I am a very lucky mother-to-be.
Amidst the craziness and generosity of the baby shower my SIL organized for me last weekend, there was one gift in particular that stood out. This gift was not even wrapped, just a large cardboard box full of hand-me-downs. Not usually something to get excited about, right?
Yet this box contained but one thing: three children’s worth of cloth diapers, for all stages!
Now, probably many of you are wondering why this is so exciting. Well, go look up the price of a single cloth diaper online real quick, and then consider the fact that there are 74 diapers in the above picture.
We knew cloth would be the right choice for us, having seen the math comparing yearly outlay of disposables vs. cloth (not to mention environmental and heath bonuses). It’s obvious that cloth are cheaper, but the down side to them is a large initial purchase. And that, for us, has now been effectively completely removed!
Oh, there was also an equal stash of vinyl covers/diaper wraps, too…
Sure, I probably will end up buying a few more tiny-sized diapers (there are far more medium and large ones in the new stash than smalls). And I much prefer the idea of wool soakers and longies to the plastic pants. But the thing of it is, these are now choices, not needs, and for that I am very grateful!
So, anyone got a favorite wool diaper-cover knitting pattern?
Aemmeleia's Ephemera 
And hand-me-downs are much more “green” than buying new. Awesome! Good luck with the wool diaper-covers. That does sound better than plastic/vinyl.
Wow, what a super generous awesome gift!!! Lucky you, Mom! :D
Back in the early 1960s, the diapers I used for my boys were not prefolded…they were simply rectangles that had to be folded properly, depending on the gender of the baby. I had several dozen diapers and no diaper service in the small town. They got rinsed in the toilet and soaked in 20-Mule Team Borax before washing. And they say life was simpler then.
I’ve not made any myself…but woolwinder seems to like this one
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/curly-purly-soaker-pattern
Fantastic gift! I have seen the price of cloth diapers!
When my sister was born mom, my Great Aunt and I made a gazillion cloth diapers … I wonder where they all went…
Great gift!
‘Used cloth for both kids – one a boy and one a girl. The math is compelling but once you get into the groove of using them you also never have to worry about running to the store for more! You will no doubt see what a significant benefit this is!
wow, that IS lucky!
we’re thinking about cloth, but for the 1st few weeks, until we come up for air, we’ll most likely stick with the disposables.
you’re right, cloth is such a big investment to begin with! i better get organised and order a ‘trial pack’ from one of the websites, so i have a few different options to try out before i buy, when the time comes!
PS there’s a pattern on ravelry, ‘punk knitter’s wool soaker’ or something similar? it looks good, esp. in noro, and there is one project of this pattern that uses rib knit in places, making it more fitted, i want to try that one, but am not so productive at the moment (too little sleep). (the one with the ribbed section is titled lavendar something… if you PM me on ravelry i can probably send you a link?)
You are so so so lucky!!!! I have to say that if you wind up co-sleeping you will be really thankful for the vinyl covers and the pro-wraps. (Actually we use disposables for overnight just because we want Alex to sleep as much as possible and cloth diapers get so super wet after the third month…). We love using our cloth diapers during the day while we are at home, though.
You’ll probably want to go with disposables for the first week or so just until you get into a little bit of a routine (if there is such a thing with a newborn!). I also like to use NatureBaby disposables — they are fully biodegradable (I should know, one got in the diaper wash accidentally….)
Congratulations, you got a beautiful dauther. I used woolen soakers for my son, but I only have the pattern i norwegian. I used spesial yarn from Denmark, natural wool, and it was nice and easy. We had a bucket with a lid on it filled with water and some vinegar. In that way we could leave the diapers for a day before we washed them. It perhaps seem stupid, but it might save a turn of washing.