For several years now I've heard parents talk about cloth diapering their kids. I, of course, was intrigued by it and read a few blogs about it but never really paid much attention to the details. I didn't understand what the big fuzz was about. I mean did they really understand what they were getting themselves into?
I was cloth diapered as a baby and remember my brother being too. I thought to myself well just as the world keeps going round and round so do all sort of fashion too. It's just a matter of time. Then I happened to dig a little deeper, you know curiosity. And when I saw the awesome colors and patterns I was sold! Typical me, I wanted in on the big fuzz just for the cuteness of it. Though I thought that it looked cuter on girls then boys for some reason. I guess because of colors and how it gives them that nice fluffy bum. So I kept a few mental notes of where I've seen cloth diapering topics in the back of my head and decided to revisit it once I was actually pregnant.
Fast forward to almost six months ago when I found out we were expecting. Right away I went to my sources and started the research again. I knew I had to be fully prepared before presenting the idea to the hubby. I knew he wasn't going to be on board right away. I kept going back and forth with the idea. Weighing the pros and cons. Yes it was going to bring in more laundry and it was quite a big initial expense let alone scrapping poop off of the cloth-Eww! but would the benefits be worth it in the end? There would be a big savings in money, better for baby's sensitive skin which equals to less diaper rashes, easier and faster potty training (although it wasn't that difficult the first time around), Eco-friendly, and best of all it's reusable on future kid! What!? Now that would definitely be a money saver don't you think? Of course that's if you decide to have more than one kid.
I remember briefly talking to the hubby about it and just like I expected he shut my idea down. He had valid reasons but he wasn't giving me the chance to really persuade him either. So I let it go for a little while. I then decided to tell my one close friend about the idea and just like the hubby she called me crazy. She went on and on about how difficult it would be, how she didn't see me scrapping poop off of it, how I wasn't going to like it and give up, on that it was wasting money and worse part how I was going to go through with something like that, fail at it, and then have hubby say I told you so. That hit the spot. I was so devastated. The one person I thought would of been on my side reacted worse then my husband! I thought about her words and decided that maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.
Nearing my second trimester I revisited the idea and read more blogs about it and other parents dilemma with bringing up the issue to friends and family. I guess the best way to go about it is to get 2 very important people on board. The husband and the daycare provider. After that who cares what anyone else thinks. It's your kid after all isn't it? You'll be the one doing the diaper changes, washing, setting up, etc. and if you are happy and 100% sure of your decision let everyone else think whatever they want to think. You just do your research and don't fail at it so that then they don't say "I told you so". ;)
After I was 90% sure again I decided to go to the one person I knew had to be on board too. My mommy. She is my year round babysitter you know. If she's not on board either, well I'm screw. I remember talking to her one day and said "Mom can I ask you something? If I wanted to cloth diaper this baby would you support me and be on board with the idea?" she just looked at me and said "cloth diaper? Like pañales? Like the same ones I used on you and your siblings?" lol she's too cute! I said yes, those. Except this is a new era and they are way cuter than back in the day. Then she just said "Sure, why not. Now that I'm going to DR I'll bring some with me". I just laughed and said its okay mom is not that serious. We'll buy them from here. And there was that. Now I needed to get the hubby on board and I would be one happy pregnant woman :).
Now at almost six months into this pregnancy I still haven't convinced the husband. Though I have a plan, I've just talked briefly with him about the idea giving him the pros and cons but I haven't really sat him down and make him listen to me on how the whole process works and how I plan on going about it and making it work for us. I honestly think he has over analyzed the whole thing which has led him to think that it will be difficult and time consuming. Not to mention he's probably worried about what his family will say in respect.
My Plan:
I plan on taking 12 weeks on maternity leave and since I will be doing most of the diaper changes anyways I plan to use prefolds the first 2-3 months. Since my research has shown that for the newborn stage that is the easier and most convenient method. That's what I plan on doing. That's the technique I'm more familiar with except that I won't be using safety pins but snappis and a super cute cover :) after baby has gained some weight and the one size AIOs pockets fit nicely on him we will switch over. This will make daddy happy because as long as I always have everything set up (inserts in and ready to go) it'll be like using a disposable.
I'm pretty much set on which brand I want to go with too. I'm thinking BumGenius. Everyone that I know that uses cloth diapers rave greatly about them so I'm almost positive I want to go with them. Although I might try another brand too just in case. But I'm not too sure about it. We'll have to wait and see.
My Reasons:
The reason I decided to go through with cloth diapering, besides the blogger-pressure that is, is the money that we could save if done correctly. We could save from $2,400-4,800 depending if we cloth diaper one or two kids. We plan to try for a third child eventually so this would work great for us. But even if you decided to have only one you can still save money and help our environment. And can you really resist all the cuteness behind this! I can't wait to have baby AJ here and start this process. I hope we like it as much as others who have tried it and don't fail at it. I would love to prove everyone wrong, specially that dear close friend of mine.
These are a couple of the sources I've used to gather information, I also used Google a lot. I hope you join us in this crazy adventure :)
~Heather Drive
~My life in Transition
xoxo
Pamela
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