We’ve had a serious situation here with diaper rash lately.  This never plagued us before, but now it’s become a real problem.  Matthew’s poor little tush is raw at the moment and he’s quite grumpy about it (who wouldn’t be?).

We started out cloth diapering when Matthew was born and really, really liked it.  We never had a single blow-out, not a single leak, and no rashes.  However, I bought the one-size diapers that you adjust and they were just too bulky.  They worked fine with onesies, but even with sleepers, they were just too big and made his clothes tight.  We couldn’t put him in any of the pants or one-piece outfits I’d bought before he was born because they wouldn’t fit in the tush.  He also couldn’t rest his little thighs together when he curled up and that just seemed unnatural to us for a newborn.  And finally, with so much bulk down there, we wondered if the poor little guy was getting too hot given that it was full-on summer here.  We used the cloth diapers for 7 weeks and then decided to shelve them for a bit… until they didn’t need to be cinched up so much.  Everyone was happy.

My one regret about our decision is that we abandoned cloth wipes and natural cleansers at the same time.  That was stupid.

I tried the cloth diapers again about 6 months ago and they leaked like crazy (I’m sure I didn’t have them sized correctly), so I shelved them again.  We were used to the disposables, we were still having no issues with diaper rash, and the cloth ones were still pretty bulky so it made sense to stay in disposables for the time being.  We use Pamp.ers Swadd.lers Sensitive, so they really are quite soft and nice.  We tried the cheapies but they felt like paper to us, which means they probably felt like paper to Matthew too.  We don’t want paper on our butts, so why would he?  Needless to say, the last 46.5 weeks have cost us a fortune in disposable diapers, when I had a fortune in cloth diapers stored up in his top drawer.

I never moved the cloth diapers out of Matthew’s dresser because I knew that if I did that, that I would probably never go back to them.  My goal always was to return to the cloth diapers when the time was right.

We think the time is right.  When I changed Matthew after breakfast, his little tush was so red and unhappy.  B whipped up a batch of natural cleanser and I got the diapers out to size them all up.  He’s napping now in one of them.  He woke up crying 30 minutes into his nap, but never got up.  I think he may have wet his pants and realized it, but he went back to sleep and is sleeping soundly now.  I am anxious to see how his shorts fit over the diapers – that will be the deciding factor (that, and if they leak or not).

I forgot how cute these diapers are.  I’m actually a bit excited to get him back into them!  Now that he’s a bigger boy, I don’t think I’ll need to wash them every.single.day like I did when he was first born.  That, actually, is why we have so many (24).  He went through them so quickly and could not stand being wet, so I was washing diapers constantly.  I don’t know how some of you get by with only 12-16 cloth diapers with a newborn – Matthew went through about 14 a day when he was first born.

We shall see how this goes.  I am really hoping it works well!  We will still use a disposable at night because, well, he sleeps through the night and we do not need to introduce a reason for him to be getting up.  When we have another baby, we’ll probably have him/her spend the first year in disposables too – it just worked well for us (and Matthew will still, likely, be using the cloth diapers).

The one drawback to this is that I JUST bought a new diaper bag that is the size of a handbag because the normal diaper bag is just too big.  I kept forgetting my wallet, or phone, or keys if I left the house without Matthew because I hated carrying the diaper bag without a baby to go with it – it was just too big and unnecessary.  Now that I’m going back to cloth, I wonder if the new bag will be too small.  We shall see.  I’m sure it will be fine… I’ll make it work!  I mean, who wouldn’t make it work with a diaper bag/purse this cute?*

* I am not a purse person – not at all.  I hate switching things out from bag to bag.  This little bag is completely out of the norm for me which makes me REALLY excited about it  🙂