Try Cloth Diapers Risk Free

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

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A Childcare Dream Come True

Like many of you who have both parents working, I was concerned about finding a daycare that would be accepting of our baby in cloth diapers. I read up on other people’s experiences, drawing as much advice as I could from them, as I tried to figure out how to convince places it would not be an inconvenience for their employees. As it has turned out though, most of that was not necessary!

One daycare option we looked into did not even bat an eye when I asked them about their willingness to use cloth, and showed them two different diapers (a one-size FuzziBunz and a Flip with an insert). They did not mind or seemed concerned about either one at all! While we ended up not going with this particular place, it was very encouraging to find someone unfazed at the idea of dealing with cloth!

The person we actually decided to go with was the mom of an acquaintance who was looking for work, and things ended up matching up very well between her and our family, especially in regards to cloth diapering!

First of all, she used cloth diapers on her children years ago –when the only options available were flats and plastic covers. So she was not intimidated by the thought of cloth, and was then surprised and curious to see how much it had changed over the past two and a half decades since her time using them.

Second, we did not have to buy any new or special diapers for her as she was willing to use the ones we already owned –primarily covers with inserts and prefolds. To make it a bit easier on her (our decision, not her request) we give her the inserts so she does not have to deal with folding the prefold and placing a stay-dry liner on top. Not hard things to do, but we want to simplify, not complicate, things as much as possible for her so she would not resent using cloth. We have even given her the few pockets and AIOs that we have for her to try out, but she actually prefers the inserts! This works perfectly for us as I now do not feel any pressure to buy a special type of diaper especially for her.

Third, and this is my favorite thing, she rinses out the diapers for us to take home at the end of each day! This was not something we asked her do to, but she knows we rinse them at our home and so after only a week of watching our baby she began rinsing them out too! Even though we have told her she does not have to, she still does. Plus, she even nicely rolls or folds everything up in the wetbag for us! I love it!

I am still so happy we have this lady taking care of our baby. She has been nothing but respectful of our wishes, does her best to ensure those things take place while we are not there, gives him lots of developmental attention as he’s the only child she watches, has not had any problem with using cloth diapers, and only costs a small amount more than an official daycare center. She truly is a wish come true for us and I am glad we found her!


For those who are looking for their first (or a new) childcare person or center, I would recommend two things: One, look at the smaller family-run centers; those, I found, were the most willing to accept cloth diapers. Two, talk to people within your friend, work, church, etc groups. We stumbled upon our person through conversations with her daughter as we were working. I knew her mom was looking for work, she knew I needed a babysitter, and we both respected each other; and then one day I thought about asking if her mom would be interested in babysitting, and they had been thinking the same thing! So look around, you might be surprised at who you find that way!

Rebecca Brown and her husband are first-time parents to their seven month old baby. She is also very excited for the upcoming holiday season when she will be able to watch her son experience it for the first time!

2 comments:

Megan said...

I had to take DS to a home daycare for a few weeks when my MIL hurt her back. Anyway, just as I was getting ready to ask the dreaded "Is cloth ok??" question, I saw a stack of Grovias that one of the other kiddos was using. She was totally open to using them w/ my guy too. It was such a relief to find someone who would do cloth and take my son on a temporary basis. Proof their are great daycare providers out there!

raych said...

When we were looking for a daycare provider (kiddo's not born yet), we knew we wanted to do cloth but were skeptical that any daycare center would deal with it. There are so many other factors that were priorities above cloth diapering--safe, licensed, clean, affordable, and having an opening for an infant when we needed one--that I figured we'd have to let the cloth diapers go by the way side at daycare and just use them at home. I was surprised that every day care we talked to allowed CDs, so we didn't have to make this compromise.