The environmental impact was definitely on our minds though. We couldn’t fathom every poop and pee coming from our little girl weighing in at less than 7 pounds to have such a permanent effect on our world. It just didn’t seem right for the generations to come. The irony is that every mom I talk to wants the best for their child—healthy baby food, organic bedding, BPA-free everything—yet isn’t that a bit short-sighted?
None of us are perfect and we could all do more, and when doing more looks so darn cute it is a no-brainer! I am proud to have single-handedly convinced several moms to convert to cloth diapers. Sure, I am kind of crazy when it comes to how excited I get about fluff; I’ll admit I tone it down a bit when surrounded by non-cloth diaperers. But what if we all converted just one person to cloth diapers? Even if those people just cloth diapered part-time, the results would be huge.
Have you been successful in converting other parents to cloth diapers? What did you do that was so convincing?
Ann J. is a cloth diaper fanatic with a 9-month-old daughter who has the cutest diaper butt on the block!
20 comments:
I've converted some people to cloth.
Okay, so I've forced people to try cloth... by making them AIO cloth diapers. Most didn't switch 100% to cloth (I won't ever understand that)
My cousin & his wife though... those two I started working on before they were engaged ; )
By the time they were expecting a baby, they knew they'd use cloth. So I started giving them some! I know, a bit in-your-face, but it worked. Their baby is in cloth most of the time (they did use the disposables that they got as gifts from others, I can't blame them; those first weeks are hard) but they are happily using Econobum along with some Flip, FuzziBunz, and others I gave them. I got the baby a new cover for Christmas : )
I do the math and tell them the cost difference then showy stash and how poo is handled.
I live long distance from most people who have spoken with me about cloth diapering. When I placed my first cd order (from Kelly's Closet, mind you), I posted about it on facebook. I was so surprised by the amount of feedback I got of my friends who wish they'd used cloth diapers. One of my cousins, that very night (Earth Day) ended up ordering the same system I did after I told her why I'd chosen it. I think a lot of what converts families is someone else taking the plunge. I don't know that we'll ever know how far reaching our affect really is. People still ask me questions because they know I cloth diaper. I'm not very pushy, I just tell them how much I love this way of diapering compared to disposables, and that seems to be enough.
I am very proud of my "converts." We moved when my first was just two months old, and in a matter of weeks I had converted 5 of my new friends to cloth! I loved them so much and demonstrated how easy they were to care for and it was obvious how CUTE they were!
So far, my count is 2/3. And the third is on the fence. I think that is pretty good, considering where I live and how backwards the area is. In fact, one person I have converted is 2000 miles away. Yep, I rock.
So far I've convinced one friend and another is very close to making the jump! And I've only been cloth diapering for 4 months :-) I wrote a blog post about my experience and linked to it on my facebook page to encourage my friends to at least consider it.
http://jayz-lifeaccordingtoz.blogspot.com/2010/11/cloth-diaper-101-update.html
I hope I can convert even more! I also convinced my Mom and a nanny that worked with us for a short time that cloth diapers are easy and cute!
There's a lot to be said by just quietly cloth diapering your child. I've had at least four people in my circle of influence ask me about diapers!
I also feel proud to have gotten 5 mothers hooked on cloth diapering... one part time with a toddler, but the other four with newborns! I feel like a spokesperson a lot of the time!
I've persuaded a couple of friends, but mainly, I think people get tired of seeing and hearing me explain why we do it and how manageable it is! I think they hear it as another one of those parenting challenges--"My way is better because..." when really I just believe that if people would try it out they would love it!
I think a major obstacle to giving diapers a shot is the price of purchasing enough to really know if it will work. One diaper just doesn't give anyone an idea of what CD full time is like. You really need enough for a full day to give it a shot. Trial programs help out some. That's how we were finally convinced! Then we started shopping Kelly's Closet because of the great diaper dollars points.
I'm not a pushy person, but because I use cloth and talk about it on occasion, I think my sister-in-law got to see how it wasn't too hard and how much money she'd save! She is planning on cloth diapering my nephew who is due in February. :) But I don't talk about it to everyone...I agree with the person who said something about "just quietly doing it yourself" has a lot of impact on people...
My best friend from 20 years ago, my sister, and my daughter's mentor are all using cloth now. The only Momma I have not been able to convince is a friend from church. So, that gives me a 75% convert rate!
I just brought it up with one of my knitting friends who's pregnant with her third. She lives out in the country and gardens and cans and quilts, but said she'd never thought about using cloth diapers before. She's really curious, so I'm bringing a variety with next time we knit!
Only a handful of people. Two good friends and one family member!
I haven't convinced anyone yet, but I'm the only one in our group of friends that has a child in diapers. And we only have one other friend who has children, and the mom is VERY anti-CDing. Almost to the point of hostility. I wasn't to ask her why she cares SO much about what I put on my baby's bottom.
Anyway, we have a couple friends who are pregnant now and my plan is to buy them some cloth dipes to get them to just try them. Maybe they'll run out of disposables and think 'hey, I have those cloth ones that Sarah gave me. Those will do in a pinch.' And then automagically they'll be converted.
Ambitious? Maybe... Naive? Totally... Will it work? I think so.
I have had two converts!!! and I was the critical one who when I saw my friend do it...swore I wouldnt! Now I am greening up any area of my life I can!
I converted to cloth bc of economic reasons also. Seen that conversion almost 7 months ago, I have converted 4 people. 3 of those are part time cloth, the other full time like myself. It is fun spreading the word and excitement of fluff.
I have converted 4 Moms to cloth and all of them LOVE it! :) And I'm amazed and excited at how many more Mom's I keep running into in my area who already do cloth.
I converted five Mamas'! It helps having a sling business, because alot of moms come over to pick fabric and see my ds running around in his awesome Goodmama Ones and they are shocked at what cloth has become! And of course my closest friends-one on the west coast! One Mama who simply came to pick up a sling in 2009 was so inspired that when her husband got stationed to Japan she loved the dipes so much she took over the now very popular "Chisai Bums" cloth diaper store...Yep-that was me. I am very proud to help inspire Mamas' to understand both cloth diapering and attatchment parenting which usually go hand in hand-one at a time right?
My daughter is 5 months old and so far I've converted 4 people who before didn't even know cloth diapers even existed (we live in Hungary, Europe)but I am giving talks at the local health center for new mums-to-be, and also wrote some articles, which I hope will bring CD-ing closer to some.
By the way, great site, got loads of useful information and encouragement from here!
Arikan
I actually completely converted my husband. At first he was resistant to cloth completely. Our daughter is now almost 14 months old and has been in cloth since she came home from the hospital. Recently while watching a commercial on tv that talked about how some people can not afford diapers. He then looked at me and said this wouldn't be a problem if people used reusable's!
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