Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Cloth Diapering: What and WHY?!?

As soon as I found out we were expecting, the research began. At some point in those early weeks, I stumbled upon, and decided to go with, cloth diapering. That announcement always gets a reaction. Some people are genuinely excited to hear our choice to cloth, and eagerly want all the details. Other people respond with disgust, as though I had just announced we had decided to give up all technology and live in a hut. My husband has heard, “I give it a week” from many co-workers, to which I respond, “they clearly don’t know me.”

Just like everything else related to pregnancy, birth, and babies, people seem to have very strong feelings one way or the other. Now I’ll be honest, I can’t exactly remember what made me decide to cloth diaper, but as I look back, here are some of the main reasons we are going with cloth. This is based on my own opinion, lifestyle, and research, so if cloth is not for you, I’m not trying to say there is anything wrong with disposable diapers. But if you’re on the fence, maybe these are some reasons worth considering.

*I am 34 weeks pregnant, so I’ll come back and write a follow-up once we’ve actually started cloth diapering. However, for those who don't personally know me, I tend to be over prepared and over-researched on topics that interest me, so I feel pretty confident posting this before we actually start cloth diapering. Here’s to hoping I don’t eat these words later.* :)

My Reasons to Cloth Diaper

1. Cost
Pretty much anywhere you look on the topic of cloth diapering, you’re going to find wild claims about how much less expensive cloth diapering is. I’m always a bit wary of such extreme claims ($500 rather than $3,000!) and figured I better do the math for myself. The first thing I have to admit is that I am not a bargain shopper. I don’t clip coupons. I don’t hunt for deals. And I also don’t pick a brand just because it’s affordable. I have plenty of friends who are amazing deal hunters and probably spend as little on disposables as I will on cloth, but I know myself, and I know that would not be the case for me. Also, after researching the different types of cloth diapers, we decided to go with flats, prefolds, and covers, with a few all in one diapers for when we are out and about, so our cloth diapering style will cost us around $13 a month if Emmy is in diapers for 24 months. Maybe that can be done with disposables with the right amount of coupon stacking, but I think $13 sounds pretty amazing, and I’ll take it.

2. Health
The first point and second point are very connected for me. The main reason I’m not a coupon clipping bargain shopper is that I try to be health conscious with everything I buy. Before becoming pregnant, I was already switching my personal care products from traditional brands to organic brands. At the risk of sharing too much online, I switched to organic tampons and pads as well. Now, if I’m going to be that careful about what goes on my body, why would I feel comfortable slapping a mainstream diaper on my newborn? Many of the materials and substances in diapers, what makes them so absorbent, are chemicals that I can’t pronounce and that don’t seem very safe when you research them one by one. Babies spend at least their first two years of life constantly in a diaper. That kind of exposure to chemicals I’m not comfortable with is an option I’d like to avoid. To choose organic “green” disposable diaper options would more than triple the cost of disposable diapers for my baby, so back to point one, cloth makes more sense for my family. It's worth noting that the quality of cloth diapers can vary quite a bit, but we're choosing organic options for the cloth that will actually touch the baby's skin.

3. Cuteness
If you’ve never looked into modern cloth diapering, look! I know I haven’t even started diapering yet (6ish weeks to go!) but I’ve fallen in love with the variety of styles and prints available. From tiny newborn all in one’s by Lil Joey’s, to watermelon printed covers from Thirsties, there is something undeniably adorable about cloth diapering options. Enough said.



4. Fewer Blowouts and Rashes
The majority of people I know who cloth diaper, but who have also experimented with disposables, swear there are fewer blowouts and rashes with cloth. My mom old-school cloth diapered four children, two at once most of the time, and said she never experienced problems with either. Although the look and functionality of cloth has changed since then, the absorbency and comfort of natural fibers hasn’t.


Now that we’ve covered my main reasons for going with cloth, here are a few of the FAQ’s I’ve been asked by curious family/friends.

1. What about the cost of electricity and water? Won’t that undermine your savings?
This is a valid question and something I looked into extensively. With the addition of any family member, you’re going to have more laundry. However, with the flats, prefolds, and covers I’ll be using, I’ll only be adding three small loads of wash per week, and line drying. Because we had already switched to an organic, natural detergent, baby clothes can be washed with mommy and daddy clothes in our home. I know many families use a different detergent for their baby, so I imagine three extra loads of wash a week is pretty standard for all homes welcoming a new baby. So in short, no, I don’t see our water or electricity bills going up because of cloth diapering.

2. What about the poo? Why would you want to deal with that mess?
Newsflash about babies, guys. They poo no matter what kind of diaper they’re in. Now, the great news is that exclusively breastfed babies have water soluble poo. Those first six months of diapers get a rinse in the wash and then a normal wash cycle. Easy! After food is introduced, I’m hoping to be messing with less poo than I would in disposables simply because we won’t have the diaper blowout issue. At that point, my plan is to use organic disposable liners inside the diapers until the poo becomes the solid sort that can be flicked into the toilet.

3. What about when you’re out and about?
Wet bags. Just like you’d politely tuck a soiled disposable diaper into a plastic baggy and put it in your diaper bag to dispose of at home (because who wants to stink up a family member or friend’s house?) cloth diapers get tucked into a reusable wet bag. Once you get home, you can simply drop the diaper into your diaper pal, and throw the turned-inside-out wet bag in there as well. They get washed and you’re ready to repeat.

4. Well that’s cool, but what about daycare or staying with family members? They won’t use cloth.
Actually, just like day care and (hopefully) family members will give breastmilk rather than formula in a bottle if you provide it, most daycares have no issue with the pocket or all in one styles of cloth diapers. They’re exactly the same as disposables except you drop them in a wet bag instead of a trash can once they’re changed. If you provide it, and possibly give a quick tutorial to the staff if they’ve never cloth diapered before, you shouldn’t have a problem using cloth on your child.

Our Cloth Diaper Stash
We have been lucky enough to find some amazing deals and also have been given some generous gifts to help us get started with cloth diapering. Because we'll have enough changes to get used to with a newborn, I decided it would be worth it to have a dozen all in one diapers to make nighttime changes easier. Our current stash should last us quite a while, but adding the next size up of covers and organic prefolds will be under $150. Rumor has it that many cloth diaper suppliers have good Cyber Monday sales, so you can bet I'll be shopping those!

12 Newborn size all in one diapers (Lil Joey’s and Bumgenius)
12 Newborn (5-10 lb) size prefold diapers (Osocozy)
12 flat diapers (big squares you fold into diaper shapes…it’s actually really fun!)
12 Infant size (6-15 lb) prefold diapers (Osocozy)
4 Newborn size diaper covers to go over the flats or prefolds (Rumparooz)
6 size one (6-18 lb) diaper covers (Thirsties)
2 one size all in one diapers (Thirsties)
1 size one pocket diaper (Applecheeks)
3 Snappis (these hold the prefolds and flats in place like a modern safety pin)
36 cloth wipes (although we will be using the free Honest Company samples we got first)




I hope you've enjoyed this post on why cloth diapering is the right move for our family. Once again, if cloth diapering isn't for you, that's totally fine! I appreciate when people don't judge my choice to go old-school, so I also respect anyone's choice to embrace disposables. If you have any questions, or maybe recommendations if you're an expert cloth diaperer, leave me a comment below!

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