My hubby and I have been married for two years and are expecting our first child at the end of August, a baby girl to be named Noah. I decided after reading a lot of articles and blogs about cloth diapering that it was the choice for us and our baby, but I knew I had to get Chad (the hubs) on board. Chad is a major Type-A personality. He always wants to be in control, and it’s important that things are his idea and that his opinion matters. He is a small-business owner, if that helps describe him at all, he very much has the “I’m the Boss” personality. What’s good for us is that for the most part he lets me make all of the decisions regarding planning for Noah’s arrival, but anything that we will have to spend money on will have to be run by him first. So…I had that working against me, because I was pretty firm in my decision-once I make my mind up it’s been made up. My top two reasons for choosing to cloth diaper our baby were the positive effects it has on the environment and the negative effects disposable diapers can have on the baby’s health.
Attempt 1: My husband could not care less about the environment, there is only one person in this relationship that cares about recycling, reducing our Carbon footprint, and saving our environment and that person is yours truly. So my ‘it’s better for the planet’ argument and the details on the numbers of one use diapers sitting in landfills got some chuckling in return. He laughed at me.
Attempt 2: Chad may not want to save the whales, but he isnt’ heartless. I have suffered since infancy from severe Eczema and skin allergies, so I love that cloth diapers reduce the risk of skin rashes and diaper rashes in babies. The chemicals in disposable diapers have been known to cause a myriad of health problems for babies. Some studies have even been done linking disposable diapers to infertility! As I’m reading Chad my research I can tell he is taking it to heart, he has suffered along with me
through my unexplained monthly full-body rashes and horrible dry skin in the winter. Not only does he have to rub me down with Eucerin a couple times a day, and sit up with me when the Prednisone keeps me up at night, but I may complain a little bit (at least that is what he says). I finish my very passionate speech about the health benefits of cloth diapering and he gives me that look. Darn! Close but no cigar, folks!
As many of you who have cloth diapered babies before know there is another significant benefit to cloth diapering over using disposables. I decide to pull out the big guns and fill Chad in on the financial statistics of cloth diapers.
Attempt 3: I gather together my print outs from all of the websites I looked at that list the prices of cloth diapers versus the money spent on one use diapers over the first two years of a child’s life. I had charts, testimonials, and print outs of some of the popular brands of cloth diapers that I liked. My research showed that the average family could save around $2000 over the first two years by using cloth diapers over disposable ones. One site showed the average number of diapers used in a week for newborns and the cost for disposable diapers and a diaper service side by side. Newborns go through 70 diapers a week on average costing $39.90 a week for one use diapers and only $17.50 for using a cloth diaper service!! That’s less than half of the cost! And I’m not even planning on using a diaper service. My girlfriends are throwing me a diaper and diaper accessory only shower so that I can stock up on the diapers before-hand! And I have no problem washing them myself! Chad looks at me doubtingly. I explain about tools like diaper sprayers and that special detergents aren’t necessary unless you want them. And did I mention the savings??? DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! He looks over the evidence, and he’s in. Sweet, I fist pump the air in victory.
Now that I’ve made my husband a believer we’re both stoked and looking at the precious options from the huge selection of cloths diapers out there only gets us more excited about our little one coming. I guess the next step is to educate our immediate family and go ahead and form a tough shell so we can brush off the laughs we get from other parents and the discouragement from nay-sayers. A baby is going to be a struggle and huge change no matter what you’re putting on it’s tush, but I am so excited to have a house united for cloth diapers.
My research came from:
http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php --- Real Diaper Association
http://www.diapernet.org/whycloth.htm --- National Association of Diaper Users
Cloth Diapers I like:
FuzziBunz, Rumparooz, Happy Heinys - All available from KELLY’S CLOSET!
By: Layne S.
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18 comments:
I'm glad you were able to convince him! Although, I do have to say that if my husband ever looked at me and laughed about something I was passionate about, his sleepless nights on the couch, I'm sure, would change his mind lol.
Noah for a girls name. Really?
Be kind to that little girl. Rethink that. There are so many wonderful names. ( Kindergarten teacher)
I'm certainly glad that my husband was okay with the idea from 1st mention. I think his theory is that as long as I'm happy, he's happy....especially if I'm the one who'll be doing most of the diapering.
THANK YOU for this article! My husband and I had a discussion about this earlier this week. He said that he's fine with my decision, but doesn't understand why. He thinks I'm just crazy... lol. Also, thanks for posting links to your resources. A lot of people don't and it's very frustrating. :)
My husband was not convinced at all, but like you, I had made up my mind and cloth was what we were doing. He said he didn't want to and I bought them anyways. Being a SAHM and EBF, I do most of the diaper changes anyways and he's only home to change for about 4 hours each evening and weekends when he's off work.
