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I am a busy parent. Are any parents not busy? I have a 27
month old son and an 8 month old daughter. Unfortunately for my son, I learned
many of my mistakes on him that I now do differently for my daughter. He’s
turned out all right (so far!) but I feel I’ve learned a lot along the way about
not just doing for our children, but doing what’s best.
I stumbled into cloth diapering on accident. My son had
been wearing disposables for a year and a half, and then my daughter came along.
It’s amazing how your viewpoint changes when you see twice the number of dirty
diapers leaving your house each week! Yikes! I still never considered cloth,
because I didn’t want to mess with those pesky rectangular poop catchers that
you somehow had to fashion onto the baby with pins without drawing blood, and
well enough to hold in poop. People who used cloth were crazy!
Then I caught wind of a new cloth diapering generation,
where diapers were fitted, contoured, with snaps or Velcro. They had elastic,
colors and fun prints! Some even had the cover built it, and some were even
self-cleaning! Okay, maybe not self-cleaning, but these things were cool.
Different styles and makers can be found on the internet, where work at home
moms dominate the market place. You will not find the best selection at big name
baby stores like Babies R Us, because I guess they don’t think the 15% of babies
who are cloth diapered are a big enough market. There are also so many different
kinds available, they probably wouldn’t know where to start.
Even with all of the cool diapering products out there,
most people run from the thought of cloth diapering because they abhor laundry.
And adding more to their current load is just out of the question. But it really
isn’t that bad. I was afraid after my $200 investment I would grow tired of the
laundry and give up. Not only did I keep it up, I added my son into our cloth
diapering venture and we have been at it now for 7 months. I won’t pretend that
I’ve never thought to myself, “I have to wash diapers again?!” But for
the most part, it’s so easy that I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Diapers don’t have to be soaked in a wet bucket. They don’t
have to be dunked and swished in the toilet. They don’t even require much
detergent! Only about half to one-fourth the recommended amount is necessary to
get the diapers clean. Any more than that, and you might have detergent residue
problems that will actually make the diapers stink. When I change a diaper, I
wipe with a wet cloth, dump any poop into the toilet, and then place the dirty
diaper into the pail. With disposables, I would do the same thing (and yes, you
are supposed to dump poop from a disposable as well) except the diaper
goes into the trash- adding to ALL of the disposable diapers that have still not
disintegrated from the very first disposable diaper ever used. Diapers don’t
require bleach to be “clean.” If any stains remain after a good washing, you lay
them in the sun for a few hours, and the sun will bleach them out naturally.
And most importantly, you don’t have to be rich, or poor
for that matter, to cloth diaper. The initial investment is substantial, but in
the long run you end up saving thousands of dollars. Even more savings add up
when you use the same diapers on subsequent children. The most expensive cloth
diaper out there will still save you big bucks when compared to disposables. And
the cheapest- the good ol’ prefolds that you fold and pin (or Snappi) are still
used by die hard naturalists who want nothing but 100% pure or organic cotton
next to their babies’ bums. There is something available for everyone and every
size baby. If one style doesn’t seem to work, believe me, there will be others
that do. There are even stay at home moms that will make your baby custom fit
diapers. And no matter which version you choose, you can bet that they will be
more comfy than the paper and plastic you are currently putting on your baby’s
most sensitive body parts.
I really do believe that cloth diapering is what’s best for
our babies. It’s healthier, more comfy, and better for the environment that we
will be handing down to our children. I am a busy parent. But not so busy that I
can’t take a little extra time each week to do what’s best for my babies.
And if you think I’m crazy, you should talk to one of those elimination
communication parents that don’t use diapers at all! ;o) |
