No one would look at me and think I use cloth diapers. I am a 20 year old girl, full time college student, and I'm a total girly girl. No one could guess that I spray poop off diapers daily and spend hours looking at cloth diapering websites. If you'd asked me 5 years ago if I thought I would use cloth diapers on my kids, I would have said no way!I became pregnant at age 18. I was a full time college student, with no car or job. I was definitely afraid of what was to come, especially about the financial situation. I was doing all the calculations for the things I needed and was very overwhelmed.
When I was around 7 months pregnant with my son, a good friend of mine told me she used cloth diapers on her two children. I was intrigued. I researched for a few days, the cute covers, the modern cloth diapers, and the most desirable aspect: saving money. I was totally going to find the money to do this. I had to.
I told my mother I wanted to use cloth diapers, and she laughed. She proceeded to tell me the horror stories of when my twin and I were cloth diapered temporarily when we were babies. She told me that since I was young that I would hate it. So much laundry. Pins. Plastic pants. Ew, the poop, you have to dunk it in the toilet! And what about in public? It's so hard! I got scared, and opted for disposables.
Fast forward: My son was 6 months old, and we'd been using disposable diapers. It was expensive. Then suddenly, he got this rash. It started off just really red, then turned into peeling, and scabby. It was horrible. I felt so bad, I cried as it got worse and worse. For 3 weeks, I tried the maximum strength creams and 7 different brands of disposables, even the hypoallergenic kind. Nothing worked. I didn't know what to do.
My twin convinced me to buy some cloth diapers. I got 2 GDiapers that I was just going to use until temporarily. I was scared out of my mind! Well, the rash disappeared by the next morning! I was so happy. I tried a disposable one more time, and he still got a rash. I put another cloth diaper on him, and it went away. There was no way I was going back now.
My next purchase was 2 Flip covers with 2 inserts, and 16 GMD prefolds. That's when I got addicted. I bought a lot more, tried a lot, sold a lot. The fact that my now one year old son has not gotten a rash in months reassures me that I'm doing the right thing. I love cloth diapering. I use it at home, on the go, and when I travel 4 hours away for weeks to visit my twin. He hasn't touched a disposable in 6 months! I will definitely cloth diaper all of my future children from birth.
Oh, and Mom, what were you talking about? Cloth diapering is so easy! It isn't gross... I like doing diaper laundry! And going out in public? Not scary at all. And, uh, when am I going to have to dunk these things in the toilet? Yeah, cloth diapering? Piece. Of. Cake.
My name is Jazz, I am a 20 year old mother to my 1 year old son Oliver, and we live in California. I enjoy music, knitting, cloth diapers, school, and my adorable son.
8 comments:
I just started cloth diapering using gro-via and am surprisingly excited so far! I just did a post on my first day: http://jessihomestory.blogspot.com/2011/07/clothcontinued.html
so far so good!! I am glad I got over my fears :)
It drives me nuts when people laugh at me for wanting to use cloth diapers on our (as yet unborn) little girl. My favorite comment is "That's what you say NOW"
Posts like this are what encourage me to do it anyway :)
Jazz, I thank you SO much for convincing me to cloth diaper. Ladies, Miss Jazz is absolutely AMAZING. She has become an advocate in cloth diapering in her own right. She has taken the time out to teach many women, myself included, on every aspect in cloth diapering. I can safely say close to 100 moms have decided to make the change because of this awesome young lady, whether directly because of her, or through other moms. Thank you so much Jazz, I love you!
WAY TO GO! I got the same reaction from my family when I said I wanted to use cloth diapers. I am a complete girly girl myself who lovsd clothes shoes and fashion and NO ONE would guess I cloth diaper. But once they heard I could save around 2 grand a year doing this with each child they were on board. My skinny mini son just turned one and that big butt helps keep his pants on! So cheers to you for braving the poop and jumping in. : )
www.retromodernmom.com
Jazz, you are amazing! I am so proud of you as a woman and a mother, and I thank you every day for introducing me to cloth diapers, and giving me the necessary information to not only be successful with it, but to actually ENJOY it.
Jazz is an advocate in her own right for cloth diapering. I personally know of dozens of people who have switched to cloth diapering directly because of Jazz's advocacy, and many more women (and men!) who have made the switch through the people she has helped make the switch.
Thank you so much Jazz, I love you!
It just goes to show to people that CDing is not what it use to be and it's so much better for babies bums.
I also had a son at 18 and wish I would have used with him! I did it with son #2 and LOVE it! My grandma gave me the SAME lines your mom gave you. She still thinks it's nuts of me even after seeing how far they have come. Just the other day she told me if I would use more detergent I would have to rinse so many times cause they'd be cleaner....ok? Maybe that's one of the reasons she had such a bad experience.
Jazz you're awesome! Thanks for being a major part of getting me started on cloth diapers!! <3
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