What We've Learned After One Month of Cloth Diapering Our Toddler

If you're considering cloth diapering but feel overwhelmed by all the options and advice out there, you're not alone. After spending our son's first year and a half almost exclusively using disposable diapers, we recently decided to experiment with cloth diapering for a month as a way to save money and reduce our monthly expenses. Today, I'll share what we've learned after our first month of cloth diapering, what supplies we're using, and whether we think cloth diapers are actually worth it.

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Why did we start cloth diapering?

For background, with my first son, we were gifted hundreds of disposable diapers. There were even some packages in some sizes we didn't get to use because he grew so fast, so we either gifted them to other mothers or held onto them for our next child. Cloth diapering wasn't something that I felt like was a necessity because we had been blessed with more diapers than we knew what to do with.

However, about the time our son reached sizes 5 and 6, we started running out, and we began purchasing our own diapers. It was shocking to see how quickly the cost added up. We do our best to be frugal around here, so I couldn't help but see how much money we were (quite literally) throwing away each month. So I began to question... Could cloth diapers be worth it?

When I began to get curious about cloth diapering, I eventually fell down the rabbit hole of toxins in diapers, and all the fun information that comes along with it. It was incredibly interesting, and I recommend looking into that side of it as well if you are trying to decide if you want to take the leap. However, that was just a side-quest...

The ultimate clincher for me was inflation. Prices everywhere are going up, so we needed to get more thrifty, and this was an area that we could easily make a change to help our budget.

So, our experiment began. I pulled the handful of cloth diapers out of storage that we had held onto as a backup for "just in case," and I began to use them during the days we were home with nowhere to be.

The startup costs for cloth diapering:

While I've heard some moms say that it's expensive to start cloth diapering, I was actually pleasantly surprised. 

I personally think the sticker-shock comes from seeing how many disposable diapers you can get for one price versus cloth. For instance, a 66-count box of size 7 Huggies at my local Walmart retails at $39.77 before tax, which breaks down to about $0.60 per diaper. 

On the other hand, depending on which cloth diaper brand and material you decide to buy, it can be as cheap as $30 or as expensive as $80+ for only six total diapers, coming out to anywhere between $5-13 per diaper. I think this is the point where most people get lost.

While yes, the price per diaper is obviously more expensive for cloth, I think it's important to remember that they are reusable! You would never need to purchase 66 cloth diapers at a time because they will be washed and reused over and over again. You will end up getting far more uses out of the 6 cloth diapers than the 66 single-use ones you could purchase for around the same price. 

How was our experience with cloth diapering?

Overall, I would say that we had a fairly positive experience during this month of cloth diapering.

However, there were several things we learned along the way, so let's break them down...

How many diapers did we need?

We've started out with 11 reusable diapers in our rotation, which would have come out to approximately a $60 investment when it was all said and done if we hadn't been gifted a handful to begin with. Since I wash them every day, a dozen or so is plenty for us. If you don't wash them everyday, I could definitely see needing to invest in a few more to keep things moving smoothly.

There's a learning curve:

Just be prepared to go through a bit of a learning curve in the first week or two of using cloth diapers! 

For instance, I went through some frustration of the diapers leaking for a while, but then I realized that I wasn't getting the liners straight in the pocket. I also found out that you can double-line with an extra diaper liner cloth to add extra absorption if you are dealing with leaks too. 

I also struggled a bit with getting the dirty ones clean. I was unsure how other moms were getting all of the solid messes off of their diapers (especially for the wetter messy diapers) before washing without getting it everywhere, so I had to do a little research to see how other moms handle this before I felt fully comfortable with it. (Hint: get a bidet sprayer attachment for the toilet!!!)

Do regular diaper checks:

I learned that my son tends to soak through his diapers very quickly, so I have to keep a close eye on him. It was easy to tell when he was wet with disposable diapers because of the yellow-to-blue line on the front, but I had to get a little more diligent about checking him to see if he was wet with the cloth alternative. If I waited too long between checks, we usually had a mess on our hands. This was not a deal-breaker, but it definitely required slightly more attention than usual.

