Cloth Diaper Shout-Out

If I would have known that cloth diapers were so easy and absorbent, I would have used them with our son as well as our any-minute-now daughter. We ordered 48 diapers and 15 covers from monkeytoediapers.com and have been trying out the bigger size on our son at night. At night! He wakes up in the morning with dry clothes. I am totally amazed, and sad that we used disposables for his babyhood.

So, you ask, what makes cloth diapers so easy? They are just as hard to figure out as disposables are, for one. (I had never changed a diaper of any kind before he was born!) And the little covers (we have Thirsties) are so stinking cute--they just go on right over the diaper. And when they're wet, you just toss the whole thing right into your wet bag (I made 2 out of a vinyl shower curtain--one curtain is enough to make like 10!), which you can then toss right into the washer when it's time.

That's all well and good, you say, but what about poopy diapers? Oh, let me tell you! I was so grossed out about the prospect of soaking poopy diapers in our (solitary) toilet that I did not think very hard about cloth diapering before. But they sell these little liners that are flushable and biodegradable--you just lift out the mess and flush it away. Even if you have to toss it, it's better than tossing a disposable diaper into a landfill where it will stay for hundreds of years. I am SO pleased with cloth diapering so far... now if this baby would just come on out and meet us...

But what about the cost, you wonder. I think of it like this: we would be spending between $40 and $60 a month on disposables anyhow. We purchased 24 of each size of diaper, plus covers and these little non-pin diaper hooks called Snappis, and our bill was around $330. (I figure if you have many more than that, the urgency to get them to the washing machine dissipates and then you've got a really big, smelly mess to deal with.) Diapers and cute covers to last a baby's entire diaperhood pay for themselves in 6 months. That is amazing. This should be part of childbirth class!