This morning I woke up thinking about cloth diapers, and how awesome they are. As some of you know, for the last 3 years I have co-owned and operated a natural parenting store, specializing in cloth diapers… So it always felt like a bit of a conflict of interest to write about how easy/awesome they are… even though this is my blog. We have since closed our virtual doors, so now I feel like I can just chat about diapers, and maybe answer any questions you might have?! If you are considering using them.
There are pros and cons to anything… in the case of cloth diapering, the pros really outweigh the cons. I am going to list 3 positives that really influenced our decision, and have been further solidified with our second child.
1) Cloth diapering saves you money! (in fact the average baby uses $3,000 of diapers…. cloth diapering costs $800+ for all diapering years depending on the style you choose!)
2) Many diapers are made of natural fibers, and even if they are not, you know exactly what is touching up against baby’s sensitive skin. Our skin is the largest organ in our body, and is absorbing the chemicals that are put up against it. This is why there have been major things about parabens/preservatives in lotions shampoo etc. Disposables have chemicals. (I mean this in a matter of fact, non guilt trip way!) So, we try our best to avoid using them.
3) Kids potty train earlier. This my friends is what I am going to talk about today!
For many there is the huge factor of environmental effects… It takes major resources to make disposables, they do not decompose (that we know of… the estimates are like 500yrs or something crazy) For all kinds of additional resources, you can read up on cloth here.
Today, I was thinking about diapers mostly because of reason #3. You see, E potty trained at 26 months. He was diaper free for night time 2 months later… and has never wet the bed at night… I had dreaded potty training, especially a boy, because to be honest when you look at all the resources (just google “how to potty train a boy”) it appears like you are coming to one of the greatest parenting challenges since night time feedings! (which still aren’t done for us… haha)
So, as a prego mamma with a baby due when E was 23 months, I wasn’t too interested in pursuing potty training. But once I had 2 kids in diapers, and a little more knowledge… I was a little more motivated. How we did it? We talked about it. He knew poop went in the potty (because we would drop the poop from his cloth diaper in the potty) and he had peed in the potty on and off since 14 months. I put him in undies, he had one mis step the first day… and we never really looked back. We did not go back to diapers. For night time, he still wore his cloth… until he told me he didn’t want to anymore. So, we used a sticker chart and he had to go 5 nights with a dry diaper, and then he got to go diaper free. Wala! Potty trained. No books…. no hassle. No pull ups.
After my great experience with E I figured we would introduce G to the potty a little earlier. Once you are diaper free… you kind of want to keep it that way! G started sitting on the potty much earlier (11 months) and has been essentially “poop potty trained” for the last 5-6 months… with some occasional misses on our part. But one less poopy diaper is one less poopy diaper… (I’ll say poopy one more time….)
The exciting thing is, I don’t really remember the last time I changed a poopy. G has also started wearing undies at home, and yesterday wore them all day! He had one piddle but thats it. He is 23 months old today. So this my friends is why I am thinking about the awesomeness of cloth diapers… Being a COMPLETELY diaper free family is IN OUR GRASP! And G is not yet 2. No pressure, but it’s kind of awesome. The ball is kind of in our court… put him in undies, and take him to the potty lots. We just need to stick to it, and it will become first nature for him.
His early potty training also means that our diapers will get less use, so they will last for the next baby when that times comes! If there are any reservations about whether you can do it… I will put this out there! My good friend has 4 kids under 4. She gave birth to twins when her youngest was 20mths… so she had 3 in diapers! And she cloth diapers! Yes indeed. So if she can do it, you have to know that it is actually MORE convenient than disposables… it really truly is!
Have you wondered about cloth diapering? Are you maybe having some issues? Fire away and I’d love to chat about it… 🙂 Oh! And a lot of people wonder what diapers we use.I love prefolds for newborn (bummis prefolds and wraps) and LOVE AMP (Annie Maria Padorie) which we primarily use. I also have a few tots bots bamboozles with Bummis Wraps. After testing a TON of diapers through our business, these are what you’ll find in our stash.