All The Cool Moms Are Doing It

The moment I found out I was pregnant with my first son, I immediately knew certain things. I knew I wanted to breastfeed, use safe cleaners so as not to expose my son to chemicals, but diapers didn't cross my radar.

When he was a few months old we began dealing with diaper rash and yeast from the antibiotics he was having to take. At that point my mother suggested cloth diapers. No sooner had the words left her mouth than visions of playing in toilet water began to haunt me. Now, I will admit that I still don't like swishing the dirty diapers, but there are so many great tools that have been developed to make that part of things easier.

At this point in time, neither I nor anyone I knew had any clue that anything besides flat cloth diapers existed. My mom taught me how to fold and pin the diapers and we were set. So naturally when I found I was expecting again 6 years later I stocked up on flat diapers, pins, and plastic pants once again.

It wasn't until my third son came along that I learned about a whole new class of cloth diapering options. But so many! What's the difference? Which one do I pick?

I was introduced to Rumparooz and ended up mostly with those and a few GroVia diapers. Holy cow you can't get much easier than that! Now, there are still TONS of other options available, but those were the ones that I was able to see and feel before ordering.

I have since learned that you can cloth diaper on any budget, seriously. If you are worried about the initial investment, save up first. Compare the $500 or so that you would invest in cloth diapers (and you can get some pretty awesome dipes for that amount) to the $3000 or so you would spend on disposables (or chemical diapers as my friend calls them). You would have to multiply the $3000 by each child that you have, but the $500 can be used on subsequent children. You may choose to buy a few more or replace some, but you only have to make the large investment once.

Can't decide where to start? You can host your very own diaper party. This is where you and your friends can get together and see and touch several different cloth diaper options. Not only that, but you can also get incentives this way.

I myself am diapering a 6 month old and a 2 year old. I can never go back to "sposies" now that I know how easy the cloth diapering can be.

Brandy Is a stay at home mom with three boys and a blog. Confessions of a Crafty Housewife is all about how we live, love, play, eat, and search for better ways to raise our boys and protect the planet.