Fuzzi Bunz

Since I'm up early--and Ainsley is playing happily--I thought that I should finally post about our cloth diapers. When we bought them, I promised (in an earlier post) to give my review once we had gotten a chance to use them for a bit. Well, it's been almost four months, so I think that an adequate amount of time has passed. :) Even before Ainsley was born I wanted to use cloth diapers. They seemed like a much better option than disposables for many reasons: they are reusable and thus more earth friendly; there are no chemicals hanging out next to baby's sensitive skin for hours on end; the cost is far less over the course of a year; and they seemed overall to fit with our lifestyle and life choices best. In spite of how passionate I was from the get-go about cloth diapers, it took us almost nine months to actually buy them and get started. The reason for this was two-fold: we didn't have a lot of money and the amount you spend to get started isn't small; and I couldn't decide which diapers to go with. After a LOT of research, informal polling of other cloth diaper using parents, and cost comparisons, we decided to go with Fuzzi Bunz. They are a pocket diaper, which means that you can customize the absorbency for your baby's needs. We also had several friends who were using them and LOVED them. On Black Friday we got an AMAZING deal on the diapers (and accessories), so we took the plunge and haven't looked back.

We have all loved the FB's since the first one we put on Ainsley. Joshua and I already knew that we were going to love them, but my mom took some convincing to even agree that they were worth a try. Now, she's probably the most enthusiastic supporter of them out of all of us! They are easier to use than disposables because of the snap system they have. You always know exactly where to snap them--so even with a very wiggly baby like Ainsley you get the tabs right where you want them every time. They are super soft (who wouldn't appreciate soft fleece by their unmentionables?!?). And one of the best (unexpected) features is that they don't smell like disposables do. Weird, but true--when Ains is wet in a disposable you can smell it, but because there are no chemicals in the FB she doesn't smell at all. It's fabulous!

I know that some people might be put off by the idea of having to wash diapers--especially when it comes to the poopy ones--but I haven't found this to be an issue at all. Wet ones are easy--you just shake the insert out (you don't even have to touch it) into your diaper pail and then drop the diaper in as well. Poopy ones take a little more work, but with a diaper sprayer attachment it's pretty easy. In fact, I wouldn't do cloth diapers without the sprayer--it makes them so easy! Besides, she doesn't leak in FB's, so all of the clothes that I was having to rinse out have been eliminated and now I only have one diaper to rinse. Not a bad trade off in my opinion.

Dispsables still have a place in our lives. We use them for overnight and when cloth doesn't make a lot of sense (like longer trips, etc.). But I'm very pleased with our choice to switch to cloth and wouldn't go back to all disposables for anything. We hope to have the next baby (no, we're not expecting one yet) in cloth from the very beginning.

One final note...we are using the FB's that come in sizes, but there is now a one-size option. I am contemplating these for our next diaper purchase instead of the small size because they will grow with baby. I probably would have gone with these to start with if they had been out when we switched over. Either way, cloth is fantastic and we are all so glad to have taken the plunge.