the elastic was the kicker

Before I was even pregnant, I had been doing a lot of research on cloth diapers. We were still living in the apartment at the time and not sure if we’d have a house before Baby. Not having a washer and dryer at my disposal was really the only thing holding me back. So soon after we bought the house Josh and I both agreed that cloth diapers was the way to go for us. I was even a little surprised at how sure Josh was that we should go for it.

Some of the reasons:
1. It’s WAY better for the environment. I have a hard time thinking about throwing away tons of non-biodegradable waste every day.
2. We’re cheap…or rather frugal. We invested close to $500 in cloth diapers that will last until our kid is potty trained. On average people have figured you end up saving at least two grand with using cloth diapers.
3. I’m forgetful. I’m pretty sure that I would be one of those moms that was always forgetting to buy diapers. We would be running to Meijer at midnight to pick some up. Once we forgot to buy toilet paper every time we were at a store and I had to steal a couple rolls from my parent’s. Hmm…actually I think that has happened more than once.
4. Cloth diapers are actually better for the baby. Disposable diapers contain all kinds of toxic chemicals I can’t pronounce. I can pronounce cotton!
5. Supposedly there is less diaper rash, kids potty train sooner and the smell isn’t as bad. Those I’ll have to let you know on.
6. They’re really cute. It’s true that this was a reason for going the cloth diaper route.

Some reasons that we (and others) hesitate:
1. That’s a whole lot of laundry. We will be doing one load of laundry every other day. Once I started thinking about it though I realized it’s not all that bad. I hate doing laundry that is a hodge podge of clothes, socks and everything. Folding sucks. Diapers though will be all of the same. Josh and I washed all twenty-four diapers the other night. We sat while watching crappy TV and had the inserts stuffed and the diapers folded in half in probably less than 10 minutes. Okay, so not the biggest time commitment I had originally thought.
2. You might have to touch poo. When using cloth diapers, you don’t have the convenience of just wrapping up a diaper and tossing it in the trash. Once the baby is a little older you will have to shake the poo out of the diaper into the toilet. Not so bad…I mean, parents deal with baby poo every day. It reminds me of that part in the movie Baby Mama. The mom sees her little boy covered in something brown. She says, “Is that chocolate or poop?”. No answer so she licks his hand. “It’s chocolate”. And the response, “what if that had been poop?”.
3. They are inconvenient and awkward. Josh and I picked the BumGenius 3.0 diapers because they grow with your kid and they are super convenient. You literally just shove an insert into the pocket and go. They definitely aren’t what most people picture when they think cloth diapers. I remember telling my mom early on about the cloth diaper decision and she didn’t really say much. About halfway through my pregnancy we were talking about the baby and she said, “The only thing I think you might want to reconsider is the cloth diapers”. When I asked why I could tell she was still thinking of the old fashioned prefolds with pins and rubber pants over. I started explaining the BumGenius kind that we had picked. Her face slowly lit up more and more. The kicker: I explained how there was even elastic around the legs. “Elastic???!?”, she exclaimed. That’s what sold her.

It’s been fun for me to show people our cloth diapers and see the look of surprise. We’ve already converted one couple who is pregnant and another who just got married and isn’t going to have kids for awhile. I’m excited about doing the whole cloth diaper thing and I’m glad we decided to go for it.