Controversial parenting topics: Cloth diapering
Welcome to another post in my series about parenting decisions that people fall on either side of. I imagine most people are not on the cloth diapering side anymore, but we've had a lot of experience with it now and I'm happy to share for those who are interested. Also, it leads into potty training... another super interesting topic I was intimidated by pre-parenting!
(See the whole list of topics in this series below.)
- Breastfeeding
- Sleep training
- Co-sleeping
- Babywearing
- Baby-led weaning
- Cloth diapering
- Potty training
- Daycare vs. nanny
- Transitioning from the crib
- TV time
Cloth diapering
I had always been intrigued by this idea because I like saving money and protecting the environment, but then when I was 25 or so I had a coworker who got pregnant with her second baby and mentioned that she was cloth diapering. She was not the kind of person I would expect to do it, so I asked her some more… I’ll never forget what she said: "Oh, it's so easy." She dismissed it like it was no big deal at all. Again this is not the kind of person who I would think would spend a lot of energy dealing with something that was stressful or hard just to save a few dollars and keep stuff out of the landfill. I figured, if she thinks it’s easy, it really must be!
I’m not sure "easy" is the first word I would use to describe my cloth diapering experience, because I do do laundry basically constantly (although maybe that’s just because I don’t have enough cloth diapers), but it has been a good experience. My favorite brand are G Diapers (no longer made any more with the same availability since COVID, but you can buy them on Facebook/eBay etc.) and I’ve used them with both kids, although not the whole time with Otto (I forget why).
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| From Lucy's nursery |
We still use them with Lucy and it’s been great. Save a ton of money, no guilt about the environment. Yes, it’s pretty gross dumping her poop into the toilet but I would be smelling it either way, cloth diaper or disposable, just part of parenting. (Also, I learned reading the potty training book--did you know you're supposed to dump and flush the solids even if you use disposables? No one does this, I'm sure. It also says that on the disposable diaper box. I mean, maybe daycares, who change diapers in the bathroom. But I bet almost 0% of parents do that at home. Throwing it all away at once seems like part of the benefit of using a disposable, right?)
We still use disposables at night for her (well, Otto too) because they hold all that pee better, or if we're out and about. But that means we use I disposable diaper/day on days when all the laundry is done and we aren't leaving the house for anything (most days). We have 10 cloth diapers in Medium and Large, and I 6-8 in Small, and I'm not sure what we'll do when she outgrows Large but each size fits for a loooong, long time, like 10 pounds of growth or something. And honestly, we didn't potty train Otto till he was almost 2.5 but now that we know how to do it, and knowing Lucy, I think we'll potty train her earlier so I'm not sure she'll ever need X-Large cloth diapers. Note: 10 cloth diapers is not enough in each size. I seriously do laundry every other day. I really should buy more, but... I dunno, I'm used to it.
That leads into the next post I'll share Monday... potty training/how and when to do it.
The posts in this series are meant to be me sharing my personal experience only. 100% no judgment if you did things differently! If you don't like the sound of what I did, no worries! I'm just sharing for those of you out there who are interested. Best wishes to you no matter what you choose!
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