Cloth Diapering 101 PT 1 - Journals

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Cloth Diapering 101 PT 1
Apr 21, 2009 at 3:27 AM
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- Kenre
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If you already cloth diaper, please read this journal.

Now, for those who are wishing to learn something about cloth diapering, here it is.

Since cloth diapering is a such a wide subject, it needs to be split into separate Journal posts here (be prepared).

The next thing I did after polling CM users (the journal post above), was research everything I could on cloth diapers (the poll will be later brought up one week from now to allow CM users to respond to it). There are numerous sites, and long informational listings. It was a daunting task to sift through the jokes, the false advertising from disposable diapering sites, and the misconceptions about cloth diapering. Finally, I came through it all with just a little water in my lungs. The information is easy to sift through if we ask some more basic questions.

Statistics of Disposable Diapers
Advantages of Cloth Diapers
Misconceptions
Cost of Cloth Diapering
Types of Cloth Diapers
What are the basic Cloth Diapering needs
Laundering and Caring
Leaking
Black and Brown spots
The Smell
Outings or Long Stays
Buying used Cloth Diapers
Baby Wipes
Diaper Service
Day Care children
Toilet Training

Statistics of Disposable Diapers

The modern infant goes through 5,000 diaper changes (approx.) Experts in disposable diaper statistics estimate the number of diapers disposed in U.S. landfills alone at more than 21 billion annually. Health officials warn that this number should only increase, given current toilet training trends, which suggest that parents are waiting longer and longer to wean their toddlers off their diapers. The degradation of the plastics used in many disposable diapers can take half a millennium. The chlorinated byproducts of such degradation can leech into soils and create hazards to public water supplies. The U.S. public spends nearly half a billion dollars annually on disposables. A disposable diaper is sold for twenty-eight cents to forty-four cents a diaper.

0.24 = 2.24 cents a day (8 diaper changes) = 817.60 cents a year if you ONLY change your baby 8 times a day for the 365 days of this year (not counting the day for leap year).

0.44= 3.52 cents a day (8 diaper changes) = 1284.80 cents a year

Now, when do you think your child will be potty trained? Within that first year of life? How about by 2 years old? Or hopefully by 3, right? Not to mention buying those wonderful Pull-Ups that can help with the potty training.

Advantages of Cloth Diapers

It saves you money, saves the environment, doesn't expose your child to harmful chemicals, no late night runs for when you run out of those diapers you forgot to buy earlier, no more juggling a child and a big box along with groceries, and the styles are lot more pleasing to the eye if you're one of those fashion moms!

Misconceptions

Just from my posts, private messages, research, and one question on the Answer part of CM, I have come to the conclusion that most people don't know what they are talking about when referring to Cloth Diapering in the year 2009. Some of the answers I received were a bit rude, and some of the articles I found were just ridiculous.

Here's some of the common things I found people thought of Cloth Diapering:

"I don't want to stick my baby with a pin."

Well, you'll be happy to hear that you don't have to use pins anymore. There are these new things called Snappi's that hold a prefold (we'll get to the types of diapers later) diaper together. You also have diapers held together with velcro, snaps, and a couple other ingenious ideas. I guess mommy's were sick of sticking their baby's like pin cushions as well.

"I think it's nasty."

Well, you're going to be changing your baby anyway, right? It's not more unsanitary than you changing a disposable diaper. If you think this is nasty now, wait until potty training or "accidents" in the bed. Also, with disposable diapers you tend to have "blow outs" and you have "nasty" poop everywhere and all inside of clothing as well.

"I don't want poop in my washing machine."

We don't have poop in our washers either. We use our toilets to drop the poop into and some even have hand sprayers attached to the toilet to make sure it's rinsed thoroughly before putting in the bin. You'll get more poop in your washing machine by washing your "blow out" infant clothes and your own undies, since I'm sure you don't rinse these before putting them in.

"They leak."

I'll get more into this later, but I assure you, a properly taken care of cloth diaper doesn't leak. A disposable leaks more often than you will ever find a cloth diaper leaking (I'll get into how to prevent leaks with your cloth diapers later. Be patient.) Now, if you have a leaky cloth diaper even after taking care of it properly, you aren't changing your baby enough, and would have an even worse time should they baby be in disposable diapers. You should never wait for your baby to be leaking before changing him/her.

"They are too expensive."

Actually, there are tons of moms who are trying to get rid of their used diapers (I will post some of the favorite sites later). Starting with prefolds is probably better if you're worried about costs. Then you can diaper while you save up or collect your favorite type of diaper or brand. Many moms do this. If you do the calculations you find that it's more efficient and less expensive by 1,000$ to use cloth diapers.

