Sunday, September 7, 2008

Cloth Diapers

I started cloth diapering Justus when he was 3 weeks old, I think. I went in clueless. I was just feeling so guilty about the whole waste thing. So I did some reading about it. Turns out there are a lot of reasons to use cloth diapers. Just for the record, I am not trying to convince anyone to do it. I think that everyone needs to come to this conclusion on their own. Although, what a better world this would be if everyone did it. Turns out cloth diapering is pretty addictive. They are so darn cute and there are thousands and thousands to choose from. I like to buy from WAHM's (work at home moms), then I can actually feel good about buying diapers. There is no more guilt. I just wish I would have started this when I had baby #1, then diapers for #2 and #3 would be free. Even though I just started, I can already see how this is much, much cheaper over the long run. And it is cheaper in ways I didn't even anticipate. I can't tell you how many times one of the kids pooped and it shot all the way up their back to their shoulders. It really sucked when this happened in public and I was left trying to get the clothing off without covering their hair in poo. Assuming I was at home I would take the outfit off and usually start the whole scrubbing and soaking process. Sometimes I would look at the piece of clothing and think, "well I didn't really like this anyway," or "this is almost too small" and then just chuck it. More than once I just cut it off. This is what I love most about cloth diapers. Ya I love them for selfish reasons. Ever since getting the bugs worked out of the whole cloth diapering learning curve, I haven't had a single blow out. While we were on vacation I used disposables. I came home with several articles of ruined clothing and a new appreciation for my beloved cloth diapers. As for the care of cloth diapers... Really no big deal. I put them in the washer before bed every couple days and then put them in the drier in the morning. The days of rinsing large squares of fabric in the toilet, safety pins and plastic pants are long gone. It's better for baby, better for mom, better for the wallet and better for everyone else. I would encourage all new moms to do a little research and keep an open mind. It really is not anymore difficult or anymore work than disposables.

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