Convincing Dad

Have you fallen in love with the idea of cloth diapering? Have you found KellysCloset.com and wished it were payday? Have you already decided on every color and pattern you MUST have? Yes!? Are you now wondering how you will convince your dear husband to join you on this cloth diaper adventure? Or, are you one of the lucky ones whose husband have already said yes, but are hesitant?

When I was expecting our first child, I was overwhelmed with information and choices. One decision I was confident about was that I would like to use cloth diapers. I was not sure my husband would go for it, so I knew I had to do a little research first. I thought, the more educated I was, the better I would be at convincing him cloth diapers were the way to go! So, I did some research and discovered Kellys Closet and their Facebook group. I read their blog, perused the website, and chatted with moms who were already cloth diapering. I felt ready to propose my idea to my husband.

I made a list of a few key points I would tell him:

1. We are going to save hundreds of dollars!! Hundreds!
2. I will never ask you to run to the store in the middle of the night to buy diapers.
3. We will be helping the environment.
4. You will probably secretly love the colors & patterns.

Well, I was one of the lucky ones. My husband did not even need to hear all of my reasons, he instantly said yes. I was shocked. Together we decided that we would cloth diaper our baby (the gender was a surprise) once he/she were about 2 weeks old. We figured this would allow us time to adjust to coming home with a newborn.

We had a beautiful baby boy, Finnegan. At 2 weeks old, we started using bumGenius newborn diapers. My husband thought this transition was a piece of cake! Why you may ask?

1. He had blowouts in disposables, NEVER in his bumGenius diapers.
2. My husband and I were EXHAUSTED. The last thing we could imagine was leaving the house to drive to the store and buy diapers. Throwing his bumGenius diapers in the wash took minutes…and that left us time to do the 100 other new responsibilities we had.
3. The bumGenius newborn diapers have hook & loop closures, making them fast and easy to put on.

Finnegan wore bumGenius newborn diapers from 2 weeks old (almost 6 lbs) til he was 8lbs. At 8lbs, Finn began to wear bumGenius 4.0 diapers. I thought I loved cloth diapering, but I didn’t know how much I loved it until we used the 4.0! And believe it or not, my husband was hooked. He was the one explaining to friends and family how they worked. He even wanted to change diapers to show people how easy it was. Now, my husband is asking me when I will be ordering more diapers. We started with a small stash of 18 diapers. My husband wants to increase our stash and has made a few color requests.

Ok, so you think your husband may not jump on board right away. After listening to my husband talk about his experience here are some talking points you can share with your husband.

1. “We are saving money!” I told my husband we were saving money, but it was not until he saw a box of disposables at the pharmacy that he made the connection. I think it also helped that now he had experience changing 15 diapers a day. He quickly realized 15 diapers a day adds up fast!
2. “These cloth diapers are not what I had as a baby.” Some dads might hear “cloth diapers” and automatically think of the less modern cloth diapers. Show him you can go the traditional prefolds route, or something simpler, like the bumGenius newborns.
3. “We are helping the environment.” We are not throwing 20 diapers a day into the trash, saving the landfill one diaper change at a time!
4. “These are better for his skin.” Cloth diapers are much gentler on the babies bottom. They are not full of chemicals and toxins. Finnegan’s skin is very sensitive. As soon as we switched to cloth diapers and wipes his skin was dramatically better.
5. “Can we order that diaper with all the writing on it?” Yes, my husband specifically requested the Albert 4.0. You may be surprised to find out your husband too will have a preference.

Good luck and happy cloth diapering!

By Erica


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