cloth diapering part 1...

so i think i have mentioned it before, but now i am dedicating a whole post (or more!) about cloth diapering. i seriously am so excited about this!

let me start by saying, my very first thoughts of cloth diapering were basically no way, never, not a chance. there is no way i could keep up with the extra loads of laundry, i can't even keep up with what i have piled up in the laundry room. there is no way that i would use a cloth diaper, pins, covers, that is way too much. i am sure that is what most of you are thinking!!

and then it happened jaelyn broke out terribly. it happened all of the sudden. she had been wearing pampers swaddlers since the day she was born. then she developed a diaper rash and it wouldn't go away. then i realized i could get the diaper rash cleared up with desitin. but then i started noticing that at the edges of her diaper her skin was raw and red. it looked like sunburn. in some areas it was splotchy other areas were a pattern of the ruffle on her skin. it would become chapped and begin to peel. it was horrible. i tried putting aquaphor on it and it seemed to make it worse. my poor baby looked like she was in so much pain. thankfully, she didn't act like it hurt.

when i saw our pediatrician for her sixth month check up, she agreed it looked like a reaction to the diapers. she suggested buying a new pack of pampers, same brand, same kind and seeing if that would help. i realized that i had done that. the rash began when we were halfway through one box of diapers and into the first half of a new box of diapers. so the next step would have been to try another brand of diapers. i just couldn't do it. i love pampers swaddlers and didn't want to use another brand.

so i began to do some research on cloth diapers and was amazed at what i had found. first of all, they are so stinkin' cute. they come in a ton of different colors and brands and styles. yes, there is still the option of cloth diapers and covers, although they no longer need pins. but there is a ton of other options available too. which i will explain later. i went to this blog that i love and have been reading for quite awhile (thanks to my friend, marybeth)to do a little research and see what she uses on her baby girl, ivy. it was so helpful to read about someone else's adventure.

next, i did a little research on the cost of this whole thing. wow, was i shocked to find out that the type of cloth diaper i was interested in would cost about $20 each. yes. twenty. dollars. each. so i did the math on what it would cost to get started on this adventure. then i compared with what it would cost us each month to buy disposables. even though the initial start up cost on buy the cloth diapers is a lot, it still was a lot cheaper then buying diapers each month. i figured out we could save around one thousand dollars over the next 2 years by going with the cloth diapers.

during my research, i was in contact with my friend, beth, she is cloth diapering for the first time with her third baby, eli. i asked beth if she knew anything about the brand bum genius, because that is the brand i was most interested in using. that is the brand she uses on eli and loves them. she even offered to let me try a few of hers before i would buy my own!!! what a blessing.

then, it was time to present it all to my husband. he was definitely interested in the money saving aspect as well as if it would clear up her rash. how would we know they would would work? what if we embarked on this whole thing and it didn't work? lucky for us, i was going to be able to borrow a few of beth's. so we got to try them out.

it was a friday afternoon, when i went to pick up 5 bum genius diapers from beth. she talked me through how they worked and how she washes hers. i took them home and put one on jaelyn. within two hours her rash began to improve a lot. and by the next day, it was looking so much better!! so through that weekend and into the next week i was washing twice a day to be able to keep jaelyn in the cloth diapers. even though, it was hard to do all of that laundry, i knew it wouldn't be as bad when i had the correct number of diapers!!

i couldn't wait to get my own collection of cloth diapers!! i was so excited about this new adventure. i was so excited that jaelyn's rash was healing. i was so excited about saving money. i will say the extra laundry was not as exciting. but so worth it!

in another post, i will share more about the diapers we choose and some details about cloth diapering...just in case i have sparked your curiosity to start cloth diapering too.