photo credit: Photocapy

In the minefield known as Motherhood, there is an awful lot of judgement.  And a lot of it is, actually, unconscious.  It is an uncertain time in our lives, this journey into Parenthood, and we ALL worry about whether or not we’re doing a good job.  In that respect, it almost makes sense that once we think we have a tenuous grip on the “right” answers, that we will think of all other answers as being the “wrong” ones.

Cloth diapering is no different in this regard, sadly.  However, the good news is that not everyone judges other parents for their choices.  Think of it this way.  Do all mothers who breastfeed their babies think poorly of mothers who feed their babies formula?  Of course not.  Do parents who sleep in the same bed as their children think poorly of all parents who put their babies into cribs from day one?  Nope.  I could go on and on, but I think you get my point.

Not ALL parents who cloth diaper their children think poorly of parents who use disposables.  Sure, there are some that do.  There’s always an exception to the rule.  But I think it’s just that.  An exception.

I, for one, used disposable diapers a LOT longer than I’ll be using cloth.  And my toddler still uses some disposables since our stash isn’t quite big enough for two children.  So I would be the last person to think harshly of someone who uses disposable diapers.  My choices are mine.  Sure, I wish I had ventured into cloth diapering years ago.  That I knew just how EASY it was.  And if a mom who uses disposables were to belittle my choices, I would be very upset.

So therefore, it stands to reason, that if a mom who uses cloth were to belitter a mom who uses disposables, perhaps it would make her very upset too.

Maybe, instead of trying to evangelize cloth diapering, we should just be glad that there is an option like cloth diapering available to us.  And that maybe, if we continue to sing it’s praises, more and more mothers will be drawn towards it as an option.  Isn’t that the best way?  To support each other and our choices as parents?

This is a hard job, being a mom.  Let’s try really hard not to make it any harder.

Tags: choices, cloth diaper, disposables, judgement, parenting

I would probably hesitate to say that cloth diapers are ENTIRELY leak-proof.  I mean, I doubt anything is leak-proof, if you want to get right down to it.  Plus, if you leave a diaper on long enough, it doesn’t matter what the heck it is made of or how many gussets it has.  It will leak.  That’s just physics, yo.

But in the couple months (has it only been that long) that I’ve been using cloth diapers, I’ve noticed one giant benefit:  There have been virtually NO LEAKS.

There’s been the odd leak here and there.  Mostly urine and mostly when she’s wearing a prefold trifolded into a prorap cover.  And most of those leaks have been fairly recently, as she’s been outgrowing her prefolds and covers at an alarming rate (hello, chunky baby!).  She pretty much NEVER has a leak while wearing her pocket diapers (right now: BumGenius and Rumparooz).

But I’m leaving out the most important aspect of all of this: NO POOP EXPLOSIONS!  Now, Evie only wore disposables for the first six weeks or so of her life.  But in that time, we learned that with her rather infrequent pooping schedule, poop explosions were pretty much unavoidable.  She would output a day’s worth of… poop and well, no disposable known to man could possibly contain it all.  Truthfully, I wondered at the time if any cloth diaper could contain it as well.

The prefolds in the cover are pretty good, to be honest.  We might get a little seepage around the legs, but nothing shooting up the back our out the front or sides so far.  The BumGenius just laugh at the audacity of this poop that would like to explode out.  “Not so fast,” they say.  And the Rumparooz double leg gussets have never failed to contain whatever is tossed their way.  Ever.

Now, there are some extenuating circumstances here.  I am pretty quick on the diaper changes, something that I’ve gotten even better at since she’s been in cloth.  I find I’m a lot more attuned to such things now.  Also, her poop has not met the worthy adversary that is the exersaucer.  If anything can compress a diaper, it’s an exersaucer.

But in the meantime, I’m pretty impressed.  This is something I wasn’t expecting from cloth diapers.  Not that I’m complaining, mind you.  But definitely a fantastic side benefit to cloth diapering.

Is my experience a common one?  Or am I just lucky?

Tags: bumGenius, disposables, Epic Poop, leaks, Pockets, prefolds, prorap, Rumparooz

In light of my recent goodmama diaper related posts, I wanted to get this out there to those who are new to cloth diapers or thinking about trying it out or who don’t know a thing about it:  Cloth diapering is as expensive as you want it to be.  It may look to an “outsider” or a “newbie” that all diapers are ridiculously expensive.  And, I guess it would appear that a $20 or more cloth diaper is outrageous when you can go down to Walmart and buy 88 or more disposable diapers for that same price.  Of course, here’s the difference: You throw away those disposable diapers, never to be seen again (except for the 500 years it takes them to decompose of course) and you wash and reuse the $20 diaper.   Often, that diaper is used several times a week (if you do laundry every other day like I do) for several months.  If it’s a one-size diaper, it can be used several times a week for several YEARS.  And if you’re having more children later on, that diaper can then be used for those children as well.  When put in that perspective, a $20 diaper is a darned good deal!  Plus, if you take care of the cloth diaper, you can turn around and sell it when you’re finished (Diaper Swappers is great for this!).  You definitely cannot sell a used disposable diaper!

Another point that’s often overlooked:  You don’t need to buy ALL the diapers you need right off the bat.  You can buy them one by one, little by little.  Go ahead and keep using disposable diapers while working cloth into the cycle as you’re able.  Before long, you may be able to use cloth a majority of the time and just use disposables for naps and bedtime.  That is what we’re doing with Liam right now.  We have plenty of diapers for 1-2 days for Evie, but not quite enough for 1 full day for Liam.  No biggie.  We’ll keep using ’sposies during naps, when out and about and at bedtime for him until we’re able to make the full switch over.  The only reason that Evie has enough diapers for 1-2 days really is because I’m using prefolds on top of my pocket diapers.

That’s another thing: Prefolds are insanely cheap.  Yeah, if you look hard enough, you can find some pretty pricey prefolds out there made of bamboo velour or custom dyed or embellished with embroidery and appliqués, but you certainly don’t have to buy those.  In general, you can get simple cotton prefolds for $1-$2 apiece that work just fine.  I found some good prorap covers to go over the prefolds as a waterproof cover on Diaper Swappers’ FSOT forums for $5 apiece that looked just like new.  The prefolds work great and get the job done.  I suppose, if I really needed to, she could wear them around the clock and they would serve as her only diapers just fine.  A lot of people do it that way.

For the most part, $50 a diaper is pretty expensive about twice what I would ever want to pay for a diaper.  I have never spent more than $25 and I pretty much never will.  (Never say never, right?)  I’m far too frugal for such silliness.  Plus, I’m a big fan of one-size diapers.  The benefit being that Liam can wear them too and they’ll last her a looooong time.  For what it’s worth, even the pricey goodmama diapers are one-size and have a reputation of lasting a long, long time (as well as having amazing resale value).  The prefolds, unfortunately, aren’t one-size but they’re so cheap that buying new ones isn’t a big deal.

Basically, when it comes to cloth diapers, you spend as much as you want to spend on them.  They truly are less expensive in the long run.  I plan on this being the first in a series of the Economics of Cloth Diapers, detailing the price comparisons to disposables and the longterm benefits of using cloth.  In the meantime, check out this interesting article from Jillian’s Drawers comparing a couple different diapering systems to disposables and showing that virtually no matter what method you choose, you’re always going to save money.

Tags: cost comparison, Diaper Swappers, disposables, Goodmama, prefolds, prorap