Saturday, March 23, 2013

A Change of Heart


Good news, dear reader.  Good news.

I am fully and permanently back on board with cloth diapering!  And I'm pretty sure that I'm here to stay.  :)

A few things have changed since my last post on this topic.

First, a cute little tub of Charlie Banana brand laundry detergent arrived in the mail.  You only need a marble-sized amount of the powder for a small load of cloth diapers (which for me is my total of seven).  I'm loving that it's eco-friendly and won't clog the fabric pores, meaning that the diapers will stay more absorbent and last longer.  Since my loads are small, I can get 160 loads of laundry done with this amount, so that means that each load only costs 12 cents to launder!

Second, THE STAINS CAME OUT!!!  I've continued to wash everything on cold; the only change is the new, fantastic absence of stains!  And this is all because I finally broke down, followed the directions, and used the detergent I was supposed to.  Praise God it erased those stains!!  I couldn't believe it.  I had figured it might prevent future stains, but I had no idea that it'd go back and erase the previous ones.  Thank you, Charlie!

Third, I learned that, with every purchase of a Charlie Banana product, the company will donate money to Operation Smile, a worldwide medical charity that changes the lives of children suffering from cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities.  So, by purchasing a Charlie product, you're helping to change a child's life forever.  So awesome.

Fourth, I got to take a long, hard look at the other brands of cloth diapers out there.  At the huge Weeuseables Baby Consignment Event this week, I got to explore an ENTIRE TABLE full of various brands of used cloth diapers.  I closely examined brands like BumGenius, Econobum, Flip, FuzziBunz, Hemp Babies, Bummis Organic, G Diapers, Kissaluvs, Happy Heinys, GroVia, Thirsties, Rumparooz and Swaddlebees.  What a great opportunity for a hands-on evaluation!

The good news is that, in my humble opinion, Charlie Banana brand is the BEST!  The brand seemlessly embodies ALL of the good features of the other brands.  There's no messy Velcro to catch on other things; instead, there's an array of cute little snaps to choose from.  There's no need to purchase different sizes; instead, there's the ability to change the diaper size between extra small, small, medium, or large, simply with the movement of a little internal belt that either loosens or tightens the elastic bands that go around the legs.  Charlie's cloth was the fluffiest, and their outer fabric was most pleasing to the touch, most attractive in color, and seemed to be the most waterproof.

Plus, I must acknowledge that, since I started with Charlie Banana cloth diapers, we haven't had one single blow-out or leak.  THAT IS HUGE.

In addition, I've bagged my silly flowchart.  I've come to realize that Liam only poops once a day now, so this means that only once a day do I have to rinse a poopy diaper with cold water, and this I do in the shower with a bucket underneath to catch the water run-off.  For all the other wet diapers, I just toss 'em into a dry pail.  And I do laundry once a day.

I can do this!  It's finally become easy.  Oh, praise the Lord!