Monday, October 10, 2011

Why Don't You Cloth Diaper?

As moms, we have this unfortunate reflex in us to "compete". It starts even before our babies are born...
  • How much weight did you gain? Oh...I only gained "this" much weight...you fatty!
  • When was your baby born? Mine was right on his due date, it must be awful to be overdue!
  • You're giving birth naturally? Why would you do that to yourself - just take the drugs...or an epidural!
But...after the baby is born? Grow some thick skin and oil it up and be prepared to try your dardnest to let the competing just slide right off your thick skin!
  • You're not breastfeeding? That is what is best for your baby!
  • You don't have the baby sleeping with you? What if something happens - horrible mommy!
  • Your baby doesn't sleep through the night? Clearly you are doing something wrong!
  • You're not using cloth diapers? Don't you care about the environment?
So the point of this post is to not make you feel like the judgment in the last bullet. I hope to all my family, friends, and readers that I have never come across as Judgy McSoapbox Mom, when it comes to all things mommyhood and parenting. We all have millions of decisions to make on this journey and I certainly acknowledge this and would never want to give anyone a hard time, it's hard enough to make the decision as it is.

My copy came in the mail today!! Woohoo! #clothdiapers #changingdiapers @kellywelsThe reason why I write this post is to just understand why you have chosen not to cloth diaper your child(ren), out of pure curiosity (just call me whiskers...I'm curious like a cat!). I just finished my copy of Kelly Wel's new book "Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering" (which is brilliant) and literally that question stuck out in my head. Why doesn't everyone use cloth? The answer that popped immediately was - "moms/moms-to-be just don't know enough about it, or that it's even out there to make the choice!" I believe cloth diapering has a domino effect. My sister-in-law Laura got me hooked on it before Braden was born. I hadn't really thought about what diapers I would or wouldn't use until I saw her start to use cloth on Luke when he was about 6 months old. Luke was actually wearing a similar diaper to the one on the cover of that book and he looked SO cute in it. I asked Laura more about them over the months and was 100% sold that I would cloth diaper our baby. I trust Laura 100% all things mommy/baby related - she does her research and does it right...so when she told me FuzziBunz were her favorite go-to diaper...I decided I'd invest my pickles with FuzziBunz too. Then I got thinking about it more...and realized I had more reasons to use cloth...
  1. The savings...oh the savings! ($1500-$2000 per child savings using cloth vs. disposable)
  2. No emergency trips to town, or worse, the "big" town which is a 1 hour round-trip.
  3. No trips to the dump to get rid of disposable diapers.
  4. No diaper rashes related to chemicals in disposable diapers.
  5. No diaper waste in the landfill. (60 times more solid waste produced with disposables which take 250-500 years to decompose)
 Braden's FuzziBunz
You may, or may not, find it a shocker that when it boils down to it...I cloth diaper because I'm lazy! Don't get me wrong, I love all the other reasons...but I would hate to run to the dump a couple times a week getting rid of a huge bag of diapers...smelly diapers, at that. Also the running to town JUST for diapers...not my style. I would truly rather do an extra load of laundry every other day, then waste my time and money going to town to buy a box of diapers.

So, the domino effect. I have actually had no negative comments towards my decision to cloth diaper Braden. Whenever I change his bum in public or at a friends, they actually quite admire that I use cloth and ask lots of positive questions. The only negative thing that has ever come out of a diaper change is why isn't he circumsized? That's another topic...eek! I have influenced one of my best friends and in turn her sister-in-law to cloth diaper. This makes me just beam! My new sister-in-law Jess is currently contemplating whether or not to use cloth too for their baby due in March, so I'm an open book to her. I never tell any mom(-to-be) why she should or shouldn't cloth, I just happily answer any questions that they have for me.

I have contemplated using disposable diapers on Braden at night. Full time cloth diapering is a trial-and-error thing, especially for nighttime diapers. Not one solution will work for every baby. When I was walking through the baby section at Walmart and saw that I had to pay over $15+ for a box of diapers, my decision was made immediately...I'm going to do something ANYTHING to fix my nighttime problem! The reality of that $15, is that I could buy a cloth diaper for that price and I won't just throw it out...I can use it over, and over, and over again!

