Jackson loving his cloth diapers at 14 months
A cute eco-Ayla butt at almost 2 years old!
A few weekends ago, I decided to honor Earth Day and invest more into my cloth diapering scheme. I'll take a majority of the claim on the cloth diapers, even though Gregory does participate, because I'm usually the one obsessing about them and finding a deep satisfaction in the eco-friendliness of it all.
We've been using cloth diapers since Ayla was about 18 months old. It was the prospect of bringing another baby into the mix (I was preggers with Jackson at the time) and finally getting a hold on parenthood that gave us the courage to launch the cloth diaper adventure. Anyone that has ever thought about it or tried it enters a world of crazy new terms and so many unknown products. I totally agree that it is overwhelming. BUT then totally easy.
I'm serious - it's easy. I won't take excuses from other parents anymore. If you have a baby/toddler, you are changing diapers anyways. The only difference is that you throw these diapers in a pail (then the wash) instead of the trash. Yes you must rinse off the really messy ones into the toilet with the handy dandy diaper sprayer. But I would honestly recommend the sprayer to anyone with kids or pets. I also use it to spray off dirty crocs or clothing when the inevitable messes occur. It is also recommended that ALL diaper (disposable or not) waste be disposed of through the sewer system because it is *gross* a biohazard in the landfill. Diapers tied up in plastic bags, including the evil Diaper Genie, do NOT break down in the landfill.
I digress. I won't launch into a tirade of eco-information because I'm not completely innocent. We still use disposable diapers if someone is babysitting or if we are going to be out of the house for a long afternoon. But 90% of the time, I do my part by using cloth.
There are so many wonderful products. We've never used pins (we use Snappis) and choosing from all the diaper covers is like making a major fashion statement. They range from Dr. Seuss to tie-dye. And they're so damn cute! Even when the cloth diapers are bulky and I have Jackson double/triple layered - his big baby butt running around makes me happy.
Our latest purchase was from the Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers website. I was looking for better options to diaper Jackson overnight. We've been blessed with a boy that sleeps for sometimes 12 hours - so you need a serious diaper to last all of that time.
Meet this serious piece of fleece:
It is meant to fit over any diaper - like some awesome snow pants for bedtime. If anything, this will save your crib sheets.
The best part is that after placing my order, I get a phone call from one of the owners (friend of a friend) and he is setting up a home delivery. He lives just a few minutes away and I get free delivery service to my front door. Nice touch.
My kids don't really understand that they have very earth-friendly butts. It has been both an economical and ecological plus for our family. Instead of spending money time and time again on boxes of disposable diapers (we buy a box about every 2 months instead of every 2 weeks like other parents I know), we spent the money ONCE. A sizeable investment at first, I will admit, but I am literally not throwing that money away in the garbage seven times a day.
I throw it in the diaper pail, then the wash and then admire their clean, reusable beauty as they dry on the clothesline.
I digress. I won't launch into a tirade of eco-information because I'm not completely innocent. We still use disposable diapers if someone is babysitting or if we are going to be out of the house for a long afternoon. But 90% of the time, I do my part by using cloth.
There are so many wonderful products. We've never used pins (we use Snappis) and choosing from all the diaper covers is like making a major fashion statement. They range from Dr. Seuss to tie-dye. And they're so damn cute! Even when the cloth diapers are bulky and I have Jackson double/triple layered - his big baby butt running around makes me happy.
Our latest purchase was from the Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers website. I was looking for better options to diaper Jackson overnight. We've been blessed with a boy that sleeps for sometimes 12 hours - so you need a serious diaper to last all of that time.
Meet this serious piece of fleece:
It is meant to fit over any diaper - like some awesome snow pants for bedtime. If anything, this will save your crib sheets.
The best part is that after placing my order, I get a phone call from one of the owners (friend of a friend) and he is setting up a home delivery. He lives just a few minutes away and I get free delivery service to my front door. Nice touch.
My kids don't really understand that they have very earth-friendly butts. It has been both an economical and ecological plus for our family. Instead of spending money time and time again on boxes of disposable diapers (we buy a box about every 2 months instead of every 2 weeks like other parents I know), we spent the money ONCE. A sizeable investment at first, I will admit, but I am literally not throwing that money away in the garbage seven times a day.
I throw it in the diaper pail, then the wash and then admire their clean, reusable beauty as they dry on the clothesline.
And if they're in decent shape when your kids grow out of them, there's a big market for used diapers (just not on ebay since they made the rule you can't auction used cloth diapers) so you can get some of that investment back. Yay!
ReplyDeleteRight there with you on this one. We used cloth with both kids from day one. Only exceptions we made were when traveling or at daycare.
ReplyDeleteIf all other arguments fail, the economic one you allude to above makes sense to many people. In the end, it is cheaper to use cloth by a mile.