Tag: love cloth diapers

Cloth diapers today have come a long way from your grandma’s generation of pins and rubber pants. Modern day cloth diapers are not only cute and fashionable but are built to last; they feature convenient button snaps or Velcro, elastic waists and sewn in or removable inserts.  The reasons I chose to switch to cloth diapers for my kids include my family’s cost savings benefits, my kid’s health benefits and the cute stylish designs options they offer. Cloth diapers fit perfectly with our natural parenting style and the benefits outweigh the negatives.

The biggest factor for me was the cost of cloth diapers. They range from about $5-$20 per diaper new, at first glance that could seem expensive, but that one diaper will be used multiple times and could be sold or passed on to siblings. A typical family will spend around $600 on cloth diapers and diaper accessories for one child compared to an average of $1500 on disposable diapers.  Once I factored that amount, the savings for us was huge especially since I had 2 boys in diapers at the same time. The only other cost associated with cloth diapers is washing and drying them. Some may notice a slight increase in their water and electric usage but I have not noticed a great increase on my bill.

I’ve always heard how cloth diapers can be inconvenient, especially while being out and about with your baby. Yes this is true, you shouldn’t just roll up your dirty cloth diaper and throw it away but you can roll it up (wipes and all) and throw it in a wetbag to bring it home and deal with it later. Another great benefit of cloth is the fact that we haven’t had any poop-splosions. I know everyone dreads having to deal with them especially while being out. The tight elastic around the back and legs keeps all those messes contained. Since I’m talking about poop, yes you need to rinse solid poop out of diapers before you wash them. Yes this adds an extra step to diaper changes, but did you know it is recommended to dump poop out of a disposable diaper also?

The worst feeling I’ve had as a mom is being helpless when my daughter (who only used disposables) would have a diaper rash; I’m allergic to diaper cream so that was not an option in our house. Since using cloth diapers on my boys, they have never had a rash. If you have a baby with sensitive skin, (like my youngest) you may want to add a stay dry fleece liner, since not all cloth diapers have a moisture blocking layer and could irritate them.

This is probably the most impractical reason why I chose cloth diapers for my family but it was the most convincing one (other than cost) for me at first. A cloth diaper is so cute, not only do they come in many different prints and colors but that fluffy diapered butt is so cute on a baby. That fluffy butt is cute but it does make it harder to fit in slimmer fitting pants.  I am so happy we decided to cloth diaper our boys and the pros for us really do outweigh the cons.

Seven years ago while pregnant with my first baby, I was curious about using cloth diapers; I thought they were absolutely adorable and I would save so much money. At that time, I remember falling in love with this strawberry-themed diaper I saw online; it was red with white polka dots and it had green and white ruffles around the butt. I remember everyone I talked to, convinced me that cloth diapers were too much work and that they would be such a hassle to use, especially while getting used to a new baby. So, I used disposables throughout diapering my daughter which sometimes resulted in nasty diaper rashes. I remember thinking single use diapers were convenient, but definitely not as cute as cloth, and I wasn’t thrilled about how wasteful they were.

Fast forward 2.5 years later and I am now pregnant with my second baby. My daughter is now potty training and the new baby is due in a couple months. I decide this time I was going to take full control of parenting my children, and I was going to use cloth diapers. So I ordered my first few pocket diapers; before the baby was born, I remember putting them on my daughter while potty training, especially when we would go out of the house. At that point, I was in love them already and they were so adorable (My favorite diaper I purchased back then was black with rainbow paint splatters on it). When the baby was born, I started cloth diapering him full time and yes the same one-size diapers worked for both my daughter and my newborn son. I have to admit, I was brand new to the cloth diapering scene, and yes it was defiantly a learning curve for me, but within a few months after making some adjustments, I was already starting to get a grip of this new concept and being successful at it. For my 2nd baby, I stocked up my home with 30 diapers of different prints and colors and washed them twice a week.

Shortly after my son was born I ended up pregnant again with my third baby. This time, I buy twice as many cloth diapers to put me at around sixty in total. I now have a really nice collection of pockets, all in ones, all in twos, all in threes, fitteds and covers. Each diaper has its own benefit (I will discuss this in a different post). When my third baby arrived, I was so glad that I chose to use cloth diapers; I couldn’t imagine having to buy disposable diapers for 2 babies and being responsible for the waste associated with them. As for my family, cloth diapering has become just as easy as using disposables and to my surprise, neither of my boys have ever had a diaper rash.

Pictured: Jalissa(3 years old) and Jayden(10 months old)