...and growing...

Today I packed away Gillian's XS Charlie Banana cloth diapers. 

One thing I hadn't anticipated with cloth diapering is that they wouldn't fit at first. We had to wait until her umbilicus fell off, which took 15 days. Even in the first picture below, Gillian was about 3 weeks old and 8lbs and her legs were too little to keep her diapers from leaking, so we went through hundreds of disposable diapers in her first 6 weeks. Once she was about 4-6 weeks old, she was able to wear the XS cloth diapers without leakage problems (in general).

Gillian at 3 weeks, in her XS cloth diaper

When I planned on cloth diapering, I planned on stocking up on the One-size diapers that change with your baby as they grow. That was a little nieve. Gillian couldn't even fit in the one-size diapers until she was about 3 months. Even then, they seemed soooo bulky, with all the extra fabric folded between her legs (they have to be "one-size" somehow, right?). Honestly, she is now 15lbs and they still seem bulky.

1 month, XS diaper

When Mom and Dad came to visit Gillian for the first time, they brought her a (very expensive) package of 6 XS Charlie Banana diapers. Ever since Gillian was 6 weeks old, we have been washing them every single night so that we can use them again the next day since at first they were the only ones that fit, and even this last month they fit so much better than the rest.

6 weeks, XS diaper

Just for fun, I did the math, and that's about 700 wears (for the set of 6). Which turns out to be $200 in disposable diapers. The (very expensive) XS Charlie Bananas were a gift, so they didn't cost us anything, but if we did buy them ourselves, it would have been $110 at Target. So that is still a better deal than the $200 we would have spent in disposables (and that's only calculating 4 months, not 5, and only 6 diapers a day - not including the other 4-6 disposables we would have needed to supplement the rest of her daily need (10-12 diapers/day)).

8 weeks, XS diaper

A few weeks ago, our baby girl outgrew these diapers. I just loved their adorable girly colors, so I had her in them for a bit too long. We can no longer snap them well enough and they are starting to leak because she has clearly outgrown them.

3 months, XS diaper

 Thankfully, I also have a (very expensive) package of 6 size Small Charlie Banana diapers, which she started to fit into at about 4 months. We are also using the one-size diapers now, although I still don't prefer them as much since they are a little bulky. I am able to do diaper laundry every 2-3 days now instead of every single day since I have so many more diapers that fit her.

5 months, XS diaper

 It's weird to watch her graduate through sizes of things. She is growing so fast!

Gillian, 5 months still in the size XS

When people ask for advice on cloth diapering, I don't have much to recommend (although i loooove to talk about our experience). I think that everyone has their own way of doing things that fit best for their own lifestyles. Although, I always recommend getting a stock of size XS diapers. I am so thankful that we have had them for our little Bean.