Diaper Station and Dirty Diaper Station

When I started cloth diapering it just kinda happened, it was a spontaneous move in order to stop my daughters diaper rashes. I didn't know how to store our clean diapers nor our dirty diapers. I searched the web day and night for the best way to do both. I am a visual person, so it really helped me to be able to actually see what other people are doing. So I thought I would share what we do in our house.


 I became a cloth diaper nut and ended up with tons of Gdiapers, Bumgenius 3.0 and Flips. Not to mention a ton and half of inserts.
Here's what we have:
 9 Gdiapers
12 Bumgenius 3.0
5 flips
12 Gcloths
14 Fuzzibunz inserts
12 Gerber Organic prefolds (these I love! they are thin but very absorbent)
5 Gerber prefelds
15 insert socks for our Fuzzibunz
3 rolls of diaper liners to catch the poo
20 cloth diaper liners (great if you have to use rash cream or if your child has a yeast infection)
2 planet wise wet bags

Diaper station:

Top left we have our basket of Bumgenius 3.0
center is our basket of Gdiapers and Flips. Behind the Gdiapers are our insert socks
Top right we have our inserts:
back pile are Gerber prefolds
center are Fuzzibunz
and front are Gcloths


Second shelf
left we have some just incase disposables we got at our baby shower
center is our Gdiaper flushies
and right is a basket of other inserts and doublers
in the back you cant see we have our rolls of diaper liners and cloth and dispoable wipes
bottom shelf is full of blankets.






Dirty diaper storage:

After a diaper change we through all the dirty pieces into the washing machine. At the end of the day we do a cold prewash to rinse out all the pee and poo that may be on the inserts or covers. After the prewash we throw them into a bucket with a lid we picked up at Lowe's for $5, sprinkle some baking soda in there to keep remaining smell down. Doing a cold prewash every night has not increased our water bill at all, alot of people are worried that cloth diapering will cause an increase in their water bill, but honestly we have not seen any difference. We do a cold prewash each night of that days diapers and wash every 3-4 days (we wash in hot water with 1/4 cap of Arm and Hammer laundry soap from Babies 'R' Us, extra rinse on hot)

Alot of people invest in wet bags and diaper pail liners, but honestly, Ive tried using wet bags, and we still ended up with a smelly laundry room. I decided to start doing prewashs at night because the longer the dirty diapers sit there soaked with pee and poo, the more smell you are going to have.

Using Gdiapers, we store the snap in liners and cloth outer cover in a mesh washing bag. The liners have to be washed in cold to help protect the waterproof coating. We wash the liners and outer covers with towels or even our laundry. Hang dry the snap in liners, if you put them in the dryer, it will ruin the waterproof coating.

Cloth diapering: gDiapers vs. Flip and bumgenius 3.0

I swore growing up that I would never use cloth diapers on my children. My sisters and I were all cloth diapered as babies and I remember watching my older sister rinse out our younger sister's poopy diaper in the toilet, and that was something I did not want to do.

The reason we wore cloth diapers was because we had very sensitive skin and disposables would give us a terrible diaper rash.

During my pregnancy I stocked up on disposables assuming I wouldn't cloth diaper.

By the time my daughter was 2 months old, she had already had 2 very bad diaper rashes (bloody and blistery). Every time we changed her we would lather her bum with rash cream in order to either prevent rashes or calm and heal them. Nothing worked.. she was still getting rashes.

I took the plunge and invested in cloth diapers.

 My first initial buy was gDiapers. I liked how they looked and the fact they weren't bulky like some of the other ones I've seen. I liked how they actually looked like lil under pants instead of a diaper. The Gdiapers consist of the outer cover with velcro that fastens in the back, an inner snap in water proof liner that holds either the cloth or a disposable insert that can either be flushed, thrown out or even composted. I  prefer to use the gcloth and also prefolds because they are a money saver in the long run. The point of the snap in liner is to keep the outer lay clean, so if your baby has a messy diaper you only need to change the cloth and snap in liner and reuse the outer cover.
Gdiapers were working great for us until the snap in water proof liner started wearing out after only 3-4 months of use. The elastic had become stretched out and the water proofness was wearing away, meaning I would have to buy more inserts. Apparently the liners are only made to last 4-6 months or 100 washes! Hmm... I thought cloth diapers were supposed to be a money saver? True, a pack of liners is cheaper then disposables, but the fact that you have to replace them every 4-6 months really upset me, especially since we are on a budget! The fact that they are a sized diaper, wasn't a big deal for me, the mediums will fit my daughter for almost her whole first year!

