When I found out I was pregnant last September, I had decided that I really wanted to go for cloth diapers, especially after what I saw while working at a day care that past July. Kids would have nasty diaper rashes, and the chemicals! I thought about how my child would be sitting in chemicals all day, EVERY day for almost 3 years! That couldn't be good for the baby, right? I started to really look into some studies about disposable diapers and started to read about how disposable diapers were linked to causing asthma in children and how there were no government regulations on the chemicals in the diapers. When I started to talk to family members and others who had children about my desire to cloth diaper my soon-to-arrive little one, I was met with all sorts of protests.
"Eww, you'll have to touch POOP!"
"Your house is going to smell like dirty diapers!"
"Why would you ever do that?!? It's so much harder and messier!"
"You're going to have 3x more laundry!"
The list of reactions goes on and on...
I was basically convinced out of cloth diapering by the opinions of others and resigned myself to the "convenience" of disposable diapers. I mean everyone else put their child in cloth diapers and they turned out OK. I was a bit sad about that decision, but I decided to just follow what "everyone else" I knew had done. I kind of regret not just doing what I wanted.
After out little one arrived on April 30th (4 weeks early) , we quickly fell into the routine of changing our little boys diapers every 2 hours after he ate. I couldn't believe how many diapers this little boy went through each day. I couldn't believe the expense either, but we kept with it because it was convenient.
Cut to about 3 weeks ago when I had gone to the local baby shop to pick up more burp cloths, and I picked up the Gerber cloth diapers with the big padded middle to use as burp cloths. I brought them home and started thinking about cloth diapers, and how easy they looked to use (I'm still in the dark about other diapers besides prefolds at this point) and decided to see what it took to cloth diaper on the baby shops website. When I typed in "cloth diapers" I was amazed at what I was seeing, there were all these other options, pocket diapers, one size diapers, all-in-ones. I was confused and fascinated at the same time! I decided to search the Internet looking for cloth diapering 101-type websites that would explain these new diapers I was seeing for the first time.
As I went through the search results and started reading up on the other types of cloth diapers out there beside prefolds, I was beginning to think that cloth diapering was in my future! As I started to really read up, I was learning that cloth diapering is not as messy, stinky or hard as everyone was making it out to be! Diapers had fleece linings with absorbent inserts, you didn't need to rinse breastfed or formula fed poops in the toilet, they washed easily with just a soak, wash and extra rinse and I could line dry them OR dry them in my dryer! I wouldn't have to touch poop! I could buy cloth diapers that resembled disposables and would last my little boy from now until he potty trained! I went for it!
I chose cloth diapering for a number of personal reasons and I believe that "to each their own" completely applies to this decision, what works for me and what I want for my child, means it works for everyone.
I chose cloth diapering because:
1. It is affordable, I I didn't spend much on cloth diapers, what I did spend included: 59 diapers (All-in-Ones, Pockets, and some Hybrids), 31 Reusable Cloth Wipes, Detergent, Pail Freshener, A Tub of Cloth Diaper Friendly Diaper Rash Cream, 2- 4 oz bottles of Happy Heiny Wash, a Diaper Sprayer, 6 Wet Bags/Pail Liners, 23 Extra liners (from various brands so I can experiment with doubling up/liner preference), and 6 prefolds (for liners). With all I ordered, 6 of those diapers were free, 2 of the wet bags were free and I received a free pair of babylegs free with some of my orders. I know it's a lot BUT, I will never have to buy him diapers again, and I most likely won't have to buy a lot for the next baby. Plus, I got a bit obsessed...whoops! BUT I probably saved close to $2,000.00 in disposable diapers, and it will be EVEN more with our subsequent children!
2. My son will not be sitting in chemicals, which studies have shown can cause asthma in children and low sperm count in boys, along with many other things. Diapers are also treated in chlorine (except for organic ones) and ALL diapers (even the organic ones) contain a gel that absorbs moisture which is created from petroleum.
3. They are cute!
4. I am a bit of a crunchy, granola hippie at heart and I love the idea of creating less waste! Did you know that disposable diapers are estimated to take 250-500 YEARS to break down? AND that you are supposed to wipe/knock off all fecal matter into a toilet before disposing of your diaper? (it is actually illegal and harmful to the environment to dump human waste into a landfill because of the potential of the human waste to wash into runoff water which can contaminate our water sources?)
5.Most babies who are cloth diapered potty train earlier!
When I finally made this announcement online that I was switching to cloth diapers, I still got a lot of bad feedback, people saying it's a pain to wash them, etc. But I did get a few encouraging comments, especially the one person who called me brave for just going for it! I also find that once I can explain the new cloth diapers, people seem to change their opinion of my choice.
I think it's important that we all make our own decisions AFTER getting the facts, and I think that most people are very uninformed about disposable diapers and cloth diapers. It took me about a week to make a final decision and that was AFTER a ton of research lurking on message boards, reading reviews and comparing a ton of prices. I made the mistake of buying my first set of diapers through one website before discovering another website (kellyscloset.com) that had better prices, some great coupons (this is where I got all my free diapers and a free pair of babylegs), and also had a reward program where you can get 1 point for every dollar you spend and I have had amazing customer service! My other favorite website is cottonbabies.com, great product and great customer service!
Some great resources I have used while researching are diaperpin.com, diaperswappers.com, theclothdiaperwhisperer.com, jilliansdrawers.com/newtocloth, and www.cottonbabies.com/clothdiapers.php
There are a TON of other websites out there that can give you a lot of great information, you just have to search for it online.
I personally love FuzziBunz One Size
, BumGenius 3.0 One Size
, BumGenius Elemental Diapers
, Happy Heinys One Size
, Smarti Pants One Size
, Knickernappies One Size
, Rumparooz, GroVia, Flip One Size, BabyKicks, and Tweedle Bugs.There are a few other great ones, and you can see them all if you go to Kelly's Closet
I am glad I made the switch!
Hope you enjoy it too if you decide to cloth diaper!
Disclaimer: Any links posted in this blog are for my Amazon and kellyscloset.com affiliate programs which means if you click on them and buy something I get a kickback. Websites NOT included in the affiliate program are : diaperpin.com, diaperswappers.com, theclothdiaperwhisperer.com, jilliansdrawers.com/newtocloth, and www.cottonbabies.com/clothdiapers.php, and cottonbabies.com
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