So here's my question to my readers...
Picnik collage
I would love to hear from you...please leave a comment or email me with any questions or other comments you have. Know that this is a completely non-judgmental question and I am just curious to learn and see if I can influence any others to use cloth if it's something that interests them! It's fun, addicting, money-saving, environment-saving, and great for baby's bum!
6 Months Old!  If you haven't already, please feel free to visit my cloth diapering page for more information and resources!

*Update/Edit October 11, 2011*


Wow. The comments have been rolling in and I got my first "hot" comment from WeeMasonMan's Mom. I thought I would share, just so I can be more clear on the intent of this post:  



I pay approximately $20 - $25 for a box of 174 diapers on amazon.com - I fin the "money you spend on disposables" figures to be quite inflated. I also think that a LOT of people who use cloth spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on cute patterns and new styles, wet bags, and water bills their top loading washers cause, so the money arguments aren't always so accurate.

I actually wrote a post about how I hate most of the arguments for cloth because I find them to be totally untrue. You can read it in full here http://omgababy.com/index.php/2011/08/16/displsable-diapers-are-not-the



Since Amazon delivers to my door on a set schedule, I never have to go to town for diapers and I've never ran out.


My son is nearly 18 months and he's never had a diaper rash. Nor have I ever had to triple rinse a diaper and research washing tips for problems with ammonia scent or lack of absorbency.


Don't get me wrong, I think people who cloth diaper are doing a great thing for the environment and I had originally planned to be one of those people. I just hate all the "people who use disposables are obviously missing the boat" mentality that surrounds it.

And my response, word for word:

Hi WeeMasonMan’s Mom,

Thank you for reading my blog and for your comment.
 
I know it is impossible to set our tones when writing, but I did not write my blog post to start an argument or a debate on cloth vs. disposables. I know I gave my 5 reasons why I choose to use cloth, but I wasn’t intending on starting a debate. Those are my personal reasons, as well as facts, depending on what you buy and how you use them of course.
As a Canadian mom, Amazon.com and Diapers.com (as my other readers and friends have mentioned) are services not available to me, and not in Canada as far as I’m aware. I got my figures from KellyWels.com, RealDiaperAssociation.com and apologize if you find them to be untrue. I have not done “hard core” research into the subject matter because while this is something I’m passionate about, it’s not something I’m going to waste my energy arguing on. 
Many moms, including myself have found little to no change in their electricity bill due to the extra washing from using cloth diapers. If someone wants to spend more money on “cute” diapers with patterns and buy new styles and wet bags, that’s a personal choice and not a necessity to cloth diapering or saving money. All I know is for me, it is the right choice financially for my family as discount diapers are not available to me as a Canadian mom, delivered on a schedule, on time right to my door. Also, even if this service was available in Canada, it still wouldn’t be available to me as I live on an acreage and can’t have packages delivered to my door.

I have also heard many a moms (myself not included as my son was only in disposables for 18 months) switch to cloth because of chemical burns/diaper rashes from disposables. Again, not experienced first hand by me. On the other side, cloth diaper users can get yeast in their diapers.

I have definitely done my research and know how to take care of my cloth. I’ve had problems with ammonia, never absorbency as you mention...but it’s still worth it for me and my son. I’ve also had many friends have trouble with absorbency with disposables too and finding the right ones.

I never intended to write this post on a “soap box”, I thought I made that very clear. I was just out of pure curiosity wondering why people choose disposables vs. cloth.
 
This is one of those things people can argue into the ground on either way. I’m not up for a debate because I didn’t write this post to start one. Again, I’m sorry that you took this post the wrong way and felt you had to defend yourself. I certainly don’t feel like any disposable using mom is “throwing their child to the coyotes”.

Take care,
Sarah

 -------
(Again, sorry for the small font and all the spacing, Blogger is being troublesome again)

Please also read this post of mine Cloth vs. Disposables that I wrote in June of 2010, which could be a "rebuttle" if I was the debating type *wink* to WeeMasonMan's Mom's blog post linked in her comment.

Yeesh! I am done with it. I seriously considered deleting this post because as I say like a broken record, it was out of pure curiosity. After I read that book, I literally thought "heh....wonder why people choose disposables? Wonder why people choose cloth? I should blog about that!!" Apparently a bad idea.

