when i was pregnant with cooper, i received a postcard in something i ordered about cloth diapers. it caught my attention. i had this archaic image of cloth diapers, you know the one. gerber diapers with safety pins. but these were easy, stylish and looked like disposable diapers. i began researching the topic and was appalled at how horrible disposable diaper are for the environment. precious husband and discussed this at great length and made the decision that we were going to do our part by using cloth diapers. after reading many reviews, i settled on this brand and placed my order. i had decided i would start using the diapers when cooper was 12 weeks old, mainly because it would be easier to use disposable in those first weeks with a newborn.
as bean gets closer to 12 weeks old, i move closer to my commitment to the planet and i am conflicted. i am embarrassed to state my reasoning, basically it is about convenience. i am lazy. lets face it disposable diapers are easier. cloth diapers mean more laundry and one more thing for me to do in my day. they also mean that i am not dumping all that waste into a landfill and harming the planet. we are leaving a smaller footprint and doing our part to help the planet. by using them we are also setting a good example for our son. i want to teach him to make wise, thoughtful decisions, not decisions based on convenience. but the extra laundry.......
i am ok with being conflicted for now. but when i return home from santa fe at the end of may, conflicted or not, i am going to use the cloth diapers. i need to attempt to do my part to help the planet. all i can do is try.
I felt the same way as you do when I had my first son. When my second son was born, we decided to try cloth diapers and I loved them. After you get used to doing a bit more laundry and the new routing of cloth vs disposable, it becomes a natural habit you don't even think twice about. (Getting microfleece covered soakers really helped, too. They keep the baby drier and soak up a LOT more moisture. They also help keep the diaper from getting as stained!) When my second son was 23 months old, we had twins. So for about 7 months we had three children (a 2-yr old and newborn twins in cloth diapers) and even though we were now doing tons of laundry it is SO much better for a few reasons. First, there are the obvious environmental,ethical, and economic reasons, but then there are the ones that you don't really hear about as often: Cloth diapers do not smell nearly as bad as disposable ones do. Not only do paper diapers actually have a chemical smell, the waste (wet or otherwise) smells much worse in paper diapers. Also - unless you are exceedingly lucky with the shape of your baby, most paper diapers leak all the time. I think I had one single incident where the cloth diaper leaked a tiny bit when I didn't change a baby promptly compared to dozens and dozens of times with the paper and I used cloth on three babies, not just one! Lastly, children all toilet train at different ages, but the cloth diapers really do seem to help speed up the process. Good luck. It can seem overwhelming at first, but give yourself and chance to get used to it and hopefully it will become second nature to you, too! All the best!
ReplyDeleteLucinda, I think I could have written this post...that's exactly how I am feeling. As soon as Charlotte grows out of her size 1 diapers we are changing to cloth! Good luck to both of us :)
ReplyDeleteHi, I read your blog all the time. My second child is a few days older than Chace. I use g.dia.pers which are a hybrid cloth with disposable insert. I love them, they are great. You are supposed to be able to flush them, but our system doesn't cope well with it. Either way, they don't have a heap of plastic inside and I've been using them since she was 2 weeks old. Good luck
ReplyDeleteI've used BumGenius for over two years with my first child, and after minor repairs with a sewing machine and a velcro replacement kit from the company, they are fresh for my second child. You get over the extra laundry quickly and rejoice in how much money you save.
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