Apparently I’m your resident “grey area” contributor, or we can say I like to try everything and then figure out what works for me. Like breastfeeding, cloth diapering is another area where I just didn’t go all the way. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be fully committed. There just came a time where cloth diapering didn’t make sense to do anymore and where it wasn’t serving it’s purpose. And that purpose…was to save money.
I know, I know. Everyone is all “Let’s save the environment!” and “Just say no to chemicals!”, but honestly…I was just in it for the dollar bills.
I cloth diapered my first born for 16-18 months. My family looked at me like I had lost my mind when I brought up the idea of cloth diapering and they immediately vowed to not participate. Washing poop and pee is not for everyone. I totally understood. But, I was also bound and determined to prove to them that I could do it. There. I’m admitting it. There were times when I wanted to quit, but my pride wouldn’t let me. Silly pride.
I don’t know if it was me, the diapers, or possibly just the shape of my child, but every single time I put my son into the car seat, the diaper would leak. I stripped diapers, I tried other brands, I tightened elastic around the legs, I added inserts but none of it made a difference. I changed diapers and clothes all the time. I lugged bulky bags of extra diapers and multiple changes of clothes everywhere I went. I didn’t know it wasn’t normal at the time. But now, now I know.
I washed a load of cloth diapers every other day. I spent time sorting and stuffing them. And then there was the time that I sprayed poop IN MY FACE with my super high powered diaper sprayer. The final straw happened when we moved and I had to switch from a diaper sprayer to the dunking method (If you don’t know, don’t ask.) while in the first trimester of pregnancy. I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I switched to disposables and haven’t looked back.
Do I regret cloth diapering? No. There was certainly a time where the inconvenience was worth the money saved and if needed I could certainly do it again. But today, I’m thankful for the convenience of disposables. I happily give Amazon my money every month when they promptly deliver my giant box of diapers right to my doorstep.
If you are still interested in cloth diapering after this post, I do have a bunch of Fuzzibunz that I’d love to sell. Feel free to contact me. Seriously.
, Laura decided to switch to disposables. Here's her story.){kind=link}
Haha! Oh friend. I am WITH you 100%. We did not cloth diaper our first, we DID cloth diaper our 2nd, and when our 3rd came only 15 months later, I eventually fizzled out cloth diapering two. Was it adorable? YES. Was my laundry load insane? ALSO YES. Great post!
OMG…the face thing! I may have thrown up!
Yeah that sprayer can be dangerous…it takes some special pressure to get it right or you pay for it dearly!
I dunked. 🙂 I call what we did “part-time” cloth diapering. We started P on them at about 4 months. I CD’d at my own convenience. Mostly at home. Mostly in the summer and warmer months when I could just throw a cute top or dress on her and go. When winter came along, I confess, I wanted her to wear jeans. And my CD’s were just too big for that. I loved the money we saved. I loved only buying one box of diapers a month. And I really, really loved knowing that if we ran out of diapers I didn’t have to freak out and run to the store in the middle of the night. They were an excellent backup to have, and I think everyone should have at least two or three in their closet. I also think they helped us transition to potty-training. Glad I wasn’t the only one who didn’t do it “faithfully.” But I did enjoy it!