1.23.2010

The Most Dreaded of Duties


Dear Friends,
Like most parents, we wash our baby.

We like the way it makes him smell. He likes to play in the bubbles. Besides, a bath sure beats trying to give him a less-than-adequate wipe down after he gets applesauce all over himself.


Never underestimate the value of thirty minutes.


Around here we also wash the baby's diapers.

[gasp] I know.
I have actually been putting off admitting that to you all.
I mean,  how you diaper your baby has become a huge issue.

People actually fight about it!


I have issues with issues. Let's just say that I have enough on my mommy plate.

So I'll tell you right now, this post will not be listing all the benefits of cloth diapering. I will let others write about that.

And plenty of people will... have already.

I dare you to Google it.


I promise not to preach, pressure or hound you to change the kind of diapers you change at your house.


After all, it is your house. And you can't get much more personal than a diaper. If you are happy with what you are doing, don't let my blathering get in your way.

 By all means, if it's not broken...


This post is merely featuring something I love. Period.


I was not happy with what we were doing.

I groaned every time I forked out the money for another box of diapers. That said, it took me forever to wrap my brain around cloth diapers. I didn't even come close to doing it with my first two. I thought about it for about, oh, five minutes when I was pregnant with my third.
I am a researcher by nature. I want all the facts. So I thought about it long enough to Google "cloth diapers". Big mistake. A 1,520,000 results mistake, to be exact.

Then my system went into overload. I shut it down and that, my friend was the end of that.

Until Pip was about three months old.

Then I was visiting my favorite boutique, Milkworks. They were offering a class on cloth diapers.

"Hmmm" I thought. "I could handle that."

Mr. Loggerhead wasn't too impressed.

Poor guy, he felt so bad because he had to work that day and couldn't come.

Ha! Anybody smell the sarcasm?


I learned a lot.

Prefold? Pocket? Cover? Fitted? Snapi? Liner? All-in-one? One-size? Sized? Snaps vs. velcro?... All organic or not? Hemp, microfiber? Unbleached or regular cotton?

 These were all Greek to me. Talk about overwhealming. We got to see them all. Explore all the options. Just my style.


The gal who taught the class told us some people use disposables some of the time, some build up their diaper stash until they can go all cloth. And some are perfectly happy not doing any cloth. And that's okay.

It was refreshing to hear someone express the idea that there is no "one-right-way" to diaper.

She was there just to show us the options and answer any questions. It was up to us to decide what was best for our households.

So what did we do?
What was our solution?
I'll tell ya, it's not magic. It's not perfect. But, it works. For us. Everyday.
We do prefolds (think: the kind of cloth diaper your grandma used but way more absorbent).
With a Snappi (think: handy hooky thing to replace slightly dangerous diaper pins)

With a one-size cover (think: waterproof layer that snaps bigger or smaller and is disguised as darling fancy pants)

We also use some one-sized pocket diapers with prefold liners (think: waterproof outside, micro-fiber inside, grandma diaper stuffed in "pocket" to be sandwiched in-between, magic snaps and darling-ness included)

I'll have you to know that up to this point I thought that cloth diapers were gross and smelly and just meant more laundry.

I was wrong. 

All diapers are stink-ated equal. I only do one load of diapers every two or three days. I can handle that. Especially since these cuties have saved us money already.


So I guess it comes down to this, we didn't do it to  "go green" or for many of the other reasons people go with cloth. 

We did it because we like saving our "green"

We like using it on other, more exciting things. Besides, the baby doesn't care what his diaper looks like. He just wants a clean one now and then. He just wants something comfortable on his little bum.

We got that covered. [hee-hee]

Love,
Changing in NE
Plus, it keeps the children occupied for at least a half hour.

9 comments:

  1. Yay for MILKWORKS. That place is a treasure trove in so many ways. Most especially for what they promote in the breastfeeding areas. I have loved every time I got to be there with you.
    And....as far as the cloth nappies...IF there had been such easy-to-learn-to-use,(and classes to learn how) loveable, darling options back in our diapering days, I may have just gone there too! It is so fun to see this newer crop of babies all fitted out in them. Just imagine what your ancestors would say now if they could see what it has all come to?

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  2. we 'thought' about cloth diapers, but that's as far as we ever got. Cloth diapers falls in the same category as home schooling {think heated discussions, varied views misled opinions}. :) to each their own.

    that adorable baby of yours, wears those cloth diapers well. What a doll!

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  3. And when they're SO cute (the diapers, not just the baby!), it makes the decision a bit easier!
    I'm planning to try it out IF there is a next baby... just don't tell Jim because if he finds out, there WON'T BE a next baby! lol!

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  4. SHHHH!!! DON'T tell Jim....LOL!! :D

    Yes, I'm right up there with your mama..I would have fell head over heels in love with the fancy stuff they make now too.
    (oh yeah, that's right, I did. And forked out $15 for one diaper for one of my lil' darling grandchildren!)

    I did use the cloth diapers your granny had...when I ran out of the green stuff to fork over, just to throw them out in the trash...

    Your Auntie that grew up in the wrong generation.

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  5. Everything really does come FULL circle doesn't it? There was not much of a debate in the days that my kiddos had diapers...or maybe I just wasn't aware. Plus...who has time for debates. All I can say is Pip has one cuter cover on his bum then my kids had on theirs. ;-)

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  6. I had no idea MW had *classes* on CDing! It's one part funny to ten parts awesome. :>) What sold me was reading about a mom who didn't have to load kid(s) up in the car when she ran out of diapers, she just threw in a load of laundry. Very important when you're in the middle of nowhere.

    And I was there when Maxine bought the $15 diaper. It was so cute it was worth every penny!

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  7. Not to mention those cloth diaper covers are about the cutest. I thought about it but we are almost done with diapers for our LAST child, well at least I THINK it's our last child. Good for you! Now I want to see pictures of those adorable leggings with the way too cute diapers. Man I wish I figured those two things our earlier.

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  8. I thought I would use cloth diapers on our kids, but, well, I shouldn't have let them use the Huggies at the hospital. I did try... but four changes and less than two hours later, I was done with that. Those old folded ones made nice burp cloths and dust rags, though...

    It hasn't been ALL that long ago, but technology and availability has sure changed the scene since then.

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  9. I had to come back and read the comments again....too good to miss!

    two things I will add,
    I did love having a stack of the old fashioned white-white ones for burp cloths too like Amy mentioned, and for a nice soft place to lay a baby on their side or tummy for what ever reason. Which would be why that one thumb-sucking little sis of yours got so attached to them, calling it her "bobbie". It went on for years, so it is a good thing there were a lot of them and they all looked exactly alike!

    The other thing I wanted to say about this post is....I want to 'eat up' all those sweet baby rolls.
    He is just yummy.
    Must be time for this Nana to come over for a grand-baby-fix!

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