The great diaper prep

The baby shower last weekend was fantastic. Everyone was so thoughtful, and it was nice to be at a baby shower and not be terrified of babies (which describes every shower I've been to up until now.) It's always a little weird to put a bunch of not very girly girls in a situation that inherently calls for girliness, but I, for one, enjoy it on occasion. And the few women I know with children brought them, so it was nice to get to pick their brains. Lastly, it was nice to be able to talk freely about the one thing that plagues my mind these days and not feel out of line. Now we just have a few little odds and ends to get and we'll be ready.

I have finally started to prep my natural fiber dipes, and man is it confusing. I really can understand why many women are daunted by cloth diapers. First, the confusion of the lingo and choosing which diapers to buy. Next, the confusion of prepping and laundering. There are so many options, so many recommendations, so many intensely held debates. I will document here the prepping path I have chosen, though will not be able to fill you in for a month yet as to whether it worked for me. I'm also going to update my sidebar with the links that have been most helpful and most simplistic in choosing which way to go.

1st load: Synthetic diapers and covers (Bum Genius and Bumkins) and covers, 1 tbs Charlie's soap, hot water wash, cold water rinse and line dry.

2nd load: bleached indian prefolds, 1 tbs Charlie's soap, hot water wash, cold water rinse and line dry.

3rd load: unbleached Greeen Mountain Diaper prefolds, drybees bamboo fitteds and kissaluv fitteds. First I boiled them for ~20 minutes with 1 tbs Charlie's, then rinsed with the hose. Then a hot water wash with 1 tbs Charlie's and a cold water rinse, followed by line dry.

I have already read since my boil that I shouldn't have boiled anything with snaps as it can ruin them, but the snaps look just fine to me. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.