The general opinion on cloth diapering is that you do it from the beginning or you don’t do it at all. Often times a mom will say, “I’ll try it with my next baby.”
When my daughter was 10 months old, I came across the two BumGenius diapers that I had purchased during my pregnancy for back-ups… you know, just in case I ever ran out. I thought to myself, “What’s more wasteful than having cloth diapers and never using them??” I knew that I didn’t want to cloth diaper all the time. With all of our running around it would just be too much for me to learn and more effort than I had time to put in.
I did want to do my part to be “green” though and start learning more about cloth diapering, and I’m glad that I did. Like Amy has mentioned before, reading or learning about cloth diapering is a LOT more difficult than just actually doing it. I decided that I would begin to use cloth diapers at night. Just this small step would save me $8/month and also meant that I’d be using about 30 fewer diapers a month (that’s 360 less diapers per year!) I felt good about my decision and it was the perfect way to use the two cloth diapers that I already had. Soon enough, I was growing my “diaper stash” one cloth diaper at a time, and now feel comfortable enough to use cloth diapers at other times besides bedtime. I’m still not cloth diapering full-time, but I think the small steps make all the difference.
I think that the scariest thing about deciding to cloth diaper was cleaning up the mess. My mom used cloth diapers when I was a baby, and I was really put off by the cleaning process of sloshing a dirty diaper in the toilet and scrubbing it clean. Call me prissy, but I couldn’t imagine myself wasting my time that way if I didn’t absolutely have to. I was so happy to learn that it doesn’t have to be that way! Wet bags and diaper sprayers have made all the difference, and gone are the days when baby needed to be changed every 45 minutes to an hour because they were soaking through!
I think every mom has her reasons for using cloth diapers. Sometimes it’s the financial burdern of disposables. Sometimes it’s the environmentally conscious thing to do. For me it was a little bit of both, and I’ll be the first to say that there is no right or wrong way to diaper your child. I believe a mother truly does know best what will work for her.
I’m so glad that Amy has taken the time to put together this series on cloth diapering. I wish that there were more resources like this in our hospitals and birthing classes so that new moms wouldn’t be so intimidated by what can be such a wonderful experience. Thank you, Amy for letting me share my experiences as a mom who found she liked cloth diapering well into her child’s first year!
Holly at Nap Time is a blog of all trades by one mom brave enough to abandon household duties and make nap time her own. From family activities, recipes, product reviews, giveaways and more, Holly has it on her blog. Join her as she discovers that the key to happiness is never forgetting to make time for yourself.
About Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom
