Cloth Diapers

Yes, I do! No really, it's not as bad as you think, I promise!

I know, I know...I never in a million years pictured myself cloth diapering, but I have two very good friends - Kim and Kelli - to thank for turning me into a cloth diapering mama. I love it so much that it pained me to not take them on vacation with us to Maine this summer. I didn't take them, because for part of our trip the laundry situation was an unknown, and I just absolutely refuse to handwash anything. I rediscovered how much I dislike disposables, and how much I appreciate reusing Anna's cloth diapers. I also love how much money we've saved by using them.

The stats, paraphrased of course:

$2500-$3000 ~ the average amount spent on disposable diapers from birth to potty trained

$400 ~ the amount I've spent on all the diapers/inserts Anna will ever need

$360 ~ the amount that we will spend on our water bill over 3 years from washing diapers

$129 ~ the amount I've spent on cloth diaper-safe laundry soap that will wash 1,000 loads

I didn't start using cloth diapers until Anna was about 5 weeks old. I have to admit, I was really intimidated. It turned out to be so much easier than I ever thought, though. The diaper sprayer, basically a kitchen sink sprayer that hooks up to the water line in your toilet, is a fabulous invention that I couldn't do without. I'm not into dunking my hand into a toilet to get rid of "solid" waste (though I've done it), even in my own toilet that I keep clean. I love not running out of diapers and having to make a late-night run to the store. The cute colors and prints make cloth diapering way more fun than ugly disposable diapering. I admit that I mainly did it for the money-saving benefits, but it's nice to know that Anna has fewer chemicals against her bum and our landfills have a thousand (or so) less diapers in them. By the way, did you know it takes a disposable diaper 500 YEARS to decompose? That's a seriously long time for your kids poo to hang around, right?!

Oh and if your excuse for not wanting to cloth diaper is that you can't handle dealing with poop, SURPRISE! as a parent, you will be dealing with poop A LOT! Poop on your clothes, skin, under your fingernails, on your floors (especially when your baby poops and squirms around on his/her bottom on your carpet)...all things I had happen to me with Ava's disposable diapers. Just sayin'... Another common excuse I've heard is "I don't have the time." Well, I can't deny this one - cloth diapering, the laundering process, and re-stuffing the diapers if you use pocket diapers does take more time than buying a pack of Pampers. But for my family and me, the cost savings benefit outweighs the time disadvantages. My favorite excuse so far that I've had thrown at me from a family member was...we have a lot of land in the United States, plenty of places for landfills and diapers. Ummmmmm, OK??

Anyway, if you're interested in cloth diapering, check out these sites:

http://www.kellyscloset.com/
http://www.gogreenpocketdiapers.com/ (my favorite diapers are GoGreens)
http://www.bulkclothdiaper.com/
http://diapershops.com/
http://www.cottonbabies.com/
A great blog to check out for tons of information about cloth diapering is http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/