Cloth Diapers! {Link up!}

Linking up with my fellow cloth diapering mommas over at Milk Friendly!

my journey from disposables to cloth diapers

 I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I was one of those mothers that thought cloth diapering still consisted of wrapping what most of us use as a burp rag around my child’s tush and securing it with safety pins.  Which led to images of my child being stuck by a pin and poop leaking down his legs.  Ugh, seems awful, right? It just never came to my mind to seriously consider cloth diapers. It just wasn’t even an option in my mind.  I even remember going to my town’s seasonal kids consignment sale when I was pregnant and while standing in line seeing a booth with a women selling cloth diapers and thinking “hmm… those are kind of cute,they’re not quite what I expected…” but still did I consider using them? Nope! Did I even consider asking the woman for more information? Nope! Regret,Regret, Regret!! Only recently did I start mulling over the decision to change my diapering methods.  I suppose as I started getting more and more interested in what chemicals were polluting every conceivable product I owned I began delving into the research.  I was blown away by the possibilities! The decision was made.

Cloth diapers here we come!

I started getting so excited over cloth that my husband even had to reel me in as I rambled on about our options late one night with the computer glued to my lap in bed…

me: “honey, honey, look what about this one? It’s organic cotton and it’s all in one! Look how easy that is, I’m going to order these!”

kyle: “Well, we can’t get all of those now.” 

me:  “But look at this one! Look how cute? What about this one? I think I want organic or do I want use hemp inserts inside a cover…?”

I’d ramble on and on.  Finally, he caved and then I compromised.  He gave me the “if this is what makes you happy, we can get some” spiel. So, I decided to only get a few, test them out and go from there.  Which really is the best route to go when finding which really suit you and your baby.

There are  so many choices and I am kicking myself over how much money I could have been saving and how much waste I’ve created in our landfills! Cloth diapering isn’t anything like I thought it would be.  It’s so easy once you get the hang of it and find which product you love best. So, it’s happily ever after for us. We’re a cloth diapering fam and darn proud of it!

Gold star to whoever realized it’s because we never see them!  We have Pampers and Huggies on every other commercial and in every store we walk into.  It’s right there, oh so conveniently in our faces as we walk down the aisles.  Where are the cloth diapering company’s commercials?  Target sells cloth diapers online but I don’t believe I have ever seen them in the store.  No one is going to buy something they know nothing about or never even seen.  It’s so, so sad for our poor planet and our poor babies tushies. The more I researched why not to use disposables, the more sick to my stomach I felt.  The numerous amounts of chemicals that are inmost disposables can cause respiratory issues in our little ones and even more,the hormone pollutant TBT (Tributyl tin) has been said to be one of the most harmful pollutants ever made!  This stuff is found in both the inner and outer layer of the diaper. On top of that, we’ve all heard of Toxic Shock Syndrome from extended tampon use, right? This had to do with the use of SAP (Super Absorbent Polymers) in the tampons so since 1985 this substance has been banned from being used in tampons. Well,guess what?  This is the same substance that is in our babies disposables! Have you ever noticed the little gel like balls on your baby’s tush when changing? Yep, that’s it.  That is the substance absorbing up the urine and turning it into a gel.  Yuck. Enough said.

Bum Genius Elemental AIO

Thirsties Duo Wrap

Anyone that is thinking about using cloth remember it doesn’t have to be all of nothing. Go half and half. Use chlorine and chemical free disposables as an alternative to the regular old Pamper. They are free of the scary things and decompose faster in our landfills. If you’re childcare provider isn’t working with you then use cloth just at home and on the weekends. Pick up a few and try them out.  You’ll realize it’s not as hard as you once thought!  Try googling your area for cloth diaper stores or check out a cloth diaper company and click on the link that tells you where they are sold in your area.  

I am loving Thirsties Duo Wrap and Bum Genius Elemental Organic AIO right now but I’m on the hunt for more to test out and add to my favorites list!  Did you see Parents magazine had an article on cloth diapers in their most recent issue?  I got excited.

Quick Tip: Remember to consider what detergent you are using when washing your cloth diapers. Check out Zany Zebra’s detergent chart to pick which ones work best with cloth. Look for all “0″‘ in the ingredient boxes. You don’t want a detergent with any additives, softeners, etc because this can compromise the absorbency of your diap!