[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post in our Secrets of the Frugal Mom blog, contributed by MetroFamily’s Calendar Editor Sara Riester. Sara is a mother of two young children, and cloth diapers her youngest. She explains below how she came to cloth diapering and shares her experiences with the new GoGreen cloth diapers. See below for your chance to win a starter kit!]
When I was making the decision between cloth and disposable diapers while expecting my son, there was little doubt in my mind that I would be using disposables. The image I had of cloth diapering was from when my little brother was a baby 21 years ago. I remember the pins, plastic pants and the giant diaper pail filled with bleach water. I was unaware of the innovations in cloth diapers that have made them easy, adorable, affordable and far less likely to draw blood.
My venture into the world of cloth diapers began when my son was far past potty training and my daughter was 9 months old. Morgan from Green Bambino in OKC was on my television screen holding up two boxes of Econobum diapers and saying, “$100 will diaper your child from birth to potty training.” What?! I spent at least that much for 2 months worth of disposables. The very next day, I went out and bought my daughter’s first cloth diapers.
I was hooked right away. I loved being able to reuse the diapers instead of throwing them away. I loved having fabric and natural fibers next to my baby’s skin instead of plastic and chemicals. Most of all, I loved the money that I was going to save not having to buy diapers ever again since the one-size diapers adjust to fit birth to potty training. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have spent more than $100 on cloth diapers. I have indulged in the cute prints and trendy colors, but the beauty of it is, I didn’t have to. Despite my weakness for pretty colors, I have still spent far less than I would have on disposables. Instead of throwing that money in the trash after every diaper change, I now have a stash of diapers that can be reused for another baby or sold for use by another family.
This past week, I have had the pleasure of testing the Champ 2.0 by GoGreen Pocket Diapers. In my experience, this diaper has kept my daughter dry even when the insert has been soaked and has never leaked. It is one of the less expensive pocket diapers on the market, but does not lack for quality. It is as durable and well made as the more expensive brands.
The Champ 2.0 is a one-size diaper that adjusts with several sets of snaps so that it will fit most babies from birth to potty training (the website indicates that it should fit preemie-45+ pounds). There are a lot of one-size diapers out there, but this one has the most snap settings for the greatest range of sizing that I have seen on the pocket diapers that I have used. The second largest setting of this diaper seems to have more room to grow on my 20-month old daughter than the largest settings on other pocket diapers that I have tried. With so many snaps, it is easy to get a good fit. This all means that you do not need to buy a new set of diapers every time your baby has a growth spurt, which is good news for your wallet. It also allows parents to use the same set of diapers on children of different ages and sizes.
The Champ 2.0 has two pocket openings that make stuffing the insert into the diaper easier and allow the insert to come out by itself in the wash instead of having to dig a wet or dirty insert out by hand. I was skeptical of this claim and fully expected to have to dig the insert out for the rinse cycle, but I was amazed to find that the insert did come out by itself in the wash cycle of my front-loading washer (even though I forgot to unsnap it).
Another feature of this diaper is that it has an extra set of gussets on the inside of the diaper to help keep messes away from the leg holes. Each Champ 2.0 comes with one snap in liner. The snap helps to keep the liner in place so that it does not get scrunched up inside the pocket. The liner provided is very absorbent and worked well in the daytime, but in my experience, any pocket diaper requires at least two inserts to make it through the night or a heavy wetter’s naptime. The Champ 2.0 worked great with two liners for a naptime after my daughter had downed a glass of milk for lunch and a bottle of water shortly after. The liners were soaked, but no leaks. Extra liners for the Champ 2.0 are sold separately, and it is recommended to have a few extras on hand for such occasions.
I also love that this diaper has hip snaps in addition to the regular snaps on the waistband. It helps to keep the diaper on and in place like it is supposed to be. Overall, the Champ 2.0 is a high quality pocket diaper at a low price that really gets the job done. For more information about the GoGreen Pocket Diapers, visit www.gogreenpocketdiapers.com or find them on Facebook.
