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Monday, February 6, 2012

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Why Cloth Works for Us

When many of my friends catch wind of our diapering system they aren’t always the most understanding. I never give unsolicited advice to others but will gladly fill them in if they ask questions. As I try my hardest to not completely overwhelm them, I reference a list of why cloth works for our family.

  1. We keep it simple. Pocket diapers work for best for us and make up 90% of our stash with a majority of those being bumGenius 4.0. There are a few random brands from Kelly’s Closet coupons & I also have picked up a couple of fitteds for night time. The same goes with a washing routine. Once I figured out something that would work, I just went with it.
  2. Supportive helpers. After experimenting at home, I took a diaper & a wet bag to daycare and explained everything to our provider. She has jumped right in & has had no issues. Nothing has changed for her other than putting the dirty diaper in a different bag. My husband has also been very supportive as I told him from the start my expectations of him would remain the same, to change the diaper (he does spray the dirty ones too). All laundry responsibility falls on me, but he will run a rinse or hang them if I ask.
  3. It saves money. This was one of the major reasons I wanted to switch to cloth—I hated literally throwing money away. I learned you can easily spend big money quickly on adorable prints & fancy diapers. Pockets aren’t the cheapest system out there but I have also taken advantage of sales, coupons & swap groups. I have saved money by making my own wet bags, pail liners, wipes, and upcycled wool soakers. We also put up a clothes line and use our drier a lot less. A DIY diaper sprayer was also cheaper than buying new & makes dealing with a day’s worth of daycare diapers much easier.
  4. The floor plan. The 2nd bathroom in our house is directly across from the baby’s room and is also conveniently where our washer and drier are located. I love being able to take the dirty diapers directly from the changing table, to the bathroom & have the washer right there. The bathtub is also handy for easily adding water into my pesky HE front-loader or a good thorough diaper soaking if needed.
  5. I am an extremely stubborn person. I feel like most who knew I was attempting to make the switch to cloth when my little guy turned one thought I would never stick with it. I love proving people wrong & am extremely dedicated. I don’t mind the extra laundry & have come to somewhat enjoy stuffing diapers while relaxing and catching up on some trashy tv.
To me it doesn’t matter if you chose to cloth diaper exclusively, part-time, do it for the environment, cost savings, health of your baby, etc. what really matters is that you are doing it because you feel it is the best decision for your family. What is the #1 key point you try to get across when sharing the message about cloth diapering?

Megan is a full-time working mama of a handsome & busy almost 2-year old. She looks forward to using cloth diapers from the start with their next baby, due the end of February & not wasting any more money on disposable diapers!

2 comments:

Sandi said...

The number one thing I try to get across is that it is not like the plastic pants and diaper pins of old, which is what people automatically think of. And then I try to explain that it's really not much more messy than disposable diapering (as a parent, you WILL get poop on you! It's inevitable, deal with it!)

Boise Wiebers said...

Thank you SO much for saying some of the things I tell others. For example, it doesn't matter what your family's particular reason is to use cloth diapers and every family doesn't have to cloth diaper full time. There are so many in the cloth diapering world that seem to think that others are sinning if they admit to having used a disposable diaper here or there. I even read quite often about others admitting their shame if they use disposable diapers. In my opinion, cloth diapering is not something related to morals so there really isn't a definite right or wrong. Do you know what I mean?