Cloth Diapering - Earth Day Reflections
Considering that yesterday was Earth Day, I wanted to bring up cloth diapering! We have cloth diapered our other two kids and are finally starting the journey with our third. It is something that both my wife and I are very passionate about for a few reasons - mostly because of the positive environmental impact with using cloth diapers. There are other benefits with using cloth diapering, such as being more cost effective over the long run (especially if you are doing it for multiple kids!) and having diapers on demand (if you have the energy to do laundry, which is a challenge!).
Most of the people in my life who were having babies have heard me talk about the benefits of cloth diapering. I remember I was so eager to have someone take that leap of faith that I bought my entire setup for my friends that were starting their journey as parents. Some of the people have taken the plunge (obviously those that got the cloth diapering setup felt compelled to try!) and have had success while others have had some challenges with cloth diapering.
The challenges with cloth diapering vary because each baby and toddler develop so differently. The body, schedules, volume, frequency, and other factors can sometimes be too steep of a learning curve while juggling being a parent. Add that some are new to parenting and things begin to truly pile up.
The most frequent issue is that sometimes cloth diapers leak and that is because either the fit isn’t right or that there needs to be extra pads to absorb the volume (that the diaper alone cannot absorb). There also needs to be specific “night time” cloth diapers that have either extra pads or ones that are specifically made for night time that can absorb the extra volume given that babies and toddlers can go very frequently at night.
The other frequent issue is all of the laundry (and for those that care, handling the grossness of the cloth diapers itself). I would definitely suggest trying cloth diapers during the newborn phase when the mother’s milk has come in or if formula fed, you can start after the first week when the newborn arrives. This is because it is the easiest cloth diapering will ever be. All of the things that come out of the newborn can be magically washed away in the washer without having to deal with getting rid of poop separately. It’s great and prevents so many diapers from making its way to a landfill that it gives me a lot of joy to change diapers (surprisingly!). I don’t mind doing an extra load of laundry every now and then also because again, we are keeping diapers out of landfills and hopefully making a small difference in the future our children will inherit.
Cloth diapering is definitely a trial and error situation at times and one of these days, I’ll work my way to breaking down the system that works for me and my family. I would strongly encourage anyone that is interested to just read up on it (or ask me questions!) to see if it is something that would potentially work. Cloth diapering is very different nowadays than 10 to 20 years ago, so give it a real consideration before reaching for those disposable diapers! Your children and the planet will thank you for it!
