Saturday, May 28, 2011

things our baby likes to poop on

ADVENTURES IN CLOTH DIAPERING

A change we made three years ago, but a change that we continue to love. 


our newest addition models bumgenius version 4.0


We can't help but sing the praises of cloth!


Why we LOVE cloth diapers:
- Cost savings!  We bought 16 bumgenius diapers before our first born arrived (actually, we got a lot of those diapers at baby showers) and a bunch of washcloths to serve as wipes.  Initial cost: about $300.  I think most people spend at least $10/week just on diapers, so by 7 months of age, we recouped the cost.
- No chemicals!  My baby's skin is precious.  And easily irritated. 
- No poop blow-outs!  I don't know if we're just idiots when it comes to using a disposable, but everytime we use one, we get a poop-up-the-back-all-the-way-to-the-hair-line mess.  Gross.  I do not exaggerate when I say this has never ever happened to us in cloth.  In the interest of full disclosure, we do have the occasional (once a week?) poop leak out the side of the diaper by baby's legs.  Far easier to clean than those messes up the back.  Ugh. 
- No waste!  I love NOT filling up our trash bin.  It's a pride thing.
- They're easier than we thought they'd be!  Truthfully.  I didn't even notice our water bill go up.  I also thought we'd be up to our elbows in bodily functions.  Ew.  But we just bought a diaper sprayer that hooks up to the toilet to spray solids into the bowl.  Problem solved. 
- Potty-train earlier?  Our big girl potty-trained at a very early age (18 months).  We like to think cloth helped her along.  Though she may just be awesome.

our happy boy - in cloth!




If you use disposables: Tell us what is the biggest turn-off to using cloth diapers.
If you use cloth: Tell us what you love!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am the primary diaper-cleaner and I don't mind! - lukec

Hillary said...

We used all disposables for Gabe (because green wasn't much in our consciousness then) but when he potty-trained and Claire was 10 mos we switched from disposables to gDiapers. These had the advantage of throwing away the gross poopy ones, but also being better for the environment. They also offer up cloth inserts now if you want to be more "green" than using decomposing paper liners.

I offer this commentary to anyone else out there looking for a compromise between cloth and disposable; though admittedly by the time Claire was potty-trained I was comfortable going to full-on cloth.

When investing in a cloth-type system, gDiapers gives you a bit of flexibility with the option of cloth or throwaway liners (that rapidly decompose unlike traditional disposables). This is great if you are initially squeamish like me. Other gDiaper users I know love using the cloth inserts at home and the disposables when travelling so that they aren't carting poopy diapers through airports or along on a road trip.

Profe said...

Hillary - you're back! Thanks for the information-packed comment! You're great. Also, you should chat with Erin because I think she wants to go that route.