Show me some cloth love...someone? Please. I need a hug!


sarah
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9 comments:

  1. I have 3 reasons. Ok one reason, but its because my kiddos came in in a group of 3! I work full time. Hubby works full time. I do so much laundry having 3 babies/toddlers I can hardly keep up. I would drown if I had to add in another load! Honestly. Hubby's family did a diaper drive for us when I was prego & we got enough diapers that I didn't buy a single one for 6 months. Pretty impressive with 3 butts to cover. I did price diaper services around here. So I can say I at least did a little looking. And it honestly would not save me a penny to have a diaper service vs use sposies. If I didn't work FT or if I was a SAHM... I might have done it. But with tripelts. And being a FT working mama, whose kids now go to daycare 2x a week. Sposies just make our life easier. Sorry landfills. I officially suck! x3!

    I've heard cloth kiddos are potty trained earlier than those with sposies. It will be interesting to see how that plays out for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I start CD when Brixton was about 3.5 months old. I didn't the first 3 months because I was lazy and afraid that it would be overwhelming. I still use disposables at night and when we go out (though I'm getting braver and have ventured out a few times when he's in cloth).

    We are still getting used to it and having leaks, which is frustrating. But an extra 2 loads of laundry a week is totally worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. eeeeyah! I could do twins, lots do twins...but triplets? Yeah 3 the same age would be VERY daunting, especially the first time. If Braden was in diapers still (better not be) and I had twins...I could do 3 that way, but probably no other way!

    I haven't read any research on CD'd babies potty training faster than sposie babies. Braden has shown NO signs of early potty training yet. He knows what a potty is and that he's supposed to sit on it...but that's it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. We aren't cloth diapering, mainly because the daycares we've used (and MIL, when she was watching Colin full time) didn't "do" cloth diapers.

    Also, we've gotten loads of cheap diapers using Amazon Mom, so I don't feel like we're paying an arm and a leg for sposies, at least.

    ReplyDelete
  5. love it:) it truly is a domino effect. someone got me started & i have now got 3 people started including you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. yeah, Katie...in the States everything is cheaper! :) We don't have deals like that here or online for us, it would certainly be nice to have the option!

    Thanks for the comments, I hope to get more!

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. The savings...oh the savings! ($1500-$2000 per child savings using cloth vs. disposable)
    ANSWER: I guess I never really thought about the cost. Maybe because it fits into the flow of our normal expenses? I don't notice. There are a ton of sales and great buy one get one free deals around here!
    2. No emergency trips to town, or worse, the "big" town which is a 1 hour round-trip.
    ANSWER: We don't have to go anywhere for diapers. Diapers.com has free shipping right to my door!
    3. No trips to the dump to get rid of disposable diapers.
    ANSWER: Our wonderful garbage men come once a week and take away all of our smelly diapers so that's no issue for me. Plus Wes takes our diapers out immediately after changing. :)
    4. No diaper rashes related to chemicals in disposable diapers.
    ANSWER: Never had to deal with this. We've always used sensitive diapers and haven't had a problem.
    5. No diaper waste in the landfill. (60 times more solid waste produced with disposables which take 250-500 years to decompose)
    ANSWER: I feel bad about this. Not bad enough to change to cloth though. (lol). ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I actually wrote a post about how I hate most of the arguments for cloth because I find them to be totally untrue. You can read it in full here
    http://omgababy.com/index.php/2011/08/16/displsable-diapers-are-not-the

    I pay approximately $20 - $25 for a box of 174 diapers on amazon.com - I find the "money you spend on disposables" figures to be quite inflated. I also think that a LOT of people who use cloth spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on cute patterns and new styles, wet bags, and water bills their top loading washers cause, so the money arguments aren't always so accurate.

    Since Amazon delivers to my door on a set schedule, I never have to go to town for diapers and I've never ran out.

    My son is nearly 18 months and he's never had a diaper rash. Nor have I ever had to triple rinse a diaper and research washing tips for problems with ammonia scent or lack of absorbency.

    Don't get me wrong, I think people who cloth diaper are doing a great thing for the environment and I had originally planned to be one of those people. I just hate all the "people who use disposables are obviously missing the boat" mentality that surrounds it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well for the "old" record, Sarah when you were a baby, I used cloth diapers (Terry No-folds), but used disposables when we went out of town to Grandma's etc. Almost every time, you'd come home with a sore butt. Some kind of perfume or something in them that irritated you. In cloth you were perfectly fine.

    ReplyDelete

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