|LOVE AND LIFE

Our Cloth Diaper Adventure 

During my pregnancy I blogged about cloth diapering. It took a while before I could write this blog, because the use of the diapers went a little different than planned 😉 It took some doing, but now we can’t imagine our lives without them! (à read this blog till the end, because I can give away a cloth diaper package!)

When I was pregnant, Denny and I talked to a consultant from  Kaatje Katoen so that we could look at all the options and make a choice. We chose the Bamboozle stretch diapers from Totbots diapers, as you could read in the blog I wrote about it. They were the most popular diapers at the time, and seemed to be the most practical option for us.

We got a lot of reactions to that blog. A lot of positive reactions, but also some less positive reactions. I was so 100% sure that I was not going to use disposable diapers, that I never even considered for a second that cloth diapering may not work out for us. I was going to make sure that it worked out! 😉

On the 6th of July 2015 I gave birth to our daughter Liv. A tall, slender girl. During the first weeks after she was born we used disposable diapers. It just seemed more convenient to me to work out the cloth diapers together with Denny, once the post-partum nurse had left. Everything was ready, I just had to start using it.

When she was 4 weeks old, I put a cloth diaper on Liv for the first time. It was so big! Because Liv was so slender and tall, the diaper just looked huge between her legs. When I put her on her side in bed (she slept with a side-sleeping pillow), her one leg dangled ‘miles’ above the other one! It just looked so pathetic. So I put the diapers back in the cupboard. I thought: when she’s bigger, the diapers will fit better.

Just before we went on holiday to Sardinia, when Liv was 10 weeks old, I tried a cloth diaper on her again. It fitted a little better. It was still a huge package in total, when compared to a disposable diaper, but I had been expecting that. I had just put it on her when she pooped everywhere. So I had to put a new diaper on her. The poop was everywhere, and definitely not just on the flushable insert. Breastmilk poop comes out with such force, and is so liquid, and so it didn’t soak into the diaper at all. I put a new diaper on her, and one hour later the insert was completely soaking, and even the waterproof outer felt damp. And Liv’s bottom was covered in little bumps. No way – Liv didn’t get diaper rash from all the chemical junk in disposable diapers, but she did get it from cloth diapers? It made me really cranky. So, out came the disposables once again.

In the weeks that followed I saw Denny throwing away loads of diapers. It really hurt. I didn’t even dare to email Kaatje Katoen to tell them it wasn’t working out. I felt terrible about it. I did one more big attempt, but I had to come to the conclusion that it just wasn’t working. 🙁

With a heavy heart I emailed Kaatje Katoen and told them the whole story. I immediately received a reply, asking whether they could phone me. Of course they could! I spoke to Marinda, from Kaatje Katoen, and the first thing she asked me was, “Are you still open to advice about using cloth diapers after all?” In spite of my experience thus far, the answer was a very definite ‘yes!’ I really was still very keen to make it work (for all the reasons that were in my first blog about cloth diapering).

After listening to all the issues I was encountering, Marinda made the following suggestions:

1. The fit

Because Liv is tall and slender, she advised me to try another type of diaper. The type I was going to try now wasn’t around when we did our consult. It’s called the “Peenut”. The system is the same as the Bamboozle Stretch Totsbots, but instead of a large inside diaper, you work with inserts. You have a large insert, and a small insert, and you can also use them together when your child gets bigger. The diaper itself is adjustable, because the outer cover is also fully adjustable;

2. The diaper rash

A cloth diaper gets wetter than a disposable diaper, and sometimes a child’s skin reacts to this. Marinda advised me to use fleece inserts, because fleece tends to feel dryer for longer.

3. The very wet diapers

In our telephone conversation I learned that you have to wash cloth diapers at least twice before using them, and that they reach maximum absorbency once they’ve been washed 10 times. Oops – I didn’t know that! There are always washing instructions included when you buy cloth diapers. Either I missed it, or the instruction book was missing when I bought my diapers. Whatever the case may be, I hadn’t washed the diapers, and that was probably why they felt that way. My own mistake.

After this conversation I received a trial package of ‘Peenut’ diapers, to try out with the fleece inserts. This time I studied the instructions before starting to use the diapers. 😉 When I put the diaper on Liv I immediately noticed a world of difference. It’s just like a regular diaper. Her vests fit over it, and when she’s dressed you don’t see any difference at all. The system is super easy, and thanks to the fleece insert the surface remains fairly dry. The outer covers are adjustable to 3 different sizes with a click system, and I can adjust the inserts depending on how much Liv pees. During the day I use one large insert, and at night a large and a small insert together.

We’ve now been using the diapers for 2 months, and we are so pleased with them. I’m typing this blog on our holiday in Cape Verde (yes, a little bit of work on holiday, but in a relaxed setting 😉 ) and we’re using disposables while we’re here, but we miss our cloth diapers already!

It’s so great to not have to throw away kilos of diapers, and to know that Liv has something ‘natural’ around her bottom. The cloth diapers fit perfectly, and they never leak. Never! They work so well, that even on holiday we’re using the outside cover over the disposable diapers, just in case. And it’s a good thing we do, because in the airplane she pooped in her diaper, and without the cover it would have gone everywhere! So the combination with disposable diapers is also handy!

The only slight disadvantage (which just does come close to weighing up against all the advantages) is that it can be tricky dealing with breastfeeding poop, which goes everywhere. That means that the outer cover often also gets dirty, and you have to rinse everything before putting it in the wash. However, we do ‘elimination communication’ (more about that in my next blog) with Liv, and 95% of her poop lands in the potty, so it’s not really much of an issue any more.

Denny and I can honestly recommend cloth diapering to everyone! Together with the washable wipes, we now put everything in the wash, and everything gets reused. Perfect!

I can imagine that people will have some questions after reading this blog. If you have a question, feel free to ask me, and I’ll type the question and answer out in the comments, so that everyone can read it. You can also always contact Kaatje Katoen. The customer service is nothing less than amazing, and they happily help you figure out what is best for your baby. Besides that they are also present on the 9 months fair in Amsterdam. You can find them at  Puur Baby Plaza, where you can take a look at everything “live”.

So it you have any doubts left about cloth diapering – let them go. Just do it!

And now the best part: I can give away a PeeNut pakket .w

Whoop whoop!! You will receive 5 PeeNut pads and 2 covers. That’s enough for 1 day of changeable diapers.

To enter is super easy:

Comment + 2 likes = you might be the lucky one!

//The giveaway will be open until Monday 1st of February and the winner will be randomly picked from the comments and announced on Monday evening using http://www.fanpagekarma.com/facebook-promotion\\

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Liv wearing a PeeNut diaper, 5 months old:

Wasbare luiers

Liv wearing a PeeNut diaper  6,5 months old. With an onesie you can clearly see that the cloth diaper is as big as a disposable diaper.
Cloth diapers

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