Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Understanding Cloth Diapers Part 1




As my belly grew more and more round during pregnancy I found I spent more and more time researching how I wanted to care for my baby. When I first started hearing about cloth diapers I was immediately intrigued. There are several reasons that people cloth diaper and below I have listed the main reasons I decided to cloth diaper:

  1. Safer for babyI didn’t like the idea of all the chemicals found in disposable diapers. After the baby soils the diapers seems to turn their pee into gel. YUCK!  I love the idea that when you use cloth you know what you are putting on your baby’s bottom, my personal favorite is organic cotton.  For me, the closer to natural the better.
  2. Money: I love the idea that I spent around $400 on all my diapers and accessories and I should be done purchasing diapers and diaper related products (minus laundry soap) until Kaylee is no longer wearing diapers. What?! Only $400.00? How awesome is that!?
  3. Environmental: I love Mother Earth as much as the next chic, but after having a baby I want Mother Earth to be even cleaner because my daughter has to live here well after I am gone. And my daughter’s daughter will have to live here too. So if I can keep several hundred disposable diapers from rotting away for the next 500 years then I figure why not!



After I decided that I wanted to try cloth I got on the computer with the intent to research a few brands, look at reviews, and start my stash. Easy right? 

HAHAHAHAHAH, NO!!! 

I started reading a few of the thousands of blogs about cloth (seriously there are thousands) and started seeing things like this,

“My husband loves hook and loop AIOs and pockets because they are so much like sposies, but I for one like AI2 hybrids in snaps because I never remember the laundry tabs and I hate stuffing.”

HUH!?!

Basically the cloth world has its own lingo and it can be utterly confusing for a new to cloth mom. In my next blog post I will break down all the crazy lingo and then finally I will tell you about what works best for me and my baby!

6 comments:

  1. YES! So glad you are doing this. :) I have actually been doing tons of reading up on cloth lately and wanting to pick your brain! As I've mentioned before, my #1 concern is the relative amount of time between disposable and cloth. I'm worried that I'd be taking on too much, and I know that my energy is just SO limited....

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    1. You can actually go to a few website and "rent" a set of cloth diapers to try. They give you tons of different kinda and you send back the ones you dislike. Maybe you could try them and if it seems like it is too energy consuming, send them back.

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  2. Go cloth!! Another benefit is that it should be easier when toilet learning because your daughter can feel when she is wet. Disposables have chemicals that make the daiper all warm and cozy once they are wet. Yikes!
    I'm just entering that research stage as my six months of diaper service is going to be up soon and I have to figure out what I'm doing.
    Looking forward to your next post.

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    1. Great point! It is supposed to help with potty training which sounds wonderful to me! I think it is awesome you had a diaper service for 6 months.

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  3. wooohooo! I love cloth diapers. =) Can't wait till your next post! That top diaper is just too cute! <3

    You forgot to mention how ADORABLE they look on a teeny tiny baby bum, because let's be honest, it's pretty stinkin' cute to have that cloth diapered big bum baby look.

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    1. That should have been first on my list because you are right a big diaper butt is the cutest!!

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