Trying Out Cloth

If you've ever met me, you know that I have a sick, sad obsession with stuff for my kids. Well, stuff for me for my kids. Strollers, diaper bags, baby carriers, clothes, shoes... I've gone through more than ten average families worth of all of these things (not kidding). I love trying new things for my kids. So a few years ago when one of the mommies in L's playgroup was cloth diapering her baby, I took it in with a mixture of appreciation, awe, and amusement (why would you subject yourself to more baby torture than you were already getting?). I brushed it off for the time being. But when I got pregnant with B, I started trolling the internet looking at cloth diapers.
I have to admit it was more of a joke at first. I would tease big B and threaten to start doing it (and he gave me a giant speech about how he would be investing in his Pampers no matter what I did). But they were kind of cute... and you know I love cute....
Meanwhile Pampers changed their 'diaper recipe' and suddenly there were tons of news reports of babies getting burned by the chemicals in the diapers. Well, that was freaky. I started thinking about it a bit more seriously. Pampers were what we had used with L. Huggies were not a good fit, and I'm just not a store brand kind of mama. And let's face it - at the end of the day, we as parents all want to provide the best we can for our kids. Whether it's organic pregnancy, BPA free bottles, organic baby food, or baby food made at home, exclusively breastmilk, 'natural' shampoo, chemical free sunscreen - we all have our 'things' that we do to give them the healthiest start. Some of us get weird - myself included. I had tried the Seventh Generation and Nature Babycare disposable diapers with L, and already knew that for the extra money they cost, I would not be happy with those full time this time around. So it was with a little trepidation that I purchased my first cloth diapers, the gdiapers sweet bundle.
I figured this was a great option for us because they were velcro (or hook&loop as they are referred to in the cloth world) like disposables, and they were what was called a hybrid cloth diaper which means that they can be used with reusable cloths, or disposable pads. Their disposable pads are even flushable or compostable. The bundle came with 6 of the diaper shells, each with its own snap in plastic liner or pouch where you lay the insert, and 12 cloth inserts. I also bought a pack of the flushable inserts for big B who was still just laughing at me for even insinuating that he might use them someday.
When B was born and for many weeks after I would occasionally gather the courage to try one, put it on, then freak out and take it off. He was really long bodied and fat (we will call him a sausage) at this age, and they were SO bulky on him, there was no way I could snap a onesie over the diaper let alone get pants on over it. I was disheartened, and I sold the whole lot of them on Craig's List, and that was the end of my attempt at cloth diapering.