Cloth diapers

Now here's a real mommy issue! Cloth diapers vs. disposables. Quite a few of my friends know that I use cloth with my kids, not 100% of the time but a good majority. I was first turned on to the idea by a great friend of mine, Diann. They were at our house one afternoon, it came time to change the toddler and Diann whipped out this adorable thing she called a cloth diaper! It was a print All-In-One by Bumkin, for all you CD (cloth diaper) fans. She held it up to me and laughed, "Isn't this just the cutest?!" From then on I was curious about it. Why cloth? Why that style? How much money? How much work? I wasn't even pregnant at the time, but I began to turn the thought over in my mind. I don't necessarily do things just to counter the culture... it's got to be pretty practical in my book if I'm going to deviate. I haven't been captured totally by the "Save the Planet" argument, I don't buy the scare tactic that there's some conspiracy between disposables and higher cancer rates... I just love the feel of cloth on my babies, and it saves me a lot of money. I think that their skin looks better in cloth than in disposables. I love washing them, hanging them to dry, stacking them. It's a type of hobby for me. I did prefolds with Libby, the big square white diaper that you fold, pin and cover... two dozen diaper, six vinyl cover pants and four diaper pins=$30. This has managed her first four months beautifully. For months 4 thru ???? (Izak's still going at 24 months) I have a beautiful collection of All-In-Ones (AIO's) by Bumkin. They are layers and layers of cottony flannel covered by a colorful waterproof shell. For added absorption I throw a hemp doubler inside (looks like a giant cotton maxipad) and a biodegradable, flushable liner (looks like a giant kleenex) to catch the solid mess. I get 3-4 hours out of a diaper with Libby, and 4-5 with Izak before it needs changing. I have 20-sz.M for LIbby and 16-sz.L for Izak. I wash diaper approximately twice a week; I line dry my AIO's b/c of their waterproof covers and machine dry the doublers. The AIO's cost about $13/each. Most I received as shower gifts and Christmas presents, some I bought new and some I won on eBay. At night I do use disposable Night Diapers.

I have a handful of friends that use cloth, and others that would if they could. I'm not a purist, but I feel like there's something old-fashioned about cloth diapers. It's a little like what I wrote about when I discussed natural childbirth as it relates to making me feel connected to history (see blog from July 3, 2004). It's my own unique contribution to my style of mothering. And it's not that much extra work. In my future life (LOL) I hope to someday teach Bradley Childbirth (Natural method) classes, and I hope to be able to throw a few unconventional ideas out there, like cloth diapering, prefolds, AIO's - just to let people hear a new thought. I never feel like I have to convince anyone to use cloth. It's not my place. But I was influenced by a good friend taking to time to share her experiences with me. It's fun, I enjoy CDing, and will really cherish this memory as a part of our baby years.