Thursday, December 2, 2010

10 reasons why my kids have cloth on their butts

1. Less goes to the dump. There is way less garbage to haul out to the end of the driveway on garbage day every two weeks. The amount of waste twins produce when using disposable diapers is disgusting. We used enough diapers to fill 2 garbage bags full at the end of 2 weeks. Using diapers, no matter what kind, affects the environment. We don't live in a time or a climate where allowing my kids to run around naked all the time and to poop in the grass is really an option, so we have to use diapers. Cloth diapers are made of various fabrics, all of them have their good and bad points: cotton is hard to produce, PUL and microfibre are synthetic, hemp isn't allowed in some countries, wool can cause allergies. There is really no perfect fabric. My cloth diapers all fit in one garbage bag. So over the 2 years+ and possibly more if we have another child, I will have one garbage bag of waste. Instead of one a week. Also many of the diapers are reusable. There is a decent market for 2nd hand diapers or they can be repurposed into cleaning cloths etc. Cloth diapers use water to wash. I have heard people use this as an argument to use disposables. What they are forgetting is that water is used to make paper as well, which disposables are made of. I have read studies that showed that the amount of water used to make new disposables is similar to the amount of water used to wash cloth diapers. Most brands of disposables use bleach and chemicals to make the paper white, which makes the water unusable afterwards. There are better brands of disposables available, but they cost a lot more. Most people use as little chemicals to wash their diapers as possible (I do use Tide though which isn't the best for the environment, but kicks butt for washing diapers) and the water from their wash goes into a septic system or a sewage system and hopefully eventually back into the water cycle.

2. The cuteness factor. Cloth diapers come in so many cute colors, patterns and styles. I love looking at them on my kids. Prefolds look so cute and "old fashioned", covers can be PUL or even knit out of wool, pockets come in minky fabrics which makes their bums feel like hugging stuffed animals. I can plan what diapers to wear depending on their outfits (or what outfits to pick out depending on what diapers are clean). Trim velcro pockets (like the Bumgeniius 3.0) under pants, Fluffy Minky Blueberry diapers under dresses, ones with strong baby proof snaps when just going with a diaper and a T shirt. Matching babylegs to coordinate with their diaper or shirt.

3. Fluffy mail. It is a little like Christmas morning when a package arrives at the post office. I get to enjoy checking out the cute new diaper and then the twins love playing with them, rubbing the soft fabrics on their cheeks and trying them on as hats. I love finding sales online, or entering contests for free diapers. Although I have many diapers that work wonderfully already, I love trying out something new, to see how it works.

4. The cost factor. Disposable diapers are expensive. Most cost between 15 to 35 cents each. Cloth diapers cost from a few dollars up to 30+ depending on the style. Most pocket/AIO diapers (the easiest and most like disposables to use) are around the 25 dollar mark (or less). You could use about 100 disposables for the cost of 1 diaper. That means if you use a diaper 100 times it has payed for itself and after that it is being used for free. Even if you only used cloth diapers on weekends for 1 year, that is 100 days and your diaper has been payed for. I use cloth full time, but for those parents who feel they are too busy to make the commitment to full time, even just using them at home during the day, or on weekends, evenings and holidays will still result in a cost savings. Because cloth diapers mean we no longer have to use disposables I feel like I can use the money we would have spent on disposables to buy cute cloth. We aren't saving very much money using cloth, but we could have. It is possible to diaper a baby for very little money if needed. The cheapest option is to use prefolds (or flats) in a cover. I recommend to people using this option to have at least 4 covers (running from about $8 to $20 each), but if needed you could do it with 2. One to wear, one to wash out and hang to dry between changes. Covers can also be knitted out of wool (naturally water repellent) or sewn out of recycled wool sweaters. Flats can be made out of things such as receiving blankets (often 25 cents each second hand) or old cotton T shirts. Prefolds are cheap to buy as well and often come in packages with a few covers and 18 to 24 prefolds. For some cloth is not an option as they don't have a washing machine (or even running water to hand wash with) at their disposable, but for those that do, and who really need to save money cloth is a great way to go.

