Family and friends regularly ask me how I’m liking cloth diapering, and this is what I have to say:
I love it. I love, love, love it.
What we’re doing is great for our daughter, great for our budget, and great for the environment. And that’s what is important to me, in that order. While we haven’t always cloth diapered, we did always
intend to.
As a brand new mom, I asked myself three questions anytime Rayah cried:
-is she hungry?
-is she tired?
-is she wet?
That is all my brain could muster on two hours of sleep. And really, I didn’t even have to ask the third one because Pampers took care of it for me. How smart are they?!
When Rayah was a newborn, the hospital gave us several packs of Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive with a
WETNESS INDICATOR. This was awesome, because anytime we wondered whether her diaper was wet or dirty, there was a little line that turned from yellow to blue. We didn’t even have to take her diaper off to know its status. And anytime we saw a blue line, we were all over changing that diaper. In the first week or two of her life, Rayah went through about 20 diapers each day. (I’ll admit, we might be a little OCD.
Mah bebe with a wet diaper? NEVER!) Even with all the hospital gave us, we spent a lot of money on diapers those first many weeks. True story.
But we had our cloth diapers waiting in the wings. While I was still pregnant, I researched cloth diaper types, and finally settled on what I thought would be the best for our family:
Bum Genius one-sizes (it turned out we were right – I love this diaper!).
Basically, it’s a diaper you buy once and it grows with the baby, from seven to 35 pounds. (Though see for yourself: I have photographic evidence that they threatened to swallow Rayah whole until she was about 10-12 pounds.) They have little snaps that adjust to fit (shown here on the smallest setting), and come in a variety of colors (though I do wish there were more, like red and teal and purple, or maybe fun prints).
Each week I would put one of her cloth diapers on her to see if they fit yet. By eight weeks, her thighs had finally chunked up enough for the leg casings to fit properly without worrying about any leakage. For nearly five months now, she’s been wearing cloth diapers. At this point, the cloth diapers have more than paid for themselves. We’re probably even making money off of them.
I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t want to wash diapers every day, or even every other day. I am a full time mom AND I work full time. I just don’t have time for loads and loads of laundry.
So we bought more than average and wash them every three or four days. (Uhhh, this may change as Rayah eats more solids. I am aware of that. I am also afraid of that.)
Rayah and I do the laundry together, pulling the diapers apart and throwing them in the washing machine. She LOVES watching clothes tumble around in the washer and dryer! And now that the weather is warming up, she’s helping me lay them out in the sun to dry, too.
Such a good little helper!
I know it’s not for everyone, but I love cloth diapering. The mom in me loves that Rayah has natural fibers against her skin. The fashionista in me loves color-coordinating her diapers with her outfits. The budgeter in me loves that I’m saving hundreds (in the long-term: thousands) of dollars by not purchasing disposables. The greenie in me is proud that I’m not dumping a ton (literally: each disposable-diapered baby contributes one ton worth of diapers) in our already maxed-out landfills. I’d say it’s a win-win all around!
0