Cloth Diapering

Note: There's a lot of links here which I hope you will explore, baby or no baby. Who knows? Maybe you'll change your mind on how you will/would handle diapering in the future. Just make sure to come back and check out the rest of the post! Maybe open the links in a new tab so you can mark them for future reference. On with the post!

I was pretty sure growing up that I'd never use cloth diapers, I mean, come on, poop on cloth? Ick. That was bad enough in changing "regular" diapers as a teenager while babysitting. Then I found out that diapers really do cost a lot. I was figuring about a package or two a month, but then I found out that diapers do not all come in the same size package, and they get more expensive for fewer the bigger they get. And they're only in the cheap sizes for a few months. Ouch.

I read this on Lotus's site and figured I should probably get some actual facts instead of just how I was thinking things really are. I'd heard about people cloth diapering, but it was always always in conjunction with a diaper service, where someone else came and took the stink away in a big old diesel hogging truck, used tons of water and other resources. Of course duh (smacks forehead), it never occured to me that gee, you could do them at home (possibly combining poopy or throw-upy clothes as well) in a load and save gobs of money, diesel fuel, not to mention if you were using disposables, well, the trees, oil, and other gunk it takes to make up those things. Also the 500 years in a landfill that we don't really have space for. That would leave burning them, but that releases all those chemicals into the atmosphere, so, well, let's just say I figured that cloth diapering was starting to sound REASONABLE not to mention better for our earth. And of course it occured to me, that duh you can wash the diapers every couple of days, but the trash sits around for at least a week. You have to 'smell' either a trash can or a diaper pail about the same way, so what is the difference? I couldnt figure it out. Then came the old research bug and I found this info. Basically saying I could cloth diaper for what about 6 months of 'regular' diapers would cost. Wow!

So I started researching cloth diapers a little more and came across this site that had reviews on it. I had NO IDEA there were that many kinds of cloth diapers out there. A long way away from the 'walmart' kind that everyone uses for burp cloths now. Crazy stuff. Of course, everyone has their own favorites, so it is really hard to decide what to go with. Several people I messaged from Lotus's blog said that they had their favorites and basically you should go with what you think you want, maybe try a few kinds at first and then really go hog wild with buying stuff once you know. That seems like pretty good advice.

One thing of course I was curious about was the prefold diapers with covers. If you've clicked on any of the links yet (which I highly recommend!) you may have seen that there are hundreds of types of diapers, all in ones (like disposable, but not), pocket, etc etc, but what intrigued me was of course what was mentioned in the frugal diapering link that compared the cost of disposables to prefold cloth. How do you fold them or what exactly do you do? I found that info here.

No late night 'runs' to the store for diapers, just toss some in the wash when you're running low and voila, you don't have to go anywhere, pack up the baby, or lose sleep, you just run them through the machine and poof! New diapers!

Basically, I think I've talked myself into trying cloth diapering, at least for the breast feeding period and perhaps the whole way through. I hate to think of such waste. Note: I'm not knocking those who dont want to or can't deal with cloth, just saying, I think it may be a good option for us. I plan on being a stay at home mom for the duration of diaper years at least. My husband seems to agree on the diapering, at least at the outset. Come to think of it, he doesnt really argue with me much anymore. I think he's finally realized it isn't worth it to argue. Awesome, no? Sure, we discuss stuff, but if its not worth arguing over (life changing) then why do it? We have better things to discuss. Neat, huh?

Side tracked, anyway, I figure if you're already handing the 'yuck' from a diaper, or an exploded diaper, on the clothes, sheets, whatever, then it's probably not any more 'gross' to deal with a cloth diaper on a daily basis. You're already right there dealing with it, right?

Granted my experience here is limited, but that's just what I'm thinking. What do you think?