Cloth Diapering

6 or 7 months - cloth diaper 2.0

I don't cloth diaper 100% of the time. In theory I'd like to - there are so many benefits of cloth diapering. But...

• My husband gives me an eyebrow and grabs a disposable.
• My mother, who watches my son one day a week, is so not going there.
• My daycare provider uses them when she can, but she has her hands full enough without the extra hassle.
• My son is like a mighty waterfall and pees through his cloth diapers unless he’s changed every hour and a half to two hours, minimum. Sometimes sooner. I have three cloth diapers that will hold up to overnight if I add half of a microfiber hand towel folded up, but rotating those three doesn’t necessarily work through the week when I don’t do laundry more than twice a week.
• And, I've run into a manufacturing problem. MY manufacturing.

cloth diaper 2.0

I made most of Max's diapers (see photo), but I ran into a few problems. 1.0 was too small around and too tall in the tummy area. So I modified and came up with 2.0 which has a pretty good fit for up to 25lbs. I liked the idea of putting a cute fabric on the outside of the PUL because PUL gets boring - except that the cute fabric wicks the wet from the inside of the diaper to the outside. I'd put so much time and effort (though not too much $) into these diapers that it just killed me that they didn't work. I tried to salvage them by cutting off the outside fabric (cloth diaper 2.5), but then the PUL crapped out and started leaking.

cloth diaper 3.0

So, I got some new PUL, modified my design, and tried again, aka 3.0. That one works much better, and should go through potty training size, but still leaks/wicks around the legs. So I modified the design in my head and was set to try again... when my sewing machine got fussy. So I got a new machine. It just arrived and I unpacked it, but I haven't fired it up yet.

Max has been wearing disposables full time for over a month. I'm not super happy about it, but I've gotten complacent. I don't like sewing in the heat, I like gardening in the heat. So I haven't been in any hurry to make new diapers. But last night a little someone asked to wear a cloth diaper instead of a disposable. He's just so stinkin cute. And really, who am I to deny him his diaper preference? I dug out one of the three that still (mostly) fit and can handle an overnight. He was happy, I was happy (if feeling a little guilty), and I'm motivated to get some more diapers sewn up.

I'll keep you posted on the progress, hopefully I'll have the machine up and running tonight.