Cloth diapers in our home

A few weeks ago I announced on facebook that we were trying out cloth diapers. A few people asked why and I figure a follow up post is need.

The original plan for us was to introduce cloth diapers at 1 year. We wanted to introduce the potty and because cloth diapers are more uncomfortable (an incentive for Tiny to learn to use the potty), we figured we might as well make the switch. My sweet neighbor let me borrow some of her extensive stash so that I didn't have to buy them.

So what have we found over this last month...

They do make Madeleine uncomfortable.

If we leave her in a cloth diaper all night, she does get a rash.

They are a lot of work.

Cloth diapers are actually more expensive for us.

So the big thing is that they are helping us toilet train Madeleine. This alone is enough to get me to keep up with them until my neighbor ask for hers back. The fact that we aren't killing the environment actually makes me feel better too. (Matt gave me a really depressing talk about what happens to veggies we throw in the trash one night for pillow talk. It made me feel bad and made me want to ban Wall-E forever.)

When we first got the diapers, we found out that Madeleine was very allergic to my friend's laundry detergent. She had a wicked rash, but it cleared up quickly once we rewashed everything. Then we noticed though that her little bum was still pink at night. We figured it was because we probably should change her halfway in the night, so we figured it worth using one disposable diaper at night and letting her sleep through the night. 

Cloth diapers are so much work.

We don't have a washer or dryer in our apartment, so we have to walk to our community laundry mat. Now imagine balancing a laundry basket, detergent and a squirmy one year old, and now add a few feet of snow. It's absolutely miserable, especially when there is too much snow for the stroller. Then it's multiple trips while holding Madeleine.

This is probably the biggest road block for us - not having our own washer and dryer.

Because as I said, it's also makes cloth diapers more expensive than disposables.

What? No way right?

Well, for each cloth diaper it cost us between 12.5-15 cents to wash each diaper.
(This is not including buying diapers...because well, I didn't buy them.)
I usually get each disposable diaper around 11 cents per diaper. For one and half months this year, I even got diapers for 5 cents each.

So that's the run down so far.

Next year we should be living in a place with a washer and dryer. If we have another offspring, there's a chance that I'll actually invest in my own cloth diapers. It really just depends on how the next 4 months go.

So there you go.
I'm open for any advice. :)

Random Madeleine photo because I don't have many of her in diapers

PS. The lack of washer and dryer was the reason we didn't cloth diaper when she was born. It was 16 cents per diaper then!