Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Cloth Diapers: A Love Story

[ Guest Blogger : Jamie Johnson, TripleDutyMomma ]
Triple Duty

I remember my mom making comments here and there about her experiences with cloth diapering me as a baby.  She talked about using a diaper service and shared stories of babysitters pinning me to my diapers.  Sounds super appealing, doesn't it?  Why buy disposable diapers when you can pay someone else to wash reusable ones that can injure your infant?  Okay okay, some of you may love flatfolds or prefolds with pins, but this sounded very unattractive to me when I first entered motherhood.

Honestly, I never did any research on cloth diapers when either of my first 2 children were born.  The only thought I gave to them was that the Gerber prefolds I bought from Walmart and Target were the best burp rags I had ever used (my daughter had reflux so we used a LOT of burp rags).  This all changed when I made the decision to birth our third child at home.  When I settled on doing a homebirth I hooked up with a group of local moms who had the same midwife I planned to employ, and a couple of them used cloth diapers.  I was surprised to find they were still around, but these mamas were still using the same type of diaper service quality prefolds that my mom had used on me.  Needless to say, I still had no interest in taking on what seemed like such a daunting task with a 2 and 3 year old to care for along with a newborn.  Then, a childhood aquaintance became a Facebook friend and introduced me to the world of pocket diapers...

Micki's posts were streaming regularly across my newsfeed and I was drawn in by new and interesting words like "BumGenius" and "Rockin' Green."  I started regularly creeping on her page and it wasn't long before I figured out that she was talking about her diapers.  "These don't sound like Mom's diapers," I thought to myself.  I started Googling the things on her page and found the most adorable diapers!  I messaged my friend and she gave me the lowdown on modern cd'ing (cloth diapering for those of you who don't yet know the lingo, which was another thing I had to consult Google to learn). 

Once I discovered that I didn't have to risk pinning my precious new baby to a piece of cloth, I decided that using cloth dipes made sense for my homebirthed, breastfed blessing.  Armed with an almost overwhelming amount of info from the internet and my friend, I began my search for some dipes to start my stash.  Another friend who was due the same time as me had also decided to use cloth for her baby, and together we went to a large local children's consignment sale.  It was there we hit the mother-lode, 22 used BumGenius 3.0 OS diapers for $30!  These retail new for $17.95 each.  Still not sure if I was all in on the diaper thing, I split the 22 with my friend and took them home to wash and prep and show my hubby.

Fast forward to present day.  I am now the proud owner of 21 BumGenius 3.0 OS dipes, a Fuzzibunz Perfect Size, and a Fuzzibunz OS.  These are all pocket diapers, which means they come with inserts that you stuff inside the diaper to determine the amount of absorbency (I use 2 inserts overnight).  My Perfect Size Fuzzibunz is a small, but the rest of my stash is composed of one size diapers that will fit Baby J through potty training.  I can confirm this, as I use them as nighttime diapers on my 2 and 3 year olds to prevent overnight accidents.  The one size diapers are definitely my favorites, they are more economical and adjust to fit my baby very well.

I LOVE cloth diapering!  We have completed eliminated disposables in our house.  The amount of money we have saved is Hubby's favorite part.  I'm partial to the cuteness of my dipes and the fact that I feel I'm doing what's best for my baby and for the environment.  I have read that children who wear cloth vs. disposables are easier to potty train and I believe this to be true, as my 2 year old wanted nothing to do with it until I switched her from 'sposies to cloth diapers.  Baby J has never had a diaper rash and she seems very comfortable and content in her dipes. 

If you're considering cloth diapering, don't be intimidated.  Cloth diapers are fun, adorable, and downright addicting!

I'll be starting a series about cloth diapering on my blog soon, stop by and check it out at http://tripledutymomma.com and follow me on Twitter @TripleDutyMomma. 

Thank you Nikki for allowing me to be a guest on your awesome blog!

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...