Another issue we had with the gdiaper was during night time use. They worked fine for us for the first month until my daughter started becoming more mobile. She would kick her legs and squirm so much that the inserts (a flip insert and a doubler) would slide down in the liner causing her to wake up soaking wet in the morning. The solution? Bumgenius 3.0 pocket diapers!  They have a stay dry layer that lays against the baby's skin, and  the outer layer is waterproof. In the middle of those two layers is a pocket that you stuff an insert into. This worked out great for us because it kept the insert in place, we wake up dry every morning! The fastening on these diapers is velcro that closes in the front, they don't hold as good as I would like, but then again, we only use them for bedtime.

The last issue we have with the gdiaper was that the velcro wore out fast,and sometimes you can even buy them new with the velcro not sticking! Luckily, Gdiapers will send you free replacement velcro to sew onto your diapers! Gdiapers customer service is one of the best I have ever seen!

As for daytime, I decided to try a new kind of diaper that wouldn't require buying new liners every 4 months. My second initial buy was the Flip diapers. Flips consist of the outer cover which the inside of it is waterproof and has flaps to hold in an insert in place. It is also, along with the bumgenius 3.0, a one size fits most diaper, meaning it grows as your baby grows, this I loved! You can initially use the same diapers from birth to potty training, saving lots of money over the gdiapers, which you would have to buy different sizes. The closure on the flip is snaps, it lasts longer than velcro, but if you have a squirmy baby it may be challenging at times. Its also really slim under clothes which is a plus. The flip is a really simple diaper, no bells or whistles to it, just the cover and and insert! Super easy! So far we haven't had any issues with leaks or the insert sliding down and becoming misplaced. I havent tried it for bedtime yet, but i am planing to try it out soon. Needless to say, I am very happy with the flip and plan on purchasing more when my daughter grows out of her G's and I can sell them!

The story of my life...

I grew up in the country, raising pigs, goats, rabbits, chickens, cats, dogs, geese... I hated it! I wasn't the country girl that my sisters were. I was a girly girl who wanted to be like every other girl in school. I was the rebel child, I didn't listen to the same music as my sisters, nor did i dress the same way, they were country, I wasn't.
My life really stared when I met my husband Matt in September 2005.

We met on MySpace after both of us had just gone through a break up. We were dating for about 2 years before we moved in together, and a year after that in September 2008 we got married. We moved into our very own house just a month before we were married. Shortly after we got married we went through a rough patch and separated for a few months. Our love was stronger then expected and we found our way back together!

Our life took a dramatic 360' turn July 6 2009 when I found out I was pregnant!

 Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a mommy, I can remember carrying a baby doll around up until I was 13 or 14, playing house with my barbie dolls,trying to get my sisters to play with me.
 My dream was finally coming true.

We found out we were having a girl in October of 2009. After that our wallets slimmed dramatically! I went crazy buying things for her, she has more clothes and toys then she really needs.

 I would have had a good pregnancy if it wasn't for sciatica nerve pain. I couldn't stand up for more then about 10-15 unless I was wearing my support belt. I had to quit my job at Gymboree 2 months earlier than i had planned because the pain was so bad. The last 2 months of my pregnancy was spent laying in bed or on the couch. My due date was March 18.  With our last name being O'Connor, it would have been awesome if our daughter was born on March 17, St. Patrick's day... but it didn't happen. Paisley Marie was born on her due date, March 18th at 8:23 PM. My dream had finally come true, I had my precious baby girl in my arms! I was a finally a mom!

Random things about me:
-I am very stubborn, I like things done my way
-I am nosy, I want to know all about whats going on
-I am independent, I like to do things on my own
-I text way too much. I prefer to text rather than talk on the phone
-I am very observant
- I am addicted to cloth diapers
-I have sunny and cloudy days
- I like to present well on good and bad days, even if  I am staying at home
- I like to say what I think and what is on my mind
-I am addicted to Dr. Pepper