Cloth Diapering

So call us weird, but yes, we will be a cloth diapering family!! I've mentioned this to a few people and let's just say there are mixed responses. Well...not really. Mostly negative. I think this is mainly due to the fact that most don't realize just how far cloth diapers have come. We have a few reasons for taking this route and because I got a few in the mail today (which excited me probably a wee too much...I may be obsessed) I thought I'd share.

I'm really not sure when the topic of cloth diapers came up. If you know me at all, you know that I'm all about being a mom and raising babies. I'm not sure Daniel knew the extent of this when he married me...
Anywho, I'm pretty sure we discussed cloth diapering way before a child was in our near future. I've always known I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and that being said, I've constantly thought about ways we can save money to make that work. Enter the cloth diapers. My aunt has two children, both of whom wear cloth diapers. Luckily, she got to do some research for me as she obviously had her children before me...She didn't know she was doing this for me. Now she does. :) So now, enter BumGenius cloth diapers. I ADORE these diapers and I've never even used them.

This little guy is an example of the very first cloth diaper I ever received...from my aunt, actually. ADORABLE...don't tell me I didn't warn you about my affinity for these cute things. As you can see, it's nothing like the rag, pins, and plastic covers that you might have been envisioning. It's all one piece, held on with snaps or velcro (I have several with both fasteners). It's also one size fits all. It's created with a series of snaps that you can adjust as baby grows. Yes, this means my little newborn will have quite the big bottom as there will be lots of diaper on her! ha!

When I actually start using them, I'll have to write an entry about how to use them and such. Since I'm not quite there yet, this post is just for the purpose of why we're going to use them.

1. Cost. Based on my research, by using cloth instead of disposable, we'll save anywhere from $1500 to $2000 over the course of Baby Girl's diaper wearing lifetime. Give or take a few hundred. Now, what about when baby #2 comes along and we need diapers all over again? Well, instead of spending another $2500 on disposables on said baby, we'll get to use the cloth diapers all over again, saving us that $2500!! You get the idea for any number of children beyond two. I get lots of funny looks when I mention this because apparently most people would rather spend the money on disposables than deal with cloth diapers. Well, good thing we're allowed to choose! We'd LOVE to save the money. ESPECIALLY because it's one way I'm able to stay home with my babies. I would give up quite a bit for that. Even the convenience of tossing a diaper out, rather than washing and reusing.

2. Lately I'm really into what exactly is in the food we're eating and the products we're using. (I'll have to blog more about it sometime.) I have really sensitive skin....so this naturally has made me think about my baby's skin. Just the thought of her being a baby (especially a newborn) and having that new, baby skin makes me not want to use any products that can irritate her skin. Have any of you heard about the whole Johnson&Johnson uproar with all their baby products?? Well, no thank you. I will NOT be using Johnson&Johnson products on my baby. Not happening. Anyway, disposable diapers have all sorts of dyes, chemicals, and irritants just waiting to jump on my baby's toosh. Now obviously I know that plenty of babies have worn disposables and have seemingly been just fine, but as I do my research I am finding that more and more of the ingredients in our food, products, clothing, etc. are linked to different diseases. I'm sure some of you think that's a bunch of hoopla, but what if it's not? It sure makes sense to me...have you read the list of ingredients on your shampoo lately? How about your box of crackers? Why is there so much in the things we use that we can't even pronounce?
So anyway, cloth diapers are free of all these ingredients. Safe for a sensitive baby's bum.

3. Babies who wear cloth diapers are known to experience less diaper rash than babies who wear disposables. There could be several reasons for this. Disposables allow for the possibility to be worn longer because of their absorption abilities. This means the baby can sit in a dirty disposable diaper longer than she can sit in a dirty cloth diaper, allowing for a diaper rash. Also, check out #2...the irritants in disposables can cause diaper rash. Cloth diapers are very breathable, making it easy for air to reach baby's bum. 

Now, all this being said, I'm not going to be a total freak about cloth diapers. We've already discussed that we will probably use disposables for the first couple weeks of Baby Girl's life as we're adjusting. Once the chaos is over, we'll start the cloth diapers. Also, I'm not going to expect others to cloth diaper my baby. When we go to the nursery at church or have a babysitter we'll probably leave disposables. It will be a learning process but I sure am excited to start!

...and now what you have all been waiting for...a picture of the diapers I got in the mail today!!

I'll let you know how it's going once Baby Girl tries them out!

-Megan