Cloth Diapers??? Why? Not?

Me: "Kevin, I think I am going to seriously consider cloth diapering the new baby."

Kevin: "What? No. Seriously? Why?"

That was basically the gist of my conversation with Kevin over last summer. I had considered cloth diapering back when I was pregnant with Lilah, but I was intimidated over the increased laundry load, and had decided against it. I guess at the time, I really didn't do enough research about cloth diapering to realize the laundry isn't that big of a deal, especially when you have loads of laundry to do already - what's another load?

So back over the summer, I thoroughly researched cloth diapers to see if it would really be worth trying out. The answer was yes, and if I didn't like it, I could always sell them. I decided to buy a few for Lilah to see if I liked it before the baby was born. I started off with several fuzzi bunz, 1 bum genius pocket and 1 happy heiny pocket. It was surely a learning curve, but the pocket diapers are so close to disposables, it was an easy transition. Lilah was potty training at the moment, so I was only using 2-3 dipes per day, and washing the diapers every other day. I liked it, and it was fun dressing her bum in cute little dipes and washing them wasn't bad at all!

Of course, liking the fact I can put cute dipes on my pretty girls bums wasn't the ONLY reason I have decided to cloth diaper. There were several reasons that were much more important to me. Cloth diapering is not only better for the environment, but it is better for our wallet, too. Cloth dipes may seem like a rather large expense up front (between $15-25 per diaper for the types we use), but when you calculate the overall cost over the time your child is in diapers, you will see the costs are considerably cheaper - hundreds vs. thousands, not to mention diapers can be used on multiple children. Another reason is the chemicals used in disposable diapers. After doing some reading a lot of things started to make sense to me. Disposable diapers are trim and very absorbent because of the chemicals they use to make them this way. These are also the chemicals that make the diapers not break down easily and sit in landfills for years and years and years. Who knows what these chemicals are doing to our babies little bums. After doing TONS, and I mean weeks of research, it was an easy decision for me. I jumped right in and haven't looked back since.

When Clara was born, Kevin's mom and my mom were generous enough to buy everything I needed to cloth diaper Clara until she was about 3-4 months old. We had 5 fitteds (kissaluvs & thirsties), 4 thirsties duo covers, 2 fleece bummis covers and 2 dozen unbleached prefolds. Once she got big enough, she started wearing the pocket diapers, too. So now, we rotate through my favorite Blueberry pockets (cotton & minky), Bum Genius Organic AIO (all-in-one) and a few Fuzzi Bunz pockets. Since they are one size, Clara will be wearing these until she is POTTY TRAINED! We do use disposables on an occasional basis, but that's it. Lilah is strictly in cloth diapers for naps and night,  or the occasional very long car ride.

It's fun putting the fun prints on Clara! The diapers are definitely more bulky than disposables, but she's still little, and has lots of time to grow into them. They aren't quite so bulky on Lilah. I still do one load of cloth diapers every other day, and since it's winter, I dry them in front of our pellet stove - which saves money on drying them in the dryer. In the summer, they go outside and dry in the sun. It definitely isn't as intimidating as it sounds, and cloth diapers have come a long, long way - just ask my mom or Kevin's mom. They were shocked to see the new age cloth diapers were easy and comfy looking in comparison to what they used when we were little rug rats.

I say if you're on the fence - try it out! It's quite easy...just a slight learning curve.