"I don't own my own washer/dryer. I don't want to make that trip."

I understand this reasoning, but I have to say this... every three days I make a trip over to my mother-in-laws house to use her washing machine to wash the diapers, my sanitary napkins, wipes, and wash clothes. I had to sign a special paper a few days ago from my landlady forbidding me to wash my diapers in the facilities here (someone complained about my diapers, when really it was another mother who had caused the mess.) If I can compromise and be next to my mother-in-law every three days, I don't think going to the laundry mat would be that much of a problem. Also, you can buy enough diapers to last you a week; use a service if you have the money; or hand wash them.

"I don't want to wash them everyday. Isn't that more wasteful than disposable?"

Actually, most of us don't wash our diapers everyday. We wash every 2-5 days... some of us have enough to last a week or more if need be. It's still better for the environment to wash these as a full load (every few days) than to use disposable diapers.

"I watched mom/grandma/aunt cloth diaper. It looks so hard."

They were probably using prefolds with pins. It is a bit harder this way than with the new type of diapers out there. I usually suggest only using prefolds on newborns to the "wiggly" age (it's different for each baby, but whenever they start wanting to move during diaper time is the "wiggly" age.)

"My house will stink."

Uhm, no it won't. Believe me. I have a good nose, and my mother-in-law is OCD about smells too. We rinse the diapers into the toilet, so instead of the poop sitting in a diaper (like with disposables in a garbage can) it goes down a courtesy flush. We also have a Fisher-Price large diaper pail (made for disposables actually) and we line it with a washable bag. It seals every time we shut it. We wash every 3 days, so there's nothing growing in there, either.

"What if I don't like cloth diapering after spending all of the money on them?"

Sell them to mom's who do like it. If you haven't used them, they sell for the price you bought them. If you have used them (gently and are in wonderful condition) sell them for a few bucks less than you bought them for. If they are bad, you might find a work-at-home mom who is willing to buy them to patch them up and re-sell them. There are enough of us out here trying to find bargains and deals all of the time. Your diapers would be a help to us.

"I'm too busy for cloth diapers."

Then I suggest trying some of the new ones (not prefolds.) The All-In-Ones and Pocket diapers are wonderful for us busy mom's always on the go. Plus, you can put your diapers on wash before starting your morning routine (like showering and such). By the time you're ready for work, you just slip them into the dryer on medium heat, and leave the house for work/outing/shopping. Come home, and put them away. There. You just did a busy routine with cloth diapers.

"The stains are just nasty looking."

Actually, cloth diapers don't usually stain, they aren't made from the fabrics you're thinking about. If you get one, just hang it up in the sun for a few hours. The sun will naturally bleach out that nasty looking stain. (hint, you can do this with kids undies too. It works!)

"My son/daughter gets a rash when we tried cloth diapering before."

It's not the diapers doing this. There is an underlying reason for these rashes. Cloth diapers actually breathe more and are recommended during diaper rashes. Look into recently introduced foods, drinks, or new laundry soaps (any soaps or things that have touched that area recently). Your child is allergic to something. My DS was clothed diapered when we lived with mother-in-law. When we moved, we changed soaps and he started on some 1 year foods that he hadn't had before. He broke out so horribly, and we were frantic to figure it out. We took him to his doctor, we took him into other doctors, and we just kept being told to change soaps, check his foods, and don't use creams or lotions until we figure it out. We changed our laundry soap five times. We started to weed out different foods. We washed him with baking soda instead of anything else, because we didn't know if it was a soap we used against him. We also switched from disposable wipes to cloth (finally.) Turns out it was a grass allergy he was getting through cows milk. So, find out the reason for your child's rash and don't automatically assume it's the cloth diaper themselves.

"I have multiple's and it would be way too hard."

I remember when I lived in California there was a family of two sets of 5 (quints). That's 10 kids all still in diapers. They cloth diapered every single one of their babies/toddlers. Why? Well, having that many kids is expensive! They found a way to do it, and so if your ambitious to start a habit, I'm sure we could find a way for you to do it too.

"I keep being told how horrible it is by neighbors/friends/family."

It's a tough life to get through when everyone is against you doing something safe, cheap, and better. Believe me, I am there too. I am having problems with my neighbors. They have said a lot of these misconceptions. So, after I'm done here, I'll be making this into a small magazine like information guide. Feel free to print out my journals and show them yourself as well.

ON TO PART TWO

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