Sunday, March 14, 2010

My Kind of Parenting #3

Cloth Diapers vs Disposables

My brother and I were raised up with Pampers. So were the rest of my cousins. In fact, I never came in contact with a cloth diaper until my older cousin had a baby. I was younger and I didn't understand the whole reasoning behind cloth. I really just thought it was gross. I mean, who wants to wash POOP out of a diaper? Plus, I was always under the assumption that there was tons of laundry involved and it was just easier to buy Pampers and call it a day.

When the time came for me to pop out a baby. I was all about disposables. I didn't want the hassles of cloth, plus, Russ didn't really want to deal with them either. So, a Pampers family we became. I've pretty much tried every diaper on the market except for Walmart's brand Parent's Choice. Target, Pampers, Huggies, Kirkland... those we've used over and over again.
I don't regret putting my daughter into disposables. But, I'm seriously considering making the cloth movement on #2.

I have a few online friends that are really into cloth and I read everything they talk about. I had NO.IDEA. what kind of market cloth diapering is. It's not just the old cloth and pin diaper anymore. They have so many different types out there. Sure, you can still go the old school way and use diaper pins and different folds. But, they have ones that you use just like a regular old disposable and just launder it when you're done. No need to fold, tuck, pin.

My only concerns are...

1. The price. These diapers are not cheap. Although, it would save more in the long run, its a hefty price to pay out to make it full time cloth diapering. If *I say 'if' because Russ isn't totally on board with this idea yet* we were to CD, I think I would shop my entire pregnancy here and there for them, instead of just full out buying them at once. For instance... how many CD's do you need? Do you use them on newborns or wait until the umbilical cord falls off?

2. Laundry... I do enough laundry as is. I wash Olivia's clothes once a week, plus everything else in the house. Plus, I've read that you have to do all this special stuff to wash CD's. Is it possible to just wash and dry?

3. Family... will our families support this and CD our baby while we're away? I actually wouldn't care if they didn't. Its not like I'm all Disposable Nazi or anything.

There you have it. This isn't really a post about the pros and cons of the 2. I'm just really interested in what parents do for their babies.

4 comments:

MamaMonki said...

I cloth diapered from the time he was able to move out of newborn. I just couldn't see buying the itty bitty size - until I went back to work. I bought them a little at a time and even found covers on ebay. There's a website that periodically has an outlet sale too and that's where I got the majority of ours. The washing wasn't too bad - and we have a house and yard so I hung them outside to dry throughout the summer which made life even easier. I intend to do it again when we have #2 - hopefully until they're potty trained! I'll send you the website once I find it again.

Kristy Villa said...

2.5 weeks is better than 2 months (: We didn't get a picture of the 3 of us in the hospital either. I didn't even realize we forgot that until now!

babyandsofia said...

I think you should try it and let me know how it goes. I thought about doing it, but I thought the same thing.. Washing poop out of diapers? No thank you. And also, the laundry. We've already got SO MUCH of it. But I like the idea; I think it would be really great for baby.

Annie said...

Great questions!
I have cloth diapered for 2 years now and here is my 2 cents:

1. Money: I think you can shop here and there - look for sales. Really if you spend $50 a month you can have your entire stash in 4 or 5 months! Not bad, considering you will spend about $50 a month on dispsoables for the entire time they are in them. If you want me to tell you some great places to look for sales email me annie.shultz at gmail.com

2. Laundry: Here is what I do - throw the dirty dipes in the machine, do a short cold cycle no soap. Then, a really long cycle w/soap and 2nd rinse (it is a setting on my machine) then dry. Done! ppl make it more complicated than it is. And I use Tide, just less of it.

3. Family members: If they see how easy it is, like if you buy the diapers that have velcro and don't need a cover, they will not complain. There will always be naysayers, but most just don't know how far cloth diapers have come. they aren't rags anymore.

Email me if you have more questions, I am always here to help

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