business, the holidays, and planning for my baby boy's 1st Birthday, the end of this year was busy! Needless to say, the blog fell to the back burner! But I'm back with a topic I get a ton of questions about!  Which led me to begin a series on one my most favorite things: Cloth Diapers! 

When I announced before my baby showers that I was going to cloth diaper, some people thought I was crazy!
How will you do it? 
That's disgusting! were some remarks I heard
and my favorite: Where does all that poop go?! ha!

So I hope you're not squeamish, because we're about to get down to the nitty gritty. If you're interested in the basics and what you need to know before you begin, this post is for you!

Questions? Be sure to leave them in the comments section!

Why I chose to Cloth Diaper:

First off, you need to know why I chose to use cloth and the pros of it.
I chose cloth initially to save money. You can look up the statistics for how much on average families spend on disposables, it's a crazy number when you add it all up(550$ is the average I believe.) Secondly, I was excited about using as much toxin free products in my home once my baby was born. Cloth was a no-brainer for me because of all the chemicals some brands of disposables have in them. I can count on one hand how many diaper rashes Case has had since he was born, and it's only one or two at that! Score!


Words of Caution:

Cloth is not for everyone. It does takes some dedication, but it is definitely not as difficult as some might believe. The cost up front is what gets most people, but if you get the right brand

and know how to treat cloth, they can last through several children and you may even be able to resell them after. 

What you need to get started:

-A cloth diaper stash(depending on how often you want to wash. I wash every other day, my stash consists of about 24 or more prefolds and AIO(all in ones) I'll explain cloth lingo in another post!
-A Wash Routine, I'll be writing about this in my next post, as well as how to bleach and get rid of stinky diapers.
-High quality detergent. Along with a good wash routine, you'll need a good detergent to sanitize your diapers when you wash. I use Tide. I've found that most homemade detergents do not work and lead to build up and stinky diapers. No good!
-Wet Bags(at least one for travel, and one for storing dirty diapers at home, this is my travel wet bag!) 
-Cloth friendly rash cream! Some creams like Destin or Vaseline are not safe for cloth and will make your diapers leak. Research a cream you would like to use that is cloth friendly, I have only used coconut oil ever since Case was born. It's my cure all and works wonders, without the chemicals!

Recommendations:

Kelly's Closet: This website really helped me get started! They have tips, reasonably priced diapers, wet bags, and other accessories, they even send free gifts sometimes! They also have a Facebook group you can join once you place an order with them,  it was a life saver for all my cloth questions!
Youtube: Youtube is the gold mine for helpful videos on cloth diapers!

That's all for today friends! I'm going to continue this series with my cloth diaper wash routine and how to get rid of stinky diapers! If you want to know more, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below! Thanks y'all! 

Check out my first trimester essentials post!!

Baby Case's Maternity photo post!