Why Do We Cloth Diaper?
Ah cloth diapering. One of the best decisions I feel like we've made since becoming parents.
So many perks to it. I'm sure most people who are parents to young kids in diapers have heard them all - great for the environment, super adorable, good for baby [less rashes, fewer blowouts, etc], can save you money, easier to potty train...
All that sounds great, but when you grow up & only know disposables, how do you get to that point?! They're a hard thing to commit to without knowing someone who cloth diapers or at least seeing them in action.
I remember when we were in our OB group while I was pregnant. We talked about all sorts of baby things, starting with pregnancy problems, labor & delivery & post-partum goodness. There were about 10 couples in our group that met once a month. We heard all sorts of things everyone planned on doing - breastfeeding? "Cool! Us too!" Natural birth? "Not for me, but good for you!" Cloth diapering? "What sort of hippies are we in this group with?!"
All I could picture was the old fashion white cloth diapers that you had to safety pin together! Ha, no thanks!
But as I started meeting other moms in the area at various groups, I saw more & more moms using cloth diapers. And whadoyouknow?! They looked just like disposables, except way cute! So easy to use. I was intrigued!
There's a cloth diapering group here in Germany that had an info table that I convinced my skeptical husband to visit with me at a breastfeeding event. We got the same spiel, but still weren't sold on them. Then I was told they have a bag with a hodge-podge of different brands & styles of diapers that people can borrow to check out.
There were pockets, All-in-ones, some hybrid diapers, a fitted and some prefolds with covers. Every type of diaper you could think of basically. I found the pockets to be the best for us at the time - yes they require stuffing, but then they're basically used just like the disposables we were used to already. And they dry faster than All-in-ones or hybrids.
Major selling points for us were saving money & less trash! I hate, hate emptying trash! Especially diaper trash. Ew! But laundry isn't so bad in my book! I already do enough of it, so what's a few extra loads a week. We chose to start our stash with Charlie Banana one-size pocket diapers.
We were late into the game, not starting until our son was already just over 5 months old. But better late than never, right?
I would recommend anyone with a kid or kids in diapers to check into cloth diapers! Such a great investment! We cloth almost exclusively [haven't mastered traveling with them yet & some rashes sent us into disposables because of the cream needed to clear them up!]. And there's so many ways to go about them! Super cheap & economical or a little more expensive & convenient!
Our stash now included the Charlie Bananas, Sunbaby pockets and Best Bottoms All-in-two diapers & I am in the market to expand our stash! Up next - Cloth Diapering Lessons Learned By a Rookie!
What made you choose to cloth diaper? What are your favorite cloth diapers & why?
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