Whenever a newly pregnant woman tells someone that they are planning on cloth diapering their baby, they are inevitably met with the same response: a disbelieving smirk. Trust me on this one, I have been on the receiving end of this very annoying gaze more times than I care to count for almost a year now.
At first, I was on the fence about cloth diapering; mainly because of the common perception that disposables are so much easier that has completely pervaded our culture. Then I actually researched it.
Modern cloth diapering is really very simple, especially for the first six months if the baby is exclusively breastfed. My hubby jokes that breastmilk poo is this magical substance. Supposedly, it doesn’t smell bad and it completely dissolves in water, making it safe to just throw the dirty diapers into the washing machine. As to the smell, it’s not horrible, but I find it funny that sweet smelling breastmilk poo is listed often as a benefit of breastfeeding. I can, however, attest to the fact that it does seem to magically disappear in the washing machine.
Once I found out about this magical disappearing act, I was sold. I figured that even if I only use cloth diapers for the first six months, that is still saving the world from at least a thousand dirty disposables in the landfills.
So far, I have been completely happy with the results. We haven’t had one case of diaper rash, which judging from all the diaper rash advertisements, seems like a national epidemic. I also haven’t had to send hubby out at 2:00 am because we ran out of diapers. All this and the cloth diapers these days work the same as disposables, meaning no pins and very few leaks (certainly no more than we have had the few times that we’ve used disposables).
Baby stuff galore:
I am so glad to see you decided on cloth diapers. I know that look you talk about, my sister gave it to me. I have been cloth diapering for almost 2 years. My son actually just started wearing underpants a couple of days ago.
The good news is that even after the first 6 months it’s not that bad at all.
I’m glad that it isn’t that hard even after the six month mark. Congrats on starting on underpants with your son.
Congrats on the cloth diapering….
It was the best decision we ever made! We used cloth all the way up to DS potty training – and never looked back. Reading your post made me think about the fact that we never had to run out in the middle of the night for anything, either. We were very fortunate to be able to breastfeed – so no midnight runs for formula, either.
He was breastfed until he was 18 months. (Yes – we did give him real food at 6 months. Tofu with yogurt on top and avacado on the side was a favorite…) Once you have moved beyond exclusively breastfeeding, there is nothing magical about what comes out.
hee hee
SO….a suggestion (not that I like giving those out unsolicited) would be to invest in a toilet sprayer/bidet. They are about $35 online, and they are the BEST investment. No soaking the diapers….just rinse and put in the dry pail to await laundry day.
My DH stayed home the first few months with cloth diapers, and after he got to use the sprayer, he was completely sold on cloth and is the first one to tell anyone that will listen how great cloth diapering is….for the baby…for the parents….for the future of the earth.
I can see a sprayer will be in our future. I haven’t bothered to install one yet, but I know ones the poo needs to be rinsed off, we will definitely need one.
He is such a chunky little thing!!! Adorable!
He sure is! He’s growing like a weed.
Lots of baby chunk in adorable cloth diapers is one of my favorite things at the moment.
Glad it’s also going well for you.
Thanks Lindsey!
Good for you! I’m not even close to having a baby yet (finish school, blah blah blah) but that is something I’ve always planned to do. My mom used cloth on my brother and I, and is also convinced that disposables create too much heat that is bad for a little boys privates … !
I wonder how much cooler the cloth diapers are than disposables? I’m glad that you are planning on using them when the time comes!