Mommy See, Mommy Do

I officially started cloth diapering when my LO was about 6 weeks old. We finished all the newborn sized disposable diapers (I didn’t plan on cloth while she was so tiny) and were left with some size ones that were given to us by family and friends. It took about a week to fully cloth diaper… at home. The thought of using cloth outside the house terrified me. What if she pooped, would I have to carry that dirty diaper all day? How would I carry a dirty diaper? What if it touched something and got poop everywhere? What if I forget an insert or cover? What if, What if, What if.

Right after we had mastered cloth at home, my LO and I went to San Diego to visit my family (and for me to get much needed help with the LO since my hubby was working 2 jobs). I had my own little routine down: cloth at home, disposables outside the house. I would change her diaper right before leaving the house, even if I had just changed it into a cloth minutes before. Right when we got home, change her back into cloth. It was extra work, but it worked for me then.

We stayed in San Diego for about three weeks. During that time, we went to the mall. There, I witnessed something that completely changed my mind about cloth diapering outside the house. I saw another mom do it. It was really weird how that worked, like monkey see, monkey do. Except in this case, it was mommy see, mommy do. The mall we had gone to had a spectacular baby/child area with separate changing rooms that had colorful walls, pictures and mirrors to keep baby occupied, private nursing rooms and even a mini play area with a TV playing nothing but kids cartoons. It was a mom oasis in the middle of a busy mall.

As I was changing my LO’s wet diaper, this mom parked her kids in the changing spot behind me. Baby wearing a little one and with 2 toddlers in tow, she whips out a wet bag, a few cloth diapers and begins changing them one by one. It was so amazing; I kept thinking it’s exactly what I’m doing! There wasn’t anything complicated or special about what she was doing. No fancy bells, whistles, or magical being out of a hat helping. It was just another diaper, being changed.

I wanted so badly to talk to this mom, and ask her how she does it, but shyness overcame me. I didn’t want to look like a noob about cloth diapering or some stuck up mom trying to get the scoop on some hippie mom’s parenting choices. So I just watched her walk away back to the busy crowd of the mall as I went to a room to nurse my LO. I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was as effortless as it could get: dirty diaper off, wipe & new diaper on. That night, I spend many hours on my phone in between midnight feeding, looking up traveling with cloth. It really wasn’t that hard!

I finished my San Diego trip finishing off the disposables I brought with me. As I threw away the last one, I realized, I was about to step into full time cloth. No more disposables to hide behind, just straight up cloth. A few days after returning home to Phoenix, I went on my first errands trip. Diaper bag full of fluff, wet bags and wipes. And the best thing was: it was like nothing changed. And to the dear mom at the mall that helped me pass the hurdle into real full time cloth diapering, thank you.

Bio: Leslie T. is a SAHM with a 7 month old rainbow baby.


Would you like to be a contributor on The Cloth Diaper Whisperer? We're always looking for creative writers who would like to share their cloth diapering tips. To find out more Contact Us