And Now for Something Completely Different

10 points to whoever gets that reference.

So this has nothing to do with Language School, Costa Rica, Missions, or Latin America.  Except that these are all a lot of the reasons we choose to do cloth diaper.  And as we were preparing to live outside of the US, I would scourer the internet for things about raising kids in another country, how to make ingredients you can't find easily in your host country,  how to make mosquito nets for your beds and on and on and on.  So.  Here you go.  Everything I know about cloth diapers.

I am not going to pretend that we researched this all out and thought long and hard about the benefits of cloth diapering before we had Forrest.  Truth is, one day when Forrest was about 4 months old, my sister in law emailed me and said "hey, do you want our Fuzzi Bunz?"  And I said, sure, why not.  We just sorta fell into this cloth diaper thing.  But the more we used them, the more we realized they fit very well into this missions in the global south life.  And they really weren't that hard.  And if I am being honest here, washing diapers is one of my favorite chores. 

Let's start with what type.  We use Fuzzi Bunz.  Why?  Because that's what we were given.  When it came time to enlarge of stash (yes, that is the technical cloth diapering terminology for your cloth diapers) we went with what we knew.  We have the old type, and they are mediums and larges.  If you are only going to buy one size, get the mediums.  My boys wear them from the time they were four months old through, well, Elliot is still wearing them at 2 1/2.

Fuzzi Bunz are what's known as a pocket diaper, meaning you don't need rubber pants on top, it's sort of an all in one sorta deal.  We use terry cloth liners.  Really, this aren't your grandmother's cloth diapers.  During nap times, I sometimes double the liner up.  

Someone asked me if I thought about making diapers, which I am sure work great, but that was just further down the road than I was willing to go.   So sorry, not much help on that front. 

As far as night time use, well, we have never had good luck with that.  I wrote about that here once. 

As for care...well, we just have a trash can with a lid.  We through the dirty ones in there (after dumping off whatever can be dumped) and wash ever couple of days.  In the states, I would rise in cold water, run a hot cycle with a bit of All free and clear and occasionally some oxiclean, and then another cold rinse cycle.  I have always hung then up to dry, either inside in the winter, or outside on the porch in the summer.  The sun does wonders for the stains.

Here, we don't have hot water attached to our washing machine, so we just do cold.  I am trying to run them through two full cycles now because of that.  Also, I haven't figure out a system to get them outside yet, but that is changing soon I hope.  They really do need a good sun bleaching.

As for other bits and pieces, we have two wet bags to contain dirty or wet diapers in the diaper bag (I am so glad Elliot's teacher is good with using cloth diapers!)  We tried a diaper sprayer once and well, while it worked well for about three weeks, it then exploded all over the bathroom and we had to run down to the firebarn at Barakel to turn the well pump off, and well...we just never got back around to it before we left.

I can't imagine the amount of money we have saved over the years.  Since Elliot is only 19 months younger than Forrest, we have had kids in diapers for 4 years and counting, and for a good chunk of that we had two kids in diapers.  And now that we are in Costa Rica, disposables are even more expensive, with no coupons or off bands.

Alright.  There you have it.  Everything I know about cloth. 

Oh, one more thing, I do know of a foreign missionary cloth diaper grant from  Cotton Babies.  I have a friend in Columbia who actually was the recipient of the grant and she has been so happy with her diapers!  So, if you fall into that catagory, check it out.  Also, they have ways for people to help make those grants a reality, so if you want to help, you can check it out over at Cotton Babies