Cloth Diapering Updates

We only got into the cloth-diapering bandwagon recently when Yuri was already 20 months old. Now, I realize that I should have cloth-diapered him a lot earlier! It's one of my mothering regrets actually.

It has been almost 2 months since I first used a cloth diaper, and I still love it. Here are the reasons:

1. Cuteness

Must I begin with something as superficial as cuteness? Yes, I must. You see, one thing I despise about disposables is their limited designs. Also, they tend to look really bad when Yuri has worn them long enough. Sometimes, he wears one, and in less than one hour, laylay na. Why?! On the other hand, this is never the problem with CDs. They still fit well no matter how long you wear them (not too long naman), and there are so many cute designs to choose from!

These inserts take forever to dry! But they do well in keeping Yuri's bum dry.

2. Dryness

At first, I thought I would be changing Yuri from hour to hour. Well, that was not the case. I didn't even have to change him every two hours. In fact, I only have to change him twice a day!

Here's our setup: Bath in the morning, wear CDs at around 8am, change it at 12nn, and change it again at 5pm. I use two inserts (microfiber and bamboo), and I've never experienced leaks.

*This setup might not be applicable to your baby. Yuri is already a 22 month old potty training-ready toddler who does not anymore urinate like an old man. He already has more control of his bladder, so he pees twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon.

3. Ease of Use

One thing that prevented me from buying cloth diapers when Yuri was (a lot) younger was intimidation. I was afraid they would be hard to use. When I got to try one for the first time, I realized it wasn't so hard at all! In fact, what you only need to do is insert the inserts and wear it on the baby like you would with a disposable. Easy peasy!

Another thing that held me back from buying CDs before was the pain of laundering. Now, here's what I need to tell you: I work at home full-time and I wash Yuri's cloth diapers. Why? Because they're actually easy to wash!

After almost 2 months of using CDs, I have delegated the task of washing the unsoiled nappies to the yaya. Meanwhile, since I'm the one washing Yuri's pwet when he goes poopoo (which is, well, 2-3 times a day), I also wash the soiled nappies,too. I do grumble sometimes, though, when it's time for me to work but I still have to wash a diaper, but in reality, it only takes less than 15 minutes to do so. And it's not hard, promise!

A day's worth of diaper laundry

4. Economically-wise

Is my heart in the right place?

One of the hardest challenges I've had to overcome since I became a Christian (and, come to think of it, even before I was a Christian) is obedience.

I don't remember when I became a strong-willed person who wanted to do what she wants to do, but I'm that person. It was a lot easier when I only needed to obey my parents because it was so easy to disobey when they didn't see me. However, when I surrendered my life to Christ, it became harder. Sure, in the first months of being a Christian, being Christ-like was very easy to do. It was euphoric. Then, I found out that as you mature, the temptations of the devil become stronger - or was it only me who got weaker? Either way, I found it even harder to obey.

For now, let's just leave it at that. I find it hard to obey, but I know I need to in order to please Jesus. The challenges come daily and in the most mundane of situations. In the context of being a work-at-home mom, I encounter different sets of trials than what you might encounter. Just yesterday, I experienced a couple of trials, where I found it hard to obey Jesus but through his grace, I was able to overcome.

First Situation
I began cloth-diapering Yuri just the other day, and we are still getting the hang of it. Honey, Yuri's yaya, is still getting the hang of laundering the diapers. They were easy to launder, but she doesn't know the right way of hanging them yet. I noticed that she hangs the inserts on the clothesline folded. Knowing how thick the inserts are, I was sure they will take 48 years to dry. So I went outside and hanged them properly.

After doing that, I wanted to show Honey the right way of hanging the inserts. To be honest, I was feeling a bit irritated that she did not know how to hang them properly. Just as I was entering the exit door (oxymoron?), I tripped. Yes, I tripped. My immediate thought was "Are you trying to tell me something, Lord?"

Jesus replied: Check your heart, Maan. Is it in the right place?

Right in our kitchen, I did. What was my intention in telling Honey about hanging the inserts? Was it simply to correct her and help her improve? Or was it to find fault and feel smug about it? I don't need to tell you what the answer was; all you need to know was that I didn't tell Honey about her mistake during that time.

Was it simple to obey? No. Was it worth it? I'm sure it was.

Second Situation

Frugal Friday: Cloth Diapering My Toddler!

This was supposed to be a Finance Friday article, but I realized that for the past weeks, I haven't been talking about finances really. I've been talking about frugality, so I titled this post "Frugal Friday." Why not? We're flexible around here!

So one of my biggest regrets was not cloth diapering Yuri as an infant. There were just too many reasons. First, I'm working full-time. Cloth diapering (full-time) requires a lot of washing, and none of us could do it. I could not delegate the washing to Yuri's yaya because no one could watch Yuri na din. While she washes Yuri's clothes regularly, they are done on certain days of the week lang, not various times during the day.

Second, Yuri is a breastfed baby. When he was an infant, his pooping was very frequent and very irregular. I thought we could not deal with constant diaper changes - unlike disposable diapers which we only need to throw away.

When Yuri's bathroom habits are becoming more regulated (he only poops during mealtimes and only seated in his high chair - I don't know why!), and his peeing are becoming less frequent (I think he pees 4-5 times throughout the day despite his high water intake), I was beginning to entertain the idea of cloth diapering. Yes, ang late lang.

You see, Yuri only wears cotton briefs in the morning. No diapers. His naptime is after lunch, so before eating our lunch, I change him into diapers. Lo and behold, while eating lunch, he poops in his barely used diaper. Wala man lang ihi. It was becoming a habit, and we are getting to throw too many barely used diapers that I thought: kailangan na namin mag-cloth diapers. Yes, at 20 months. Better late than never!

I was about to buy cloth diapers weeks ago but delayed it. That was a blessing in the sky (disguise - just in case you don't get the joke!) because I chanced upon Thrifty Mama Shoppe's ultimate cloth diaper sale. ZOMG! I quickly browsed the albums, and since I wasn't very well-versed on cloth-diapering, I just bought 3 Alva diapers muna. Here are some photos of the unboxing (chos, unboxing talaga!):

Three cloth diapers (without inserts in the photo)

Cute designs! Now I understand why a lot of moms are addicted to CDs!

Microfiber insert in close-up (The microfiber inserts go with the diapers; I got three more bamboo inserts.)

The pocket in the backside of the cloth diaper

Inserting the insert. Ano daw? :D

While I was taking photos, the toddler was pulling out wipe after wipe after wipe.