The best cloth diaper advice I can offer:  Prefolds and Covers! Rather than spend a lot of money on the “newborn” or “preemie” sized diapers, as cute as they are, use prefolds and covers.  Especially for newborns, it’s important to use cloth rather than disposable diapers which can be so irritating to a new one’s skin.  Then later, the newborn prefolds can be used as boosters with larger prefolds or as soakers in pocket diapers.  I find that my best night time diaper is a pocket diaper with a microfiber insert, plus a small prefold.

Second best cloth diaper advice I have: forgive yourself for using disposables occasionally.  When going on vacation, rather than pack your stash and have to use the laundromat or your host’s washer, use either the Nature Baby Care disposable diapers or the GroVia disposable inserts (which can be used in any pocket shell or cover).  Both use biodegradable corn-based products instead of petroleum, and do not use the same chemicals as the big brand disposables that are so irritating to baby’s skin.  By using cloth the rest of the time, and doing the best you can, I think it really is okay to use eco-friendly disposables where the situation warrants.

-Missy

Hi, I’m Missy.  =)

As a child of the 70s, I fondly remember the “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” campaign, the push to make Earth Day a thing, and the earlier stages of the movement to start living more greenly.

That said, my primary motivation for cloth diapering was frugality.  I’m so cheap I can pinch a penny until it screams.  Okay, not really, but I do hate spending money on something that will, in very short order, be in the trash can.  I’ve never been a fan of disposable napkins or paper towels, and I wouldn’t dream of using disposable plates or cutlery in my home.  So, as a stay at home mom with two small children, I revisited my idea of using cloth diapers.

I started slowly.  I sat down with a calculator and my trusty legal pad and crunched the numbers.  Unfortunately Green Bambino wasn’t open when I stared on this path.  So, I ordered a couple of diapers from a couple different sellers on Etsy.  I figured it would be worth the $40 to find out if this was something I could do.  I had mixed success with these initial diapers, but the main thing was that I found out that, Yeah, I can do this.

When Morgan opened the store, I was one of the first people through the door, eager to feel and hold the many kinds of diapers I’d only seen on the internet.  I have learned SO MUCH from Morgan and my own trial and error, and I am genuinely gratified to share my experiences and to help other parents start their own journey into cloth.