The Diaper Blog (My Homage to Cloth)

Since people questioned my sanity so much regarding cloth diapering, and since it is midnight and I am still WIDE awake, waiting patiently for the boys to wake up for their midnight snack (which was due an hour ago; watch, tonight will be the night that they sleep through, and I'll have stayed up for nothing, and yes I realize I'm digressing mid-sentence and dragging this one out), I thought I might write a little message about the joys of cloth versus disposables. Now, keep in mind that we have been primarily using disposables, simply because they were donated to us in great quantity (thanks, Mamaw) and we had no idea how easy or difficult cloth dipes might be.

Needless to say, the diapers have finally run out (well, technically, Joel outgrew the donated packages), so we are now primarily using cloth. As much this statement can apply to an item created to contain poop, I can honestly say, I LOVE THEM. Cloth are SO much better than 'sposies (as people on the diapering message boards-- yes, they do exist, with some devout users I might add--refer to them.) Here is what I love:

1. They are cute. They come in pretty colors, cute prints, varying textures, and are just plain exciting to receive in the mail. In fact, users of the aforementioned message boards lovingly refer to new packages as "fluffy mail." That's right-- people (including me) actually get EXCITED about DIAPERS.

2. They don't stink. Okay, I'm not saying that they will never stink, and I'm not saying that I'd go sticking my nose in the diaper bag. But I can honestly say that a semi-open bag of dirty cloth diapers has "a slight odor", whereas a one day supply of dirty disposables can knock a person over.

3. They are so easy to use! I do not own any pins. I don't know how to do any fancy folds. When I have to diaper a baby, this is what I do:

1. Choose which diaper I would like to use, and remove from basket.

2. Put baby on changing table.

3. Take off dirty diaper and throw in dirty diaper bag. (Remove insert if I used a pocket diaper.)

4. Put clean diaper on baby. If diaper has snaps, snap closed. If diaper has Aplix (think Velcro), close. Add cover if needed (again, snap or velcro.)

5. Eventually bring bag of dirty diapers to washer. Dump in and wash. Dry when washed. Return to basket upon cleaning.

4. Environmentally friendly-- when I use 'sposies, I must throw out a 13-gallon filled bag of diapers every day. When using cloth, I do a load of wash once every 3 days (every other if my supply feels low.) The water consumed amounts to far less waste than the bags of poop I could be adding to the planet.

5. Did I mention how cute they are? No really, reason #5 if THEY CONTAIN THE POOP, THANK HEAVENS! Any blowout we've had has been with the icky disposables. Yesterday Joel had a MASTERPIECE in his diaper. Luckily I had him in cloth. It went everywhere you could possibly imagine, but not a drop escaped the diaper.

6. Supposedly these things are saving me money. Honestly, I was given around 900 disposable diapers. Cost: $0 I've spent a couple hundred on cloth, and will probably spend another couple hundred, since I'm still kind of learning what I need and the most price-effective way to do things. However, we have had to buy a total of 3 packages of disposables so far (thanks to poor planning on my part when we've been out), and those have cost us around $50 total and gotten us through maybe two weeks. So, I'm thinking my final cost of cloth will run around $600 or less for two babies, birth through potty-training. Whereas the disposables should run at least $1200/year, probably realistically quite a bit more. Wipes add another $200/year. Since I'm using cloth diapers, it makes sense to use disposable wipes. I bought mine, custom-made, for $.75 per wipe. I bought 30; they work, but I plan to get more, just so I never have to worry about running low.

Now, the real question. How does Todd feel about my cloth madness? Well, I've asked, and he says he doesn't care-- changing diapers lacks excitement regardless of what type of diaper he uses. I do notice that he always reaches for the disposables over cloth, but I really think it's just out of habit. That and he doesn't really understand my basket system (of course, he's never taken the time to ask or look, or he'd realize it works like this: SMALL, MEDIUM. Well, there's a little more to it, but trust me, there is no rocket science involved.)

So, all in all, I'm finding I'm a cloth-diapering geek. I notice the babies seem to like the cloth better (who wouldn't want a soft fleece bottom?) and all in all, I'm happy with my choice. Oh, and so far, the only diaper rash we've ever experienced was when using the disposables, although in all honesty, I believe it was the generic wipes that actually gave the rash. For those of you actually still reading...
Are you nuts? You're reading a post about poop containment. Go find a good book. If you need recommendations, ask.

(An hour of posting, and still not a peep... maybe I should just give up and go to bed.)