This didn't cause problems though, I'm sure he knew when I brought it up it was what I was doing with or without him behind me from the get go. Our little girl arrived before her stash was complete, so she was in disposables for about 2 weeks. I think him seeing the differences first hand really helped and he's more on board now. The prefolds and Snappi still intimidate him though, pockets are better dad diapers in this house.
Glad you were able to convince hubby, Layne :) My hubby was against cloth at first, but then I showed him the receipts for what I'd been paying for Pampers. We've been CDing since.
To other mamas, please leave name choice alone! I have always though Noah would suit a girl better and as a mama to Tobias I've had to do my fair share of defending.
Our son was born 3 weeks ago and my husband has yet to change a diaper! He down right refuses to use cloth and I down right refuse to buy throw aways. Eventually he will have to change the baby's diaper (I will eventually go somewhere without baby!). It will be amusing and I am sure to receive a phone call!
Make sure to go easy on yourself if those first weeks youre reaching for the sposies. Also, its a good thing that you aren't going to expose yourself to a lot of the yucky things in sposies because it might aggrevate your skin troubles.
I simply showed my husband the cost of disposables vs. cloth, showed him the review of the FuzziBunz OS on their webpage,and then showed him the sprayers you can use. He was sold.
I'm really surprised that your quest for natural diapering hasn't rubbed off on your choices to use Eucerin and prednisone (treating symptoms) rather than searching for a way to cure your skin allergies.
Organic coconut oil is amazing for skin issues, but eczema is an auto-immune problem, so try drinking raw apple cidar vinegar and baking soda daily to reduce the overall inflammation in your body and examining your diet. Your skin is acting up b/c there's something going on INSIDE. Fix it from the inside out, and there'll be no need for steriods or chemicals.
Oh, and I liked your article. Blessings to you and your family!
I think you will find people are a lot more accepting of cloth diapering than you think, especially once they see the modern cloth diapers. My in-laws totally laughed at us, then the first time came to change a dipe and they were over it. Breast feeding on the other hand...who knew THAT would be such an uphill culture battle with my family?!
And as for naming a little girl Noah...Noah is a very popular boys name right now. Do you think it will be difficult for her to potentially have a classmate or two with the same name...who are also little boys?
My Mr. Type A did not believe the stats from the websites claiming we'd save money, especially when I was in love with the pricier pocket diapers and all-in-ones. He's a research scientist by training. He needed real data with source articles.So I had to create my own spreadsheet and do the math myself. I referenced the amount of electricity and water used by our front-loading washer/dryer. I calculated the cost of each dose of detergent. I added in the use of disposable liners and all of the add-ons: sprayer, dry bags, etc. I considered that we can get cheap disposables at the local wholesale store.
The conclusion? We BARELY save money using cloth with one child. We REALLY save money when we can use them on successive children. I was sold on the idea because I was disgusted at the sheer waste-production of using disposable. My thrify hubby liked having something to use as rags/dustcloths when we were done diapering.
That is great that you found the way to get your hubby on board and I think your experience will help other mommies in the same situation.
And as for that rude comment above regarding the name you chose for you soon to be daughter, there are always going to be people that disagree with everything you do. Take it with a grain of salt. I for one think it is a beautiful name for any gender!
love your choice of name,,,
Noe (with an accent mark over the 'e') is also pronounced No-Ah.
It is French and means "peace" and is a form of "Noah."
Also (as a teacher, high school) I think Noah is a very unique name and while students can be mean they can also be very kind.
This all sounds very familiar, but in our house it was the other way around - my husband had to convince me and I'm so glad he did! Good for you for pushing the subject! And there will be plenty of naysayers laughing at your choice but with the savings you will have (not to mention the health and environmental impacts), the jokes on them! hehe
I had to do a little convincing myself... I showed him youtube videos of the cloth diapers to show him they weren't just material and pins anymore. I also had to show him how much money we would end up saving.. my money conscious boy was sold!
I think Noah is beautiful... we were actually thinking of that if we had a boy... but I think it's cute for a girl, too. I love what the mom wrote about Noe'... that's a pretty way to spell it! (I'm sorry "anonymous" wrote otherwise... not really anybody's business... not his/her child either!)
Check out www.diaperparties.com/jamielk and look for a rep in your area. Maybe you could have a cloth diaper shower and save even MORE $$!! :)
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