Using Cloth Diapers
February 19, 2007 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under health of the baby, mothering, poll
When I was pregnant with my first child I did a little reading and thinking about using cloth diapers versus disposable (paper) diapers. I experienced depression during my pregnancy and thus was at greater risk of post-partum depression (thankfully I did not experience that although I did have post-partum thyroid problems). I figured I needed to make life with baby as easy as possible and that meant not adding in extra loads of laundry. Besides, older relatives talked about how unpleasant cloth diapering was for them (now I realize a lot can change in 30 years)! One article I read essentially concluded that the environmental impact is about the same and it’s a trade-off between filling the landfills with disposables and expending extra energy resources and detergents washing cloth diapers. Although I’m not sure that argument still rings true now, that’s all I needed to hear to decide to go with disposables at the time.
Since then, my opinion has changed. I’ve noticed that many women who breastfeed their babies are interested in natural mothering and cloth diapering and I’ve watched them successfully and happily use cloth diapers. I’m getting a better handle on the laundry, although it remains one of my least favorite tasks! I tried cloth pads for myself and found them very comfortable and easy to use. Why not try cloth for my baby? Fortunately cloth diapering has become a lot easier over the years and there are tons of varieties and methods from which to choose.
Given my history of disposable diaper use, I’m not really interested in hypocritically spouting why everyone should use cloth diapers (although I really am a convert and my views have changed). If you want to read more about the benefit for your baby and the environment, there are several resources out there.
What’s your opinion?
I just posted a whole entry about why I use cloth! http://lakelinesthoughts.com/?p=403
I don’t think everyone should, I just think a whole lot more people WOULD if they knew how easy and fun it was.
Oh, and fyi, that study you mentioned was financed by Proctor and Gamble, so they had a very strong vested interest in ensuring that disposables didn’t come off looking worse. I still don’t think that anyone who uses disposables is bad or wrong, I just think that study gets cited too much and there are plenty of other reasons to make the decision besides deciding based on a flawed study.
But as I’ve repeatedly said, using disposables is a perfectly valid choice, I just hope that more people discover that using cloth isn’t harder.
I’m also interested that you used cloth on yourself first – most people use cloth on their baby and then go to using it for themselves! You switched that trend up.
Leah, I wanted to buy something for the LLL fundraiser and cloth pads was one of the choices
Earlier for a LLL enrichment meeting one of the mothers spoke about cloth diapers and she piqued my interest. Once I tried the cloth and liked it, I was eager to try cloth for my toddler. You are right, it’s easy and fun! My toddler likes the diapers. When we read the potty book and it asks, “Do you wear diapers too?” my toddler answers, “Yes. CLOTH diapers.” LOL
Cloth diapers are a worthy idea but I’m sorry, disposables are SO much easier.
I’m not sure why breastfeeding and cloth diapers have to go together. Breastfeeding is a great experience for both mother and child as well as being healthier. I’m not sure I can say the same thing about cloth diapers.
There are so many pressures on mothers, new and more experienced, that if using disposables takes off some of that pressure then I say go for it. We need to be kind to ourselves, not load our lives with ’shoulds’ and ‘musts’.
Jill, I agree that breastfeeding and cloth diapers don’t have to go together. I’ve just noticed among my friends that many women who breastfeed (particularly extended breastfeeding) also use cloth diapers. It’s interesting and the poll results seem to bear that out too.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. As someone who used disposable diapers for a long time, I appreciate hearing your opinion expressed.
My experience using cloth diapers with my first baby was a disaster! Into the diaper pail they went, but the longer they stayed the worse my procrastination became. However, diaper service changed all that, and we all appreciated stacks of pristine cloth diapers. Anyway, thirty years ago disposables were a far cry from those available today. It’s just a personal choice which will be guided by each mother’s needs. One of the best uses for cloth diapers was to stuff my nursing bra when I had constant overflow. Those cute little boxes of nursing pads lasted a few hours, but cloth diapers, although bulky, absorbed everything!
I just placed an order for cloth diapers to give them a try. I am a stay-at-home mother of one, so I figure I have the time. I hope it works out. My head almost exploded with the amount of choices. I ended up going with 6 Bum Genius One-Size and 6 Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers. They all came with inserts but frm what I have been reading, I will probably need additional inserts, but I will figure that out as I go along.
I was very, very hesitant about using cloth diapers. My Mom and Husband tried very hard to talk me out of it–but I heard we would save around $1200 per child in diaper costs. Since we plan to have 3 children, I decided $3600 in savings would be worth it. With extreme reservations, I bought Fuzzi Bunz. It was hands down the best purchase I could have made for the baby. They are SO easy, so cute, and so good for my pocket. My Baby is 17 months now and she’s still wearing the same 12 diapers I bought when she was 3 months old. Even my husband says he’s so happy I did this. We wash them every other day—there’s practically no labor involved other than throwing them in the washer and we hang them to dry over night. I would highly recommend them to anyone–if anyone would like to ask me any questions, you can e-mail me at sallie22@hotmail.com
Update: I have been using cloth diapers (Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius 2.0 One Size) for 6 months. Now that my son is a year old and eating lots of solid foods, I use Imse Vimse disposable diaper liners to mess clean up easier. I use Hemp Babies Little Weeds with the regular insert at night. It has been a great experience. I bought an additional 6 Bum Genius 2.0 One Size diapers for a total which brings my total stash to 18 diapers. It gives me a bit more flexibility about washing, but you can do it with 12 diapers. I put the inserts in the dryer and hang the diapers on the line in the basement to dry. They dry very quickly, even in the basement. I have found cloth diapering, especially with this system, to be very easy. I have a friend who uses prefolds and she says that after the initial learning curve, that it becomes second nature.
If you don’t want to try cloth diapers, there are gdiapers which are flushable disposables, chlorine-free diapers which are a bit better for the environment, or you can just dump the waste into the toliet before throwing out your regular disposable. I do this when I am traveling and using dispoables. I am thinking about trying gdiapers for traveling, though.