5. Makes a repetitive job more fun. I have 2 babies in diapers full time. I also have a third to change when I am looking after her during the week. I change a lot of diapers. I try to make diaper changing time a time to spend some one on one time with each of them. I play little games with them and we "chat". But, changing diapers is boring. Especially changing disposable diapers. Using cloth allows me to have some fun. I have different options. Every change I get to decide what I would like to put on next (soon I can see I won't be the one deciding as I am sure they will have opinions too). I can challenge myself to do a new fold or to use a snappi. I can make laundry easier on myself by only using prefolds for the day (don't need to stuff them to put away once they are clean again, just fold in thirds and put in their drawer). I can use a rainbow of pocket diapers. I can smile at the cute prints. I can hug my babies close and enjoy the softness of their Minky diapers. I can take a very boring job and make it fun. I can look forward to the next diaper change.

6. My babies bums are very happy to be in cloth. Disposable diapers may or may not (as always there are conflicting opinions) be bad for your babies bum. For example some studies show that disposable diapers can lead to infertility, but then a counter study refutes that (who is paying for the studies?) Diapers contain chemical gels designed to make the diaper basically leak proof. I have seen babies with huge puffy disposables on, and you know that they have peed 3 or 4 times in their diapers, and still there are no leaks. Disposables cost money, so to save money we are all tempted to leave babies sitting in them "until we get our monies worth". Would you like to sit in your own urine? With cloth there is no temptation to leave them on. Once I know there is pee in there, even if only slightly damp, I can change them. No need to leave them sitting in their own waste, as it doesn't cost me anything extra to throw on a clean one. That being said, there are times you want a bullet proof diaper so you don't have to change as often. I have diapers that will make it through a 12 hour night (I don't like babies sitting in pee, but am not crazy enough to wake them up to change them if they are happily sleeping) I have diapers that I use when out of the house or going for a ride in the car, ones I know will last just as well as a disposable. Cloth diapers have come a long way and with fabrics like microfibre, hemp and bamboo they are way more absorbant than the ones our grandparents used. I still love to use a cotton prefold, that needs to be changed more often, during the day at home, but I have the option to use a more thirsty diaper, with stay dry fabric on the inside when I need to. My kids had horrible rashes from Pampers and were often red enough to need cream when using other brands. In cloth we have occasionally had a red bum (after trying a new diaper laundry soap and when they have been sick and having diarrhea) , but it has been rare and was easily fixed. Usually if I see a little pinkness I make an effort to change their diapers more frequently and in a few hours it is totally gone.

7. The grossness factor. Poop is yucky! I am not horrified by poop, but I don't think even those seasoned nurses (hats off to them) ever truly get over the grossness factor of feces. Poop that is contained in a diaper is way less gross than poop that is spilling out the back, legs, front etc. of a diaper or being smeared around. One of the things I love about cloth is the huge reduction of escaping feces we have had since we switched. I have had people tell me that they could never switch to cloth, because they couldn't deal with the poop. Guess what? You have kids, you will be dealing with poop. No ifs ands or buts about it. They are little poop machines. It will come out with all sorts of colors. textures and smells. Read the packaging on a disposable diaper box and you will see that you are supposed to "empty soil into the toilet". Yep that means you are supposed to dump/scrape the poop into the toilet and flush it away. Are you doing that? Do you know anyone using disposables who does that? The reason we are supposed to do that is because putting human waste into a landfill is a biohazard. Toilets go to septic systems or sewage systems and the poop is (hopefully) treated in such a way that it doesn't harm the environment or other humans. When you have a breast fed newborn and are using cloth, you have to do nothing. The poop is basically digested milk, and is water soluble. You throw your dirty diapers in the washing machine, do a cold rinse, and the poop is gone down the drain into the sewage, then you wash on hot to clean the diapers. Once they are getting formula or solids, the poop changes and needs to be dealt with. There are all kinds of methods for dealing with this including scraping, dunking, using liners etc. I have found the easiest was to buy a diaper sprayer. This is a simple gadget hooked into the water line on the toilet that allows you to spray the diapers off into the toilet bowl. It took my husband about 10 minutes to hook it up, and I am sure I could have done it myself. If the poop is solid, a shake over the toilet and it is gone, if it isn't, I use the sprayer (aiming carefully) and blast the diaper clean. This means THERE IS NO POOP SITTING AROUND waiting for garbage day to be disposed of. I find this to be much more hygienic. Poop is rinsed away immediately and wet diapers are washed ever 2nd day, so there is no storing of gross diapers and way less smell.

