Now you know why I’ve chosen to cloth diaper, but I promise I’ve got plenty of hesitations and doubts too. There might actually be more bullets on my hesitations list than my why list! Read on…

Rashes: I know in my why blog I said decreased rashes, BUT now I’m part of a few cloth diapering Facebook pages and seeing tons about rashes. Wetness rashes, ammonia rashes, detergent rashes…so many rashes and it’s super overwhelming! I just need to remember that the Facebook page I’m seeing all of these rashes on is a troubleshooting page where people go when they have problems! There are TONS of people who never have any issues and I just don’t hear about their successes because they’re not on the Facebook page asking for advice…all is going well!

Wash Routine:  So I should probably just not be a part of this Facebook page until I actually have issues and need help because it also has me freaking out about wash routines! I knew I’d need to wash my diapers separately but figured I just throw them in and wash them like any other load. Apparently this may not be the case. Apparently…front loaders aren’t great for cloth because they use less water and don’t have an agitator! To get poopy diapers clean you need water and agitation. So…if you’re load isn’t real full you actually need to add items to it to add bulk which gets more water but specifically more agitation because they all rub against each other to get clean! Apparently powder detergents work better than liquid and some detergents aren’t recommended at all! Water hardness and pH can also alter the wash routine so I bought test strips to figure out where our water stands! Holy moly it sounds like there is going to be some serious trial and error!

Leaks:  Another one contradicting my why list! I haven’t heard bad things about poopy blowouts which makes me feel real good but apparently pee leaks can be an issue. Babies can outgrow the absorbency of the diapers or they can get compression leaks from onesies and clothing. If the fit isn’t just right they can get leaks out of leg gaps or out the back/front wherever! Luckily, Etsy sells onesie extenders which help onesies fit better over bulky cloth diapers which can help prevent compression leaks!

Bulky Butt/Tight Clothing:  This hesitation may be a little silly, but I’m nervous about how bulky cloth diaper bottoms can be and how well clothes will fit! I’ve read that mamas who cloth diaper have to size up early in clothing so they’ll fit over the big bottoms but then they may be too long and I’m just not sure I love how bulky some cloth diapers look! I’m pretty sure I’ve found a solution to this problem which you’ll find out more about when you see my stash and the style of diapers I’ve chose to go with!

Night Time and On the Go Diaper Changes:  Cloth seems a whole lot more intimidating when I’m trying to change a diaper while sleep deprived in the middle of the night or while on the go at a restaurant/store. I’d love to stay away from disposables completely but I’m also being realistic and may have a sposie stash to take on the go. When I talk about my stash you’ll see my nighttime/on the go cloth solutions too!

Solid Poo:  Solid poo scares me. I know I’ve got a while before I need to worry about solid poo, but it still scares me. Exclusive breastmilk poo is water soluble and requires nothing special, but solid poo must be flushed and that just doesn’t sound real great! I’ve hopefully got a solution for this too…which I’ll show you when I blog about my stash!

Dirty Diaper Storage:  This is another area I’m just not sure about. I’ve read that some people have no issue with smells and other people do…so I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll have enough diapers to wash every 2 or 3 days so the dirty ones will have to be stored somewhere while waiting for wash day. Some people love diaper pails and wet bags, but I’ve also heard it is not pleasant opening them up on wash day! Some people swear by laundry hampers with airflow so I just don’t know! I’m still working on my plan for this one!

I think that’s about it for my hesitations! I think I just need to relax and wait and see how it goes for us! I’ll share my good and bad as we’re doing it live!