Photo Credit: Love and Whimsy PhotographyI didn't know it was possible to become addicted to diapers. Cloth diapers, that is. We are in love with them! Who knew that cute prints and fluffy little bottoms would be something I didn't get tired of?
We've been "CDing" it (cloth diapering) for 7 weeks now and I love it even more than I did when we first started. There are some that would be skeptical about starting to cloth diaper, but let me expel some myths for you about cloth diapering.
1. "I'll have to use pins and old Birdseye cloth diapers. What a hassle, not to mention unflattering."
Nope. Truth is there are so many options out there for cloth diapering mommies and daddies now that it can actually be like trying to find a prom dress. They're all so cute, but which ones do I choose? We have a variety of cloth diapers to choose from, which I like. I'm glad we aren't an "all one system" family. My husband has his favorites and I have mine. Surprisingly, my favorites are prefolds! (These are the ones that are most similar to the cloth diapers our grandparents used. But the upgrade is no pins and they have the most adorable diaper covers for them!) My husband prefers the pocket diapers. These are diapers you can use just like a disposable, except they're reusable! Each night after the diapers are clean and dry, I stuff microfiber inserts into the pocket liners and then they're ready to use the next morning. You put them on baby just like a regular diaper! Diaper changes are fast and easy!
2. "I'll have to spend so much money up front. We just can't afford it."Well, this might be somewhat true but not completely. When you figure in the cost of buying newborn diapers for the first month or two, you've about covered your cost. The beauty of cloth diapering is you spend it once and don't have to spend money again! (Unless you get sucked into buying more diapers because they're so cute...not that I do that...) Cloth diapering can be done as little as around $100, upwards to $400-500. It just depends on the system you choose. As I mentioned, we chose a mixture of diapers including all-in-ones, pockets, prefolds, and fitteds. To date, I spent around $300 total. That included about 24 different diapers, diaper creams, detergent, snappies and a wet bag. I would have spent this on disposables within the first two or so months.
3. "They'll be so messy. Eww. Can't deal with all the poo."
Seriously? Have you ever used a disposable? They are notorious for blowouts and leaks! Another great thing about cloth diapers is that they fit around your child better to contain blowouts and leaks. Unlike a disposable, cloth diapers have elastic in the back, containing blowouts and leaks better. And washing them is a breeze. Because Dominic is strictly breastfed, his dirty diapers are totally water soluble. At night, I just toss the whole wet bag of diapers in and wash up! No mess, no hassle. When he starts solids, I'll have a nifty little device called a diaper sprayer that will just spray the poo off into the toilet. No dunking and swirling required. And really, if you're afraid of poo, you might rethink being a parent if you haven't had kids yet. Poo is inevitable, as is spit up, vomit, and getting peed on. Get used to it.
4. "It's a total pain to wash all those diapers. And you're using up so much water!"
Wrong. It's easy. I actually look forward to doing my diaper laundry. I know that sounds strange since I dispise all other kinds of laundry. But doing fluffy laundry is fun! How can you deny that a full clothesline of diapers is stinkin' cute? And if we're talking about harming the environment, have you considered how many disposable diapers are just sitting in landfills, NOT breaking down? Billions! Sure, we use a little more water now that we're doing an extra load of laundry a day. But compared to the harm those disposables are doing in landfills, I think my conscience can rest happily knowing I'm not putting another diaper in our landfills.
Photo Credit: Love and Whimsy PhotographySure they are! That's why amazing women (and men) around the globe have come up with new and improved cloth diapering systems that cater to busy parents. Packing up a few cloth diapers when I go out is no more impractical than carrying several disposables in a diaper bag. I have a little wet bag that I keep in my diaper bag that the used diaper can go into. Then I take it home and wash it up with the rest of the day's diapers. Now I realize that cloth diapering can intimate folks that are not used to it or have no experience with it. I haven't jumped ship entirely and abandoned disposables all together. If I were leaving my child in the church nursery, at this point, I'd probably send my baby in a disposable. But if it's just me, toolin' around town, we're CDing all the way! They're no more of a pain than changing a disposable and I can use my diapers all over again the next day!
As I stated in an earlier post about cloth diapering, we are not doing this entirely for the "green" reasons. Our driving force behind cloth diapering our son was to save money. Let's face it, times are tough and money's tight in a one income household. You've got to pinch pennies where you can. We've found that cloth diapering our baby is an easy and fun way to do this. I'm not against disposables for others. If that works best for you, go for it. But this system has been life changing for us and I wish I had figured CDing out earlier and had used them for Gabriel. We could have saved thousands of dollars, literally.
If you're throwing around the idea of CDing your babies, I'd encourage you to do a lot of research to figure out what system would work best for you. You might want to use a hybrid system like me, or maybe you've fallen in love with a particular brand. Give it a shot and try it out for a couple months. In the end, if you try it out and don't like it (which I haven't heard many that don't) you can always go back. All you've spent is a couple months worth of diapers. Check out great information websites like theclothdiaperwhisperer.com, kellyscloset.com, jackbenatural.com, and diaperjungle.com. These are just a few sites that have great information and are great places to purchase cloth. Or host a diaper party! I did this (see Febuary's posts for my experience with this), and loved it. It was so informative and allowed me to really decide what kind of system I'd want to invest in. Bottom line, consider it. My guess is you'll fall in love with it too. Then you may be trying to figure out how to come up with extra money to purchase more fluff for your baby...not that I do that either.
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Good post!! :) We're the same way in our house. I like prefolds and the hubby likes pockets. Go figure!
ReplyDeleteAlso another thing I love is resale! Cloth diapers have a great resale value! You can recoup some of what you spent or trade out for diapers you like better than others. :)
You know I love this topic Kristina! Cloth is so practical, fun, a money saver, healthier for baby & the environment. What did you end up doing for detergent? Lately, I've just been using Free & Clear detergent but I notice the diapers don't get as clean. I have to strip them more often. I'm going to switch back to Rockin' Green.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad everything is working out so well for you. Dominic is so adorable! Congrats!
So happy for you. I wish more parents would switch to cloth. My faves were the fitted diapers with a pretty Thirsties cover over them. Bill liked the all-in-ones.
ReplyDeleteTo address the question from unforeseenexpressions... I read that the cheaper the detergent the better because more expensive detergents have additives for softening, etc, that are not good for diapers or for baby's skin. For example, Dreft is bad, bad for diapers. I used the Purex free and clear, and that worked great for us.
I am sooo excited you are gaga over cloth! I too love doing the CD laundry and pulling my fresh sunkissed diapers from the line:)
ReplyDeleteI use a little vinegar and tea tree oil in my laundry and use the G-Diapers. They smell fresh and clean, non irritating, and they are still in great shape.