Wash diapers and inserts daily:

I've heard some moms online say that they can wait a day or two between washes, but that hasn't worked for me personally. I found that we struggled with having a funky smell on the diapers even after washing if we waited more than a day. So I typically make sure that our washing machine is empty at the end of the evening and dump all of the diapers for the day in there for a hot, heavy-duty cycle. I generally check them in the morning when I get up, and I can rewash if needed or immediately hang them to dry.

The snaps are a godsend:

My toddler isn't quite ready for potty training, but he has lately figured out how to remove his disposable diapers with ease. As you can imagine, this has been a source of frustration. However, I have noticed that he hasn't quite been able to figure out how to remove the snaps from his cloth diapers yet, so that's been a huge win!

We are saving money:

This was the primary reason we wanted to attempt cloth diapering in the first place. I was already purchasing the cheap, store-brand disposable diapers to cut back, so we were spending approximately $75 a month on off-brand disposables on a good month. If we were buying name-brand diapers instead, we would be saving closer to $160 each month for name-brand disposable diapers, conservatively.

For a single-income family in our tax bracket, saving $75-160 a month (or $900-1,900 a year) is a decent amount that we could redirect into other areas like our grocery bill, savings, or other needs.

Now, keep in mind, we are not on city water. We have a well, so we don't have to pay a water bill. But honestly, since I do only one load of diapers daily, it really wouldn't add up to be that much more in water per month if we did have to pay the water bill.

What cloth diapering supplies are we using?

When you ask, every mom has their favorite diaper brands and preferences. Today, I'm just going to share what we've been using and what has worked so far for us. Just remember that there's no one right answer! While I do have Amazon links here to take you to the products we've been using, these are just what's been working for our family! 

The cloth diapers and inserts:

Our current favorite cloth diapers we've tried so far are these Alva Baby Cloth Diapers, which we found on Amazon. They come in a variety of colors and prints, which I love. They also have these extra inserts available for their diapers, which is helpful if you want to double-layer to prevent leaking (like we do). The snaps on these diapers have been incredibly sturdy and made it difficult for my busy toddler to escape from them. I also liked how these would easily grow with your baby if you wanted to start earlier.

Wet bags:

I didn't think I would want to have wet bags for the messy diapers, and it honestly hasn't been a huge necessity since I wash them at the end of every day. I typically just reuse old grocery bags and throw them away at the end of the day. However, it would be nice to have a few wet bags on-hand especially if you decide to cloth diaper outside of the home or on the go. For example, when we go visit grandparents next door, it would be nice to have a dedicated bag to throw any messy diapers in so I can hide the smell and just wash them later in the day. 

A bidet sprayer:

After I nearly lost my mind one day with cleaning up stinky cloth diapers, I rage-bought and assembled this bidet sprayer attachment to help with cleanup. We simply added to our toilet to help with cleaning off the messy diapers, and I was set. While it obviously isn't totally necessary for everyone wanting to cloth diaper,  I can truthfully say it has saved my sanity when it comes to pre-rinsing them before the washing machine. I personally think it was well worth the purchase. And so far, we've had no issues with it.

Would I recommend cloth diapering?

In short, yes–but with a caveat. 

While I haven't fully committed to going with 100% cloth diapers all the way, I can confidently say we will likely continue to cloth diaper around 50-75% of the time now. I personally still like to keep disposable diapers for car rides, longer outings, and bedtime, but that's the beauty of it–it doesn't have to be all or nothing! 

Just remember, when it comes to saving money and being frugal, you can decide how strict or drastic you want to go with it. Nobody else is living your life and knows your unique situation, so only you can decide what works best for you. You may be in a season where cloth diapering feels doable and the added bonus of saving money is helpful. Or maybe you are just not in a season where you feel like you can handle any extra laundry. Both ends of the spectrum are valid, and you need to do what's best for you in the moment. 

Let me know if you have ever used cloth diapers! What was your experience? If you haven't tried them yet, would you consider it? I'd love to hear from you.