Cloth Diapering With Charlie Banana

I’ll start by saying I was the mom that said “I will never use cloth diapers”. I didn’t understand how anyone could possibly want to wash their diapers. On most days there are at least 5 loads of laundry waiting to be done – so why add another load? I could go on & on about why I thought cloth diapers were not for me. But…

I had just made my New Year’s resolution to make my house “greener”, when I got an email from someone I was working with, asking if I would try Charlie Banana reusable diapers.

So, I thought about it. I really thought hard, because I wouldn’t want to write about something I didn’t truly want to use in our house. I decided to give them a try. I know how much better they are for babies & the environment (read more about that on the Charlie Banana site by clicking here). I just thought it was going to be a lot of work & really messy.

And…

I love them. They really are so much easier to use then I would have ever imagined. We don’t use them 100% of the time, like my other “green goals” I’m easing into it.

A few things I think are awesome about Charlie Banana reusable diapers:

– The liners: they are super absorbent & easy to clean.

– The one size diaper. These diapers literally grow with your kids. Alex is 21lbs & Maggie is 33 lbs & they fit both of them. This same size would fit a much smaller baby too.

– They are super soft. This is nice for any age, but it was really helpful when potty training Maggie. Once she ditched diapers & started wearing underwear, she wasn’t keen on putting one on at night (but needed on). She was fine with putting on a Charlie Banana diaper because it felt soft like underwear.

– The option of the disposable pad. I will admit, one reason I was very anti-cloth diaper was the thought of carrying around a dirty diaper after changing Alex, while we were out & about. The disposable liners are great. If we are heading out of the house, I just use one of the liners instead & can throw it away if she needs to be changed while we are out.

There is more info on the Charlie Banana website, but here is their basic diagram on how the two different types of inserts work:

Another Charlie Banana favorite: the reusable swim diaper that doubles as training pants. If you spot these in Target, don’t be fooled by how thin they are: these babies are super absorbent! We use these instead of pull ups & Maggie still goes down to nap with a giant cup of milk (I know it’s not the best habit).

For the pool, they cost less then a pack of disposable swim diapers & work so much better. I’ve also tried a lot of reusable swim diapers & never had them “hold it all in” like these.