I decided a couple years ago that if we could, we would cloth diaper. They just appeal to me. I was sold at saving money, but really there's so many other benefits. I am not the most green friendly, earth loving individual, but did you know disposable diapers take up to 500 years to decompose? That's just yucky. Disposable diapers also have a bunch of different chemicals in them, including a dioxin that is used to bleach diapers. I don't want that going on our baby girls little bum. I am aware that there are a TON of chemicals in just about everything we use. I could probably write a whole post on them, but we are taking steps to reduce where we can. We have used chemical free cleaning products for over a year. We also use glass containers to store and re-heat our leftovers. I am currently drinking out of my new, fancy glass water bottle. I am not claiming that we're 100% chemical free, but we try the best we can and cloth diapering is a away we can reduce the chemicals in our life, so why not?
I have had people say to me, so you're going to touch poop? We will not touch poop anymore than if we were using disposable diapers. I plan on breastfeeding, which means that our little pooping machine's poop is water soluble and will be washed away in the washer. Once we introduce solids it won't be quite as easy as throwing her diapers in the wash, but whatever. There is not a way to avoid poop when you're dealing with a baby. It's life. I know what's involved and it doesn't deter me from wanting to cloth diaper. Cloth diapers are soft, you don't deal with as much diaper rash, and they have less blow outs than disposable. Plus they have really cute designs and fun colors!
However, cloth diapering isn't all sunshine and lollipops. You have to buy the diapers before the baby arrives which means you have another big purchase to add to all the other items you need. I purchased our first two diapers last weekend and immediately thought, what have I gotten myself into? I went home and crunched the numbers again. Basically, what we will spend on the initial cost is the same amount we would spend on disposables during the first 6 months of her life so we get the remaining 18-24 months for free! If it's God's plan, it's our plan to have at least one more baby so we won't have to spend any additional money on diapers if that happens. There are other costs involved because I will be doing laundry every other day or so. I plan on line drying the diapers when I can and even if I didn't the cost is still less than using disposable diapers for a couple of years.
It can be time consuming because I'll need to wash the diapers every couple of days and then stuff the clean diapers with clean liners. If I was going to be working full time, this might not be feasible, but I'll be a stay at home mom so I'll find time. I'm not trying to say that if you're a stay at home mom you aren't doing anything all day and have a cabana boy fanning you with a palm tree leaf while you're drinking a strawberry daiquiri and the baby is taking care of itself. I'm just saying that somewhere throughout the day I'll be able to get it done.
I'm also aware that cloth diapering isn't for everyone. A few of my friends use disposable diapers and I think that's great. What works for me doesn't mean it will work for you and vice versa. There is so much judgement and criticism when it comes to parenting I don't want you to think I'm judging you if you use disposable. If you're reading this and think I'm judging you for using disposables, please don't. I don't expect everyone to parent the way I plan to parent or do everything the way that I do it. Our daughter is going to be raised listening to Michael Jackson. You may not be a Michael Jackson fan and cringe at the thought of your offspring listening to his music, that's ok, just don't mention it to my husband. When we first starting dating, the love of my life told me if I didn't like Michael Jackson, we wouldn't work out. I thought that was crazy then and I still do today, but I have since found out that MJ's music runs in his family's blood. If you have a couple minutes and want to see my husband shaking his groove thang, check this link out. The point I'm trying to make is there are tons of decisions you have to make when raising children and you want the very best for them. I was raised differently than all of my friends and we all turned out ok. Our daughter will be raised differently than her friends and if she turns out ok we did a good job and at the end of the day that's what matters!
