Why Cloth?

When we decided to cloth diaper, I knew we would encounter some resistance since our society generally revolves around the quick and convenient way of doing anything.   Some of the comments we receive I am prepared for and some I'm not.  Some of the most common responses we get when we tell people we have decided to cloth diaper Samuel are:  'Y'all are CRAZY!', and 'I give it 6 months, then you'll have him in disposables'.  I can understand where those people are coming from, because it honestly never crossed my mind to cloth diaper until I read a blog post from a friend of mine.  Then months later after I found out we were expecting I remembered that blog post and re-read it to refresh my memory.  At first I got overwhelmed with all the info on cloth diapering and decided to forgo it.  A couple months later, I talked with another friend who has two sons (1 in disposables and 1 in cloth) and she offered to show me her cloth diaper system.  After seeing how easy it was - yes I used the word EASY to describe cloth diapering - I was hooked.  I can imagine it is hard to understand why we would make a decision that seems so 'old fashioned', I mean why would anyone want to add to their laundry duties as well as dealing with {{gasp}} poop?  I don't intend to try to persuade anyone to drop the disposables and run for cloth.  Each is entitled to his own opinion, and I respect that.  I just really want to give some insight into why we have chosen cloth, in hopes that it will quell some of those repetitive questions we keep getting :).

 Reason #1:  Cost.  On average a family can spend upwards of $2,500 per child on disposables between birth and potty training.  That is for regular ole disposables.  If you want to get evironmentally conscious and use organic ones, you can easily add another $1,000 to that.  That's a lot of cash!   I don't know about you, but if I could save that amount of money in a couple years by doing something a different way I would certainly try it out. 

Reason #2:  Chemicals.  In doing my research, I read about all the different chemicals that are used in disposables.  At least one of them is a known carcinogen.  Carcinogen!  Cancer-causing agent.  That word alone is enough to turn my stomach.  Why would I put something that knowingly causes cancer that close to my brand new baby's skin for lengthy periods of time?  One ingredient used in disposables was banned from use in tampons because of the risk of TSS (sodium polyacrylate).  I know that is a different animal in and of itself, but seriously, if they don't want it in your body, why should it be that close to your skin 24-7?   Most disposables, if they are bleached, also release dioxin (which is a byproduct of the bleaching process).  From my research, the EPA says that dioxin is known to cause damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, and liver. 

Reason #3:  Environmental impact.  OK here comes the nature-freak in me.  Experts 'think' that 1 disposable diaper takes 500 years or more to dissentegrate. 500 years!  Add that to the fact that most people don't follow the instructions to dump any solid waste into the toilet before disposing of the diaper in the trash (I know it never occurred to me that I was supposed to do that) and you have tons and tons of poopy diapers just sitting in landfills.  Sitting there not doing anything.  That is just gross to me, and when I think of the fact that most babies use anywhere from 3,000-6,000 disposable diapers in their lifetime, I just get chills.  I don't want to add to any environmentally compromising issue if I can help it. 

So, with those three main reasons in mind, we decided that cloth was the way to go!  I hope that we are able to stick with cloth diapering Samuel until potty training.  I have already started to build a stash of cloth diapers!  I have to use certain kinds of detergent on the diapers to keep from causing build-up (which in turn decreases their absorbency).  I've actually started using this detergent on all of our clothes and they feel softer and I feel so much better knowing what the ingredients are in the powder I wash everything with.

Cloth diapering has come a LONG way from how our parents and grandparents remember it!  You can still use the flat cloth diapers and pin them around your baby if you want, but there are other (in my opinion much easier) ways to cloth diaper.  After doing much research, I am going to start out using a combination of covers with inserts, and pocket diapers.  I know that once Samuel is here we may have to change our game plan if the diapers I have don't fit him quite right or if he is a heavier wetter.  But I know going in to it that is a possibility.  That's why I have several different brands of diapers on hand!  I also know that what fits/works when he is a little fella may not work as he grows and vice versa.  You may think I am strange, but the more I research about cloth diapering and the more diapers I get, the more excited I get about it!!!  Call me crazy, hippie, or whatever.  But my little guy will have the cutest cloth diapered booty in town! 

Here are some pics of our stash so far:

Diaper covers.  These are made from a waterproof material and can be
used over old-fashioned cloth diapers or with an absorbent insert.

A Flip brand cover with its absorbent insert.  Once the insert is used, you
toss it in the diaper pail and as long as the cover isn't dirty, you can re-use
it with a new insert.

Three different brands of pocket diapers. These are lined with a soft fleece material
and you stuff an insert into a pocket in the lining.  One use only on these guys,
then into the diaper pail for laundry :)

BumGenius pocket diaper.  The fleece lining is so soft!!

All of the covers and pocket diapers I have right now.  The inserts
were in the dryer :).  Everything is prepped and ready for Samuel!

Here are a couple links to websites that I found helpful in my cloth diapering research, just in case you wanna take a peak (DISCLAIMER - cloth diapering can be addictive).  Also, feel free to message me if you have any questions, I will be glad to share my limited knowledge and where I have bought the various diapers in our stash!

http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/basics.htm

http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/

- Lessa