8. The laziness factor. I am lazy. If I can put off doing something unpleasant to another day I am going to do so. Doing diaper laundry forces me to have a laundry routine. I need to keep on top of washing clothes, to promptly move things from the washer to the dryer, to fold stuff and (sometimes) put it away. I have to stay on top of diaper laundry, if there are no clean diapers, well... that just can't happen, so I have to keep the laundry line moving along. I am lucky I get to stay at home with the kids, but I rarely get a chance to do much laundry through the day (my machines aren't on the same floor, so I hate to leave them alone for the time it takes to switch a load over). I have a routine. I put on a load in the morning before my husband leaves for work. If everyone naps at the same time, I continue doing laundry then (switch to dryer, bring a load up to fold etc.) and then once the babies are in bed for the night I finish up my loads from the day or do another load. I use weekends, when my husband is home or days Grammy comes to visit and I have someone to keep an eye on things, as catch up times and try to do a few extra loads. We have lots of laundry to do, cloth diapers or not, an extra load every 2nd day for diapers really doesn't make a huge difference, BUT it does make me keep on top of laundry.

9. My clothes are cleaner. I had never given too much thought about how I washed my families clothes. I used what ever detergent was on hand. Usually a "free and pure" brand or one that was on super sale. I occasionally bleached whites. Washed mostly with cold water, except for sheets and towels which I would do on hot if I remembered to adjust the machine. I would occasionally rub on a little stain remover. Learning how to wash cloth diapers properly (for my water type, temperature, and machine) also taught me how to get clothes clean. If I have something that is still stained after washing, I will throw it back in with a load of diapers and usually it will come out stain free.

10. A sense of pride. I feel good about using cloth diapers. I made the decision for my family to switch to cloth and we have stuck with it. I have used them when travelling, I have used them during times when the babies were sick and I had 15 poopy diapers to spray off in one day. I love showing off their cute fluffy bums. I love chatting to people (anyone who cares to listen) about my diapers. I get to be a consumer and buy cute stuff, all the while doing something that is better for the environment and saving us (a little) money. I don't judge people who choose to use disposables, but I do try to introduce people to "modern cloth". If even one person decides to give it a try, that is a good thing.

3 comments:

  1. I am a disposable diaper user. I really wanted to try out cloth diapers, but in my case, my "excuse" is that I feel overwhelmed by all the choices there are (and that you have mentioned), especially when cloth diapers aren't cheap--I don't want to buy something and have wasted my money. I don't know what a prefold is. I don't know which cover is best. I don't know the difference between this snap and that snap. I get overwhelmed easily (obviously) and wish I just had someone to sit down with (who has all the different kinds of diapers to show and all the experience necessary to explain it to me). What would you tell me, as a never-tried-out-cloth-but-would-love-to person? How do I get started? Would I just buy a couple cloth and continue with disposables while trying those out? Oh and then there's the washing part. I can wash a load of laundry, but I'm no good at stains--again I'm easily overwhelmed! HELP!

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  2. Brooke,
    I will attempt to answer as many of your questions as I can in the next few posts. Thanks for some good questions to get me started. I felt the exact same way when I first started and it kept me from trying them for a few months.

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  3. Love point 5 - it is wonderful that you can enjoy the repeditive diaper changes. To get a kick out of having different options is so healthy. Good point, rarely made.

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