Friday, June 27, 2008

Greening Mommyhood - Part 2

(see: Greening Mommyhood - Part 1 Here)

Well, my cloth diapering adventures are off to a rough start so far. I have yet to put one on my baby, but will share my first impressions!

Before my diaper orders arrived in the mail, I decided to pick up an extra pack of cloth ones at Babies-r-Us since my starter kit only comes with 6 and I wanted at least a day's worth. I got a 12 pack of the 100% cotton Gerber Birdseye pre-folds...there was not much else to choose from there. Granted, they were only $1 each, but I am SO disappointed in these diapers! I have not even put one on my baby yet...just did 4 of the hot wash and dry cycles you're supposed to do to make cloth diapers ready to use the first time, and they didn't even survive THAT! Out of 12, all but 4 of them came apart...fabric fraying and the stitching coming un-done. They came out VERY pill-y, and rough. I am NOT impressed with these so far. Terrible! NOT recommended. They are like cheesecloth. Here's the first one I pulled out of the dryer:



I also started making a little pile of cloth wipes, because it only makes sense to drop the wipes into the dirty diaper in the pail. I chopped up a couple extra receiving blankets and did a zig-zag stitch around the edges with my sewing machine. I think they should work fine, we'll see...

I received my first package yesterday from CottonBabies, which contained their starter "Try It Kit," and one of the "Thirsties Fab Fitted" diapers. They were out of the color I wanted in the Thirsties diaper, so I had to switch it to aqua. Other than that, I was pretty happy with what arrived. The Thirsties fitted diaper is SOOOO soft! I wish I could curl up in a pile of them and take a nap. I washed it once and ran it through the dryer but it is still a little damp. Once it dries I'll try it out. Maybe overnight tonight...



The Bummis Whisper Wraps are cute! The cloth diapers in the kit felt and seemed to be of WAY better quality than the Gerbers. I specifically ordered the Chinese pre-folds because it said they were made with heavier duty stitching and last longer. They washed better, although the stitching did already start coming off one of them:



Normally I would have been disappointed with this, but after seeing how horrible the Gerber ones came out, these seemed so much better. I'll probably still buy more of these since they are better...although, they need to be pre-washed 7-10 times according to the Cottonbabies website before using, being that they are Chinese Prefolds and unbleached. Someday I'll finish all these pre-washes, and then I can actually try them and let you know how they work!

The red Snappi I got with the kit looks really interesting...looks like a fantastic solution to the old diaper pins. Can't wait to try that out, when all the pre-washing and drying is done!


Now the G Diapers I also can't wait to try...however, they seem to be lost in shipping limbo right now. According to FedEx, they were delivered yesterday afternoon. However, I was here and they did not arrive. They say the driver said he "left them at the office." Hmm, that's strange, because this is a HOME, not an office. Sothe FedEx folks are trying to track down the package at it's wrong location and hopefully re-route it back to me! :-( Boo! Stay tuned for first impressions and reviews on them!



So, today my baby boy's little bum still waits in disposables, until all the cloth diapers are washed enough, thoroughly dried, and re-routed back to my house! I am still confident that this whole cloth diapering thing will be great, once I get all my stuff and get them on him...Stay tuned for part 3...hopefully some reviews of them after actually being used!

2 comments:

willywagtail said...

Hi, My experimenting with snappies is at least 14 years ago but i found them to be very dangerous. If they don't connect properly with the fabric the can come undone and scratch poor baby very badly. I much prefer strong diaper pins. You just slide your hand inside to protect baby - it is far better to prick yourself occasionally than hurt her or him. Congratualtiona on your attempt to try the old fashioned way. Cherrie

Gretchen Fleener said...

Thanks for your comments! I did notice that while the Snappi is plastic, is is still very sharp. It kindof reminded me of those little metal clips you use on an Ace bandage. They do say to only use them under a diaper cover, which I suppose at least helps keep baby from reaching it, but I agree they seem a little dangerous.

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