The cloth diaper experiment

I finally followed my conscience and bought a trial kit of cloth diapers. I've been debating with myself for the past 6 months whether this was the way to go or not and my eco-friendly side finally won. There are valid arguments for and against cloth diapers being the way to go, these are the reasons I finally chose to give it a whirl:

• we're going through an overwhelmingly large amount of disposable, yet un-biodegredable diapers - a huge waste for our landfills
• my plan is to keep some disposables on hand for times when I may need them but for the most part I will be sticking to cloth diapers.
• if properly cared for they can be used for 2-3 babies - then I'm told they make excellent rags for cleaning
• they're not like cloth diapers of the past with complicated folding and pining required - they're actually quite cute and not too bulky - using snaps and/or velcro
• the amount of water and energy consumed in paper mills to produce disposable diapers is much greater than that used to clean cloth diapers

We started today with the 3 covers, 9 inserts and a travel bag provided in the kit. I can see we will need to have at least a 15 more inserts, a dozen covers, 2 dirty diaper bags and 1 travel bag to make using and washing efficient. The initial start-up cost is a bit steep so I will be building my collection over the next few weeks. We're using AppleCheeks (made in Canada) right now but I may try Mother-ease, or another brand if someone has a suggestion. The AppleCheeks system works with pre-fold liners and covers where Mother-ease uses one-size cloth diapers with covers. 

So far so good, although I haven't had to change a poopy diaper yet... can't be much different than a regular diaper, other than shaking off poop into the toilet when she starts eating solid foods; strictly breastmilk fed poop is water soluble. 

Feel free to give me your opinions. I will keep you posted on the result of changing.