For the Mamas | Cloth Diapering 101 – The Beginning

Lilly at 7 days old with her cute little cloth bum. Photo by Kristin Staley

Yes, this series is going to be for the mamas, the mama-to-bes, the one-day mamas, and the I’m-totally-just-curious’s.

I had thought about doing a series on our cloth diapering journey once we had Lilly, but almost talked myself out of it because, well, I thought, “I mostly blog about fashion and beauty and food and whatnot. Do people REALLY wanna read how I deal with my daughter’s bathroom stuffs?”

But, I realized that this blog is my blog and has been with me through it all and I write about it all. It’s more a lifestyle blog than anything because, well, I write about my life. And that includes all the little things. And since Lilly was born, a lot of things have changed… for the better… but they have definitely changed.

PLUS, I’ve gotten an overwhelming amount of requests for a series on cloth diapering that I said to myself, “Hey, what the hey? Why not? It’ll be fun!”

Thus, this series was born.

So, if you’re a mama, a mama-to-be, a one-day mama, or someone who is just totally curious how this whole cloth diapering thing works, then this series is for you.

There’s no way I can cover ALL THINGS CLOTH DIAPERING in one post. There are entire BLOGS dedicated to JUST cloth diapering. But, I will share with you our experiences, what I’ve learned along the way, what has worked for us, what hasn’t, what my favorite diapers are, the laundering process, etc.

I also want to make sure I answer YOUR questions. So, if you are one of the many people who have asked me about cloth diapering, PLEASE let me know either in the comments below or by e-mailing me what questions you have.

We have had cloth diapers on Lilly since she was five days old and I’m SO glad!

I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve become a little bit obsessive about it… In fact, dare I say addicted to it? Is that bizarre? Being addicted to how you DIAPER your child? Possibly. But I think I am. Bahahaha.

Anyway. So, for this first post in this little series, I wanted to share a little bit of WHY we decided to cloth diaper and I also wanted to create the opportunity for you guys to ask questions.

I will also say – whether you cloth diaper or use disposables – you have to do what works for YOU and your family! I don’t judge mamas who do either. You use cloth diapers? Awesome! You use disposable diapers? Awesome! We’ve got to stop judging each other for our different parenting decisions. </end quick rant>

Why We Cloth Diaper

1. MONEY: This is, by far, the number one reason we decided to cloth diaper – to save MONEY. Diapering a kid is not cheap.

Let’s do some quick math. The average cost per disposable diaper in America right now is about $0.28 cents per diaper. If you have your kid in diapers for (on average) 3.5 years and you change your kid’s diaper, let’s say, 8x a day (this is an average as you change your kid’s diaper MORE when they’re little and less when they’re bigger). You’re spending, somewhere in the neighborhood of ~$2,800 for disposable diapers. FOR ONE KID.

Now, even if you were to buy a FULL STASH of cloth diapers at FULL PRICE (brand new), you’ll spend AT MOST anywhere from $400-$1,000 – depending on the brand, etc.

John and I told our friends and family we were going to be cloth diapering, so almost EVERY SINGLE CLOTH DIAPER we have was given to us as a gift. I, personally, have purchased a few, but have spent no more than $100 total.

That is A LOT of money we are saving. A LOT.

We also use cloth wipes – so that also saves us a TON of money. We don’t even buy wipes! 🙂

2. GOING GREEN: Okay, so I’m not like a big tree hugger or anything like that (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but for me, personally, the thought of all of that waste (literally) going into dumps, etc. is just crazy! And I think I read somewhere that a disposable diaper takes like 500-1000 years to decompose… if that. And apparently the outer layer may NEVER decompose. I dunno, seems like a waste to me.

3. THEY’RE REALLY DANG CUTE: There is no doubt that cloth diapers are crazy adorable. Seriously. The prints. The colors. And seeing a little tiny baby with a big fluffy butt is crazy cute. I’m just going to totally admit it – the aesthetics of cloth diapering is like 75% of my motivation to keep doing it these days. Bahaha! But this is also where you can get into trouble – because I kinda want ALL the cute cloth diapers! 🙂

4. GOOD ON BABY’S BUM: Since it’s just all natural cloth and fabric up against baby’s sensitive skin, diaper rashes and skin reactions are almost non-existent. Since having Lilly, we’ve had ONE quasi-diaper irritation… if you can call it that. (I think it was from a new detergent… so I switched and It was gone in a day).

So yeah, those are four of the reasons why we decided to take the plunge, go old school, and use cloth diapers on our little one.

As I continue this series over the next few weeks / months, I’ll cover things like:

• Finding the right kind of diapers
• Different kinds of diapers
• What might work for you vs. what might work for someone else
• Cloth Diapering a newborn
• The laundry process (aka: the scoop on poop)
• Using cloth wipes
• General care for your diapers
• etc.

But I want to know: what burning cloth diaper questions do YOU have? Either leave them in the comments below or you can email me – molly [at] stillbeingmolly.com. 🙂