Ghetto Booty

I cloth diaper. Say it loud, say it proud! I cloth diaper! Best invention ever! Although, I have to add, I wouldn't love it so much if I had to pay for water. On that account, I am thankful to live in an apartment complex.

Man, cloth diapers. They get alot of hack and mostly when I tell others I cloth diaper my child in this day and age I get a bunch of dirty looks and disgusted scoffs. So let me set the record straight. People have been doing it for probably thousands of years and it makes it much easier with modern day appliances and it is not disgusting.

I had no idea it was going to be so awesome. I was so hesitant to try because I thought it would be extremely time consuming and odorous. Boy, I was wrong. With so much encouragement from my mother in law and sister in law (who cloth diapers her child as well) I tried it, and I would never go back. We have a storage container on the side of the diaper changing station. It has a filter in the lid and deodorizes when you put the dirty diapers in. If you stepped into my room you would never guess it was there. On the diaper changing station we keep all the diapers and liners folded and separated so it's easy access and disposal.

Right now because my daughter is only eating minimal amounts of solids i just have to plop the diaper in the disposal bin until washing which is on average every three days. When I wash, I rinse cycle first, wash with detergent, then rinse cycle a third time. Yes the poop goes in the wash but it's not like it stays in there. It washes to the sewer and I don't end up washing my clothes in poop as to what most people believe. Clothes are washed separately from diapers.

We don't cloth diaper all the time. I am respectful of when other people watch her, and I have disposables for when they do. Or if we go to Cda or Spokane for the day we disposable. I have completely disposable diapered when she first came home and once recently to see how much we have saved with cloth diapering. a crapton. Between diapering and using formula I really don't see how parents can afford children. It's super expensive and only becomes more so when they age.

I was talking with Dr. Deland on Mia's six month well child check about cloth diapering with potty training and he was telling me in the 60's the average age for toilet trained children was less than 12 months. 70's,as disposables caught on the average age was moved to 16months80's- 18 months and 90's- 24 months. It's easier to feel if cloth diapers were wet so they would be changed more frequently. Even now, with plastic or waterproof covers children don't want to have that wet feeling so it's easier to tell when a diaper change is necessary. Disposables have a soaking chemical called Dioxin that is known to lead to damaged organs and nerves. It is harmful to animals and is associated with TSS. It pulls away the wetness and witness to some, children can sit in it for hours and hours. Sad. To each their own. I just prefer cloth. I have seen with Mia recently how when I go to change her she will pee in between diapers. Frustrating for me sometimes cause that leads to another clothing change and usually a perfectly good diaper to clean it up, but I think it will make it super easy to potty train.

And with all parents, I am excited to not have to diaper my child any longer, and I say the sooner the better! But if I do have any more children you can bet your sweet bottom I will cloth diaper again.

Sister asked me the other day about restrictions with cloth diapers with milestones like walking or crawling, etc. This is a toss up because there are positives and negatives really with everything. As I have seen with Mia and the other children all born around the same time, each child develops at a different rate. Mia hasn't started really crawling yet as one other child has(although she is inchworming).And she definetly has more activity when she doesn't have her diaper on, but not by much. She was the first in the group to roll over and I think for babies that is a harder one, specially with cloth because of the extra bulk. I think with the cloth, it is making her legs and muscles stronger because she has more to work on and manuver around. I really don't think it is hindering her enough to really make a difference though.

It is a little spendy to start. The diaper covers I like are Econobum and grow with your child with snaps for sizing. Each diaper cover costs about $10. I have about six and I am set until my child is toilet trained. Then there is the diapers. I have close to thirty and they run from $2-5approx each. You can buy in bulk for cheaper and if you look on ebay even cheaper. You don't always have to change out the liner. It depends on how wet your child is. With poop, I sure do. Then I wash more diaper loads as well. But after that you are free of spending on diapers until they are completed. It is alot cheaper than spending more than $150 a month or more on disposables that's for sure.

Like I said before, to each their own but my preference and loyalty lies with cloth. I love it like a fat kid loves cake. Like I love cake. That much. (and that's ALOT)