Lesson #3: Less IS more!

When it comes to cloth diapering, you need very little detergent.  Whenever I tell people how much to use they look at me like I’m nuts….I’m not.  I’ve learned my lesson in this area. 

Just like using the wrong detergent can cause build-up, skin irritation, and if left long enough, burns on your poor baby’s bum – so can using too much detergent. 

I use Allen’s Naturally with my cloth diapers and I literally use a dime size for a whole load of diapers.  I have a top loader, so if you have a front load, you should be using even less than that.  The detergent is very concentrated and it goes a long way.  This lesson can save you money (because a bottle of detergent will last what seems like forever), time (because you won’t have to be stripping your diapers that have build-up from too much detergent), and even anxiety (if it gets so bad that your sweet baby wakes up with a rash or burn on their bum). 

We've been using cloth diapers in our house for almost two years now.  In that time, I've made some mistakes, which have more often than not, resulted in lots of extra laundry.

I'll be posting a different mistake (who knew I made so many?!) for the next few days this week. Hopefully I can save some of you from making those same mistakes.

Lesson #1: Too cheap might mean too good to be true... 

As soon as I was pregnant the first time around, I knew I wanted to do cloth diapers. I started researching online and seeing what I could in stores.  However, I was not able to find many cloth diapers in store and didn't like the idea of spending hundreds of dollars without even touching the diapers first.  Unfortunately, I probably would have been better off spending more money with the diapers I couldn't touch.

The first brand of cloth diapers we bought before our son was born were cheap.  Too cheap.  I was SO excited to start using our diapers and was incredibly disappointed when I had to deal with leaks constantly.  I quickly got sick of washing sheets and clothes, just as often as diapers. Now, don't get me wrong, with cloth, as with disposable, you will have leaks on occassion...you will not hear me telling you otherwise.  However, you should not have a leak every time (or even every second, third or fourth time) you put a diaper on your baby.  This was a problem. To be honest with you, I almost gave up on cloth diapering.  Looking at these cheap diapers, they reminded me of cheap towels that have no absorbancy...no wonder we were having leak issues!

It was around this time that my hubby and I went to a Baby Show, where we discovered AMP diapers, as well as some other brands that were also far better than what we'd been using.  We spent what seemed like the big bucks (because remember, we had paid VERY little for our first set) on a few cute diapers, and headed home, excited to try them out. 

I am happy to say, we were pleasantly surprised!  The diapers were so absorant, so soft (even after washes) and we had next to no leaks.  We quickly purchased more diapers and learned our lesson that sometimes too cheap means too good to be true!