Friday, February 24, 2012

Cloth Diaper Confessions

This morning I thought I'd let you in on some of my cloth diaper secrets. My husband shook his head when I told him I was going to be sharing this, because he says I'll lose all my readers and will no longer be accepted in the cloth diapering world. But a girl's got to get things off her chest every once in a while.

1. I care more about my wallet than about being eco-friendly



If I were a perfect human being, I would care more about our world. The problem is, I'm not perfect. When my first child was born, I didn't even want to think about cloth diapering. Disposables were so much more convenient, and besides, we could afford them. When baby #2 came along and baby #1 was not even close to being potty trained, cost became an issue and I decided to switch to cloth (I was immediately hooked!). Only after the savings did I begin to realize how much better cloth diapers are for our world.

2. I care more about how a diaper looks than about how well it works


Whenever I shop for diapers, the companies that have the cutest prints are the ones who find a customer! I know I need to be more practical, because you "can't tell a book by it's cover." Just because a diaper is cute doesn't mean it is going to work the best, and it's very possible that some of those ugly ones work better than the cute ones. There's just something about a cute diaper though! It's one of the things that sets cloth diapers apart from disposable diapers. 

2. I hate prefolds


(Image courtesy of DailyClipArt.net)

I don't want to deal with pins. I don't want to deal with Snappis. I don't want to TOUCH a nasty wet diaper, which is what happens when I remove the Snappi or the pins. I was never good at origami, and I just can't get the right fold for my babies. It's too complicated and I don't like it. This is why my mother switched to disposables.
(Note: I love using prefolds in a gDiaper or a Perfect Bum, as spit-up rags, and as cleaning rags!)

3. I still love disposables


This is the one my husband told me not to share. 
"If you love disposables so much, why are you using cloth?" he asked. 

I love the convenience of disposables. I love that everyone in the church nursery knows how to deal with them. I love that I just throw them away and don't have to deal with them again. I love the way they fit and I love how absorbent they are. 

I also love a steak dinner at a fancy restaurant. I love the convenience of not having to cook and that I can order whatever I want to eat. But to indulge in a steak dinner every day would be stupidity because of the exorbitant cost.

Which loops me back to my first point. End of story. 

5 comments:

  1. I totally agree with almost every single one of those. I chose cloth because we simply could not spend that kind of money on disposables. The eco-friendliness of cloth is a nice perk that goes along with being a penny pincher. Also, I *hate* having to use prefolds or even fitteds with a cover. I am a pretty diehard AIO girl by this point.

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  2. I agree! I became a CDing mom to save money and that was just how to get my frugal husband involved, even though he hated it at first! Now he even does diaper laundry (and more importantly, he knows HOW!). We still use sposies very occasionally as well!

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  3. I almost completely agree! I started looking into cloth at first because it was eco-friendly, and I try to be as eco-friendly as possible, and I knew it would have to be cheaper since I wasn't buying diapers every week to 2 weeks. When I saw how cheap it could really be I was completely sold! I hate prefolds too but I will have to use them during the newborn stage in addition to some fitteds and pockets. After that I won't be using them much besides as backup. #3 is the only one I don't agree with. I hate disposables but will be keeping some on hand, probably seventh generation, and will also have some Flip disposable inserts.

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  4. haha I love the conclusion here! With my first I really had a hard time CDing ALL the time. My husband would get frustrated because I had made up all these pretty charts (or found them online lol) to show him how much money we would save with cloth diapers, and then he'd see me come home with a pack of disposables. With my second it was much easier. I learned to love prefolds and snappis and diaper covers. I don't even remember the last time I bought a pack of disposable diapers! It's a good feeling :)

    Visiting from the Booty Buns FB giveaway page!
    http://eightdaysaweekmom.blogspot.com

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  5. isn't that funny, we are all hooked on the cute fluff cloth diapers because they are so cute. but we are usually the only ones who see it ;-) I am your newest follower from http://7kidsandcounting.blogspot.com/

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