Cloth Diapers: Easier than they sound, and more fun too!

I talk about my cloth diapers a lot because, well, diapers are a big part of my life at this point. I'm changing a diaper every few hours (and double that on the 2-3 days per week I watch my nephew!), so I spend a lot of time up close and personal with baby excrement. Also, my nephew uses disposables, so I do have some idea of what I'm talking about there as well.

I realized recently that a lot of people I know have changed their assumptions about cloth diapers because they have seen me using them. And along with that realization, I decided to give a rundown of what cloth diapers are like and why I like using them.

Cloth diapers aren't better to use for just any one reason. I don't cloth diaper because of the environment or cost (though sending fecal matter to a wastewater treatment plant instead of throwing it in a landfill, the painfully adorable cuteness of many cloth diapers, and spending only ~$300 on diapers in my lifetime are definitely perks).

The three biggest reasons are:

1.) Ease of use

Wait just a minute! Did I just say "ease of use"? Am I crazy? How does it get easier than throwing a diaper away? Didn't they invent disposables because cloth was a pain to wash?

Well, kind of.

People mainly wanted something that made it easy to travel with or for times when they couldn't get to a washing machine.

And at around the same time as disposables were invented, washing machines were starting to get a lot better. So a lot of people think of cloth as being difficult to get clean, and needing to soak in gross pails of bleach and poopy water for days or get swished in the toilet or other gross things. But with the advancements of washing technology, it's totally unnecessary to do anything with cloth that you don't have to do with disposables.

So, as I would be doing extra laundry anyway with disposables (see #3), I like that I don't have to go anywhere to get diapers. Especially when it hits -30 on your Wind-Chill-O-Meter.

Putting diapers on can be just as easy as a disposable (with velcro tabs and everything), or as involved as using diaper pins, but it never takes that much more effort than a disposable no matter what. I use the "involved" diapering method of prefolds and covers, and neither I nor my husband finds it particularly difficult.

2.) Comfort

I don't like wearing pads when it's that time of the month - they feel scratchy and icky to me. And since babies wear diapers 24/7 usually, it feels better for me to put her butt in cotton than paper. I don't think most babies actually mind disposables (for the most part - some are allergic to the chemicals in them, though), it's just another one of those things that I like to do for my daughter since she's my widdle-iddle baby and all.

Also, I hate the perfume that is in a lot of disposables - that perfume makes baby pee smell wretched. Perhaps I have a sensitive nose, but I just don't get the point. It's not going to counteract a poop or nighttime pee, and other diapers don't really smell bad if they're changed as often as they should be.

3.) Cloth works better

My daughter has had a poo blowout now and again, but she has had far fewer than the babies I know who use disposables. I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the elastic of the covers. It offers a much better fit around the back and legs than disposables can. So poop stays contained by the cover, and really, I'd much rather do a dedicated wash of things that I KNOW have poop in them and which I don't mind a few stains on (which can be easily removed by hanging in the sun once we have a sunny day again), than a wash of a bunch of cute clothing that might be left with stains.

We have never had pee leaks aside from those caused by user-error (usually me forgetting to make sure that the diaper is fully covered by the cover, but that's rare - I am not immune to the mommy brain though!). Even when we're out running errands and I can't change her diaper for quite a few hours. Disposable leaks are a daily occurrence.

It would be hard, though, if I didn't have my own laundry facilities. If I didn't, I would probably get a diaper service (incidentally, the acronym for that association is NADS. Coolest. Acronym. EVER.). But I don't think I'd be dedicated enough to take diapers to a laundromat, though, I do know people who do!

If you do decide to do cloth, be prepared for a few things:

1.) It will be less of a pain than you thought it would be. And anytime you have a problem, you can email me. Seriously. It's not like breastfeeding issues where I'll give you my cell number and you can call at 3am, though.

2.) People will react one of two ways. Especially at baby showers, they will pull out the old, tired, "We'll see how long that lasts!" crap. Or, they will act like you are the second coming of Jesus with the, "WOW! You do CLOTH??? I could NEVER do cloth. You are so dedicated!!!" The second way is less insulting, but it's not true. Cloth is easy.

3.) You'll probably love it and get all weird about diapers and love folding them and smelling them clean from the dryer and get all pissy if someone accidentally throws one away. You'll also probably spend more than you had originally planned to or that you actually need to (unless you do cloth specifically for monetary reasons) because there are so many adorable diapers out there to try!