The Changing World of Cloth Diapers

Oh how my world is "changing." Not only do we have this precious baby Macy, but the amount of diapers being peed and pooped on in this house has more than doubled! I knew two in diapers would be challenging (wait, didn't I just change that diaper? change one kid and then the other poops!), but I forgot how many diapers would be going through my laundry! 

Here are some numbers...we have 25 Bum Genius One Size pocket diapers. This is actually more than needed for one toddler. Macklin is still continuing his normal trend of about 8 diapers a  day. I had ten Thirsty newborn diapers that I got from a friend and though this would help my cause with Macy and save us a bit of money. Then my friend Amberly offered me her Bum Genius newborn diapers - of which she had 48 of them (at first I thought that was soooo many). Well, turns out, Macy's little legs aren't big enough for the Thirsty's and she kept peeing out of them. So glad that Amberly let me use hers! And, 48 seems to be barely enough. I took out 24 from the bag to start with, but when I didn't do the laundry fast enough, I kept pulling a few more out and now I almost have all of them in rotation. I used to wash the 25 diapers every other day or every three days. Now, I have 25 diapers and then the 48 newborn diaps - yikes! I forgot how often you change newborn diapers! Last night I washed 25 newborn diapers and 19 of Macklin's (didn't I just do that the day before!??). 

While I joke, we still stand by using the cloth diapers as they are totally worth the extra work. Macy went through a whole pack of diapers in her first week of life and another pack before her cord fell off (that is when we started with the cloth). That was $20 a week or so, making it $100 a month. I think using the cloth is a great savings! 

Cloth Diapers

To all my Cloth Diapering Friends....I need help!

We use the Bum Genius 3.0 diaper (like the one here, just one version older).

I have LOVED my cloth diapers and totally planned to use them for any future kids. I get excited thinking about how much money we save on buying regular diapers. I think they are cute when Mack walks around in the them. I tell everyone al the details they want to know about them. I don't think they are too much of a hassle. I even expected to have to change out the velcro at some point, but other than that, I thought they would just keep lasting forever!

BUT...

The waterproof layer is totally breaking down! I had never heard of this and am anxious to figure out why! I haven't had too much of an issue with the inserts. I did do a "cleanse" on them once since I thought they were not absorbing anymore. That seemed to fix the issue though. But not Macklin will have wet spots right in the middle of his tush! So strange.

I am upset about this because I had planned to use them for so long.

Now I just want to know what I am doing wrong.

Here is how I care for them....

-Spray off any access solids immediately upon changing

-Throw into dry pail until washing

-Wash once on cold with special detergent (recommended by Cotton Babies)

-Wash once on hot with bleach and special detergent

-One more rinse cycle on warm

-Hang dry the covers

-Put inserts into the dryer

One of my friends suggested putting the covers in the dryer for a hot cycle to try to melt the waxy waterproof layer back together, but that didn't really do anything for mine

(even though I had all the hope in the world that it was going to fix them!).

I need help. If anyone has any options/suggestions for me, please share!

I am now just "x"-ing out the ones that are leaking and slowing putting them aside. I have to load up the night time ones so thick that it must be uncomfortable for Macklin, but he doesn't seem to mind yet :)