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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

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Our Hiatus from Cloth

We traveled several states away to spend Christmas with my husband's family in Illinois, and because of the number of people staying in the house and using the washing machine, we decided to use disposables while we were gone. This is our first time using disposables for an extended period of time since our little one was three months old-- she is now nine months. Most cloth-diaper users are so fiercely passionate about their cloth that they are often reluctant to admit any positives about disposables. So, despite my own staunch love of cloth, I figured I would use this experience to compare and contrast cloth and disposables in an honest way.

While I have loved using cloth so far, I expected to feel a sense of relief or respite using disposables for a week. And I suppose it was nice not having to rinse diapers and launder them for a few days. However, I have found that I sorely missed our cloth diapers during that week! I have been quite unimpressed, for one, with how much the disposables are able to hold. (For comparison purposes, I'm using Target brand diapers in size 3, and most of her cloth diapers she would normally wear are bumGenius 4.0s.) When my daughter wakes up in the morning, I am used to being able to nurse her before changing her diaper since her cloth never leaks. But with disposables, her pajamas are already a bit damp around the leg-holes since the disposable diaper just isn't as reliable at holding it all in. I am finding myself changing her diaper almost twice as often as I would with her cloth since she keeps leaking, and even when she's not, I am afraid she is going to. I can't even remember the last time her cloth diapers leaked.

Also, the disposable don't provide as stable of a sitting-surface (or a landing-pad) for a growing 9-month old. Beyond these things, though, probably my biggest complaint is the smell. With her cloth, I can't even tell many times if the diaper is dirty or just wet until I actually open it; with the disposables though, the smell smacks you in the face immediately, even before removing it, and something about the smell of the pee mixed with the chemicals in the diapers is just awful! Another thing I must complain about is how bored I am with the lack of color. The "up&up" brand is cuter than most with its bubbles of green and blue, but I miss the bright colors and patterns of our cloth diapers. bumGenius's newest colors (dazzle, mirror, and sassy) are my favorites of the diapers we own!

The one thing I will admit I like quite a bit about the disposables is how trim they are. My baby girl is thought of as the chunky baby in the family simply because she has a couple of very long and thin cousins, but she is not actually a very thick baby. But I think her cloth diapers make her appear to be fatter than she actually is, and I have enjoyed the fact that the disposables reveal her cute little frame! That one concession, though, is relatively small compared to the annoyances I have dealt with this week as I have used disposables.

So many people look at me like I am crazy when they hear that we do cloth diapers, but I have felt that our week of using disposables has made me more glad than ever to be using cloth! Even though extra loads of laundry can get old occasionally, and cloth diapers often require us to buy a size up in pants for the little one, I am positive that the few disadvantages of cloth are far outweighed by their many virtues! I could hardly wait to get home and get my sweet girl back in her fluff!

Bio: Rachel is a stay-at-home mom of a wonderful baby girl. She is loving motherhood and enjoys looking for ways to keep a sense of humor about parenting, pregnancy, cloth diapers, and life in general.

2 comments:

Jessica m said...

Aw I did the same, but mine stayed in disposable til I finished the pack. It was kind of hard going back to cloth. I hate to admit. I really liked not having the laundry or mainly the poo rinsing. I really really really really hate that part. Really. I use a sprayer. It wouldn't be so bad if I used the throw away liners...but I can never remember! But I agree....the smell is horrid. Never noticed it with other babies before I knew about cloth. But it is horrible. But the leaking...may have just been the brand. I have to get the lil movers or whatever they are to help no leaks. Mine breaks out in target brand diapers tho too.

Anonymous said...

Your problem was unsing the Target brand diapers. They suck tremendously. Next time, try Luvs, Huggues, or Pampers. Though more expensive than up and up, they are much better.