No matter what they say, You CAN do it!

My first exposure in any form to cloth diapers was through a Facebook friend's posts. She was cloth diapering her new son with the cutest diapers, so I asked her about them. When my husband and I found out we were expecting, I obsessively began searching the web to learn everything I could. They would save us money, were better for the baby and were eco-friendly! I will be the first to admit, I don't necessarily cloth diaper to save the planet, but to save our bank accounts and protect baby's bum instead.

The next step was to get my husband on board. I was worried he would be against the extra laundry, cleaning up poop and the initial investment. To my surprise I was told to "go for it!" I bought my first 3 pocket diapers from GoGreen Pocket diapers. I was so excited to use them when our little baby arrived! Then I called my mom.

I love my mom dearly, but sometimes she has a habit of trying to talk me out of things she doesn't necessarily agree with. "You won't last a week!" She told me. "Yes I will!" I protested. "I've got it all figured out. I'm going to use prefolds and covers when she comes home, and then we will use pocket diapers! They are just like disposables but you don't throw them away; and it's only an extra load of laundry every couple of days.I already do tons anyway!"

My mom then began to tell me how gross baby poop is and how she doesn't think I can handle it. Plus, I will be so tired from taking care of a new baby and having a C-section (we knew in the beginning this was the only delivery option) that I won't WANT to do extra laundry. I ignored her anyway and continued my research.

Then it was my husband's turn to tell his parents that if our little one needed a diaper change, we would be wrapping her little bum in the cutest diapers possible! "You won't last!" His mom said.

"What if you stick the baby with the pins?"
"Those plastic pants leak and are so ugly!"
"When your brother was little I tried using cloth diapers on him, and it was too much work. The ammonia smell was horrible!"
"You're going to wash them in YOUR washing machine?!"
"I'll just use disposables in my house when the baby comes over."
"Well you aren't washing those in MY washing machine! No way!"

The list goes on. Soon my husband's mom lost all interest in our decision and the diapers and didn't talk to us about it anymore. When she would come over to visit, I would try to show her the ones I had bought but she just nodded and changed the subject. It was SO frustrating! I wanted someone else to be as excited about the diapers as I was! My mom slowly began to come around. I sent her dozens of videos from YouTube about the different varieties of cloth diapers, how to use them, how to wash them, and so on. After about 3 months of beating it into her head how easy they were going to be, I think she finally realized I was serious and was going to stick with it.

I FINALLY had someone who was somewhat as excited as I was to share my new obsession with! I continued to build my stash and learn everything I could about cloth. At 28 weeks due to some complications, our little miracle came into the world and spent 6 weeks in the NICU. She came home at about 4 1/2 pounds and didn't fit into ANY of the diapers we had gotten. Then the comments started again.

"Just use disposables. It will be so much easier."
"She is going to be pooping all the time. You are going to get tired of washing out poopy diapers!"
"Here. I bought you some disposables to use."
"You won't last!"

While I realize that sometimes our parents were just trying to be helpful in their own unhelpful way, I was still upset with the lack of support. I ordered some preemie prefolds and Rumparooz Newborn covers, a couple Fuzzibunz Perfect Size pockets in XS, and a few Happy Heiny's minis and began to use cloth on my tiny baby. I LOVED every minute of it. While she was in the NICU and using disposables she had a diaper rash the entire time. It never went away. As soon as I got my smaller cloth diapers in the mail, I slapped them on her bum and the rash was completely healed within the first week.

I am so happy with the decision that my husband and I made. My mom eventually came around and has even bought our little one some diapers herself. My mother in law however, is still slightly disinterested, although she seems to accept the fact that we are not going to use disposable diapers and has started to watch us change her now so she can learn how to put the diapers on.

No matter what, don't let anyone tell you that you CAN'T because you CAN and you will if it's really what you want to do. :)

My name is Erica and I am a full time working mom of a beautiful 5 month old little girl named Rylee Quinn. I spend most of my free time outside of work spending time with Rylee, my husband of almost 2 years and our two doggie children Oz and Loki. I also try to keep up with my blog on a somewhat frequent basis: Orange Juice In My Cheerios. http://ericaandzacinreality.blogspot.com