Cloth Diaper Thoughts

A while back I went to a "New Mommies" group and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were 9 kids there, 5 in diapers. And 5 out of the 5 were in cloth diapers!!!! I won't take the credit for all of these mommas, but it's neat to see how a little support and encouragement can go a long way. I think a lot of moms think about the old style cloth diapers and all of those pins, or they just picture poop everywhere, or they just imagine all this laundry work they'd make for themselves- SO WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO CLOTH DIAPER?

( My guy is in the white, at 9 weeks old here!)

Here's a simple list of reasons why I chose to cloth diaper for those of you who think I'm crazy.

CLOTH DIAPERS SAVE MONEY!!!! They say the average parent spends around 2,000 for each baby from birth to potty training on disposable diapers alone. If my husband and I have 4 children, that's at least 8,000 dollars in GARBAGE that we simply place on them momentarily and discard. A good diaper stash can be purchased for around 500 dollars, give or take some based on the style and brand of diaper you choose to go with. Cloth diapers can easily be reused for each child, but maybe the 4th is finally a girl or I need to replace some elastics... so we will add 200 more just for upkeep/ refreshing. SO that's 700 for cloth, 8,000 for disposable.... Ummmm... do you get the money saving picture yet? We could break it down even further, and calculate all kinds of tiny costs, but the gist is, cloth diapering can save you money.

CLOTH DIAPERS ARE BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT!!!! 27.4 billion disposable diapers fill our landfills each year. And since the disposable diaper has only been around for apx. 65 years, we have no clue the depth of impact that this will have in the long run. We only know that these disposable diapers aren't going anywhere aka they are not biodegradable, not breaking down, and crowding our precious landfill space more and more every year.

CLOTH DIAPERS ARE BETTER FOR BABY BUTTS!!!! My little boy came home from the hospital in disposables with a rash already in place. We moved to cloth diapers on day 5 and it was 2 full weeks before that rash was gone. And we've never seen one again since ( He's 8 months old currently).  There are plenty of cloth friendly ointments and lotions out there if we spot a bit of redness, but cloth diapers are made with soft fabrics and many organic options are available as well, keeping baby's butt closer to nature. I can also tell you that all of those crazy chemicals in disposables are not what I'd want on my body! Once when our son was wearing a disposable (can't remember the details of why he was wearing it in the first place), my hubby said "I think he needs to be changed, He stinks!!" I took him and smelled him and it wasn't a poop smell, but something awful. I changed him and there was nothing foul in the diaper at all. I then went over to where a few disposables were hanging in the diaper stacker and sure enough, there was this chemically smell coming from them before they were even being used. It really grossed me out! Ok, enough on this topic.

CLOTH DIAPERED BABIES POTTY TRAIN FASTER!!!! Disposable diaper makers are constantly trying to improve upon their "stay dry" formulas, working to make it so your baby doesn't even feel wet! While this may seem helpful, I know moms who are happy to leave their baby in a diaper until the baby becomes upset, which could be hours and hours in these fancy disposables.  In most cloth diapers, once it is saturated enough (unless you are using stay-dry materials or liners), a baby will feel that he is wet and want to be changed. As they grow towards potty training, the awareness of being wet is key to wanting to "go pee pee in the potty".

CLOTH DIAPERING IS FASHIONABLE!!!! It is definitely fun to match my little man's diapers to his outfits. I love the compliments we receive while wearing some of the fun colors and patterns we have, and comparing our diapers to our friends colors and styles. So much fun! I had no idea there was such a cult following for cloth diapers, displayed on countless blogs, facebook groups, and mom group chats. Just check out Ragababe.com, Spot's Corner, Jillian's Drawers, Diaper Junction, Ebay, and even YouTube to see just how excited and crazed women can get about these things! I know personally, my husband has had to change so few diapers because I am excited for each change with a cloth diaper!

There ya have it... that's why I chose to cloth diaper!