A Week of Disposables

I am a cloth diapering mamma.  I have used cloth diapers since my middle child was born and I absolutely love it!  However, this past week Baby C has been wearing disposable diapers. The introduction of some cheese into his diet did not go well and he got the mother of all rashes.  The poor guy was raw and bloody. I called the doctor for some medicated diaper cream.  I usually use California Baby diaper cream which washes out of cloth diapers easily but it just wasn't drying up the rash fast enough. When I brought the cream home I realized we were out of diaper liners and we didn't have time to order any. Disposable diaper liners are flushable but I can't recall what they are made from. If you use any kind of cream or ointment a diaper liner is necessary otherwise you will have to strip your diapers. Which is a long process I try to avoid doing more than once a year.  So it was back to the store for some disposable diapers.

I must admit that using disposable diapers this week was convenient.  They fit easily into my diaper bag/purse.  I didn't have to bring a wet bag along to bring the soiled diapers home.  I only had to wrestle with Baby C once per diaper change to put his diaper on instead of twice for a diaper and a diaper cover.  And there will be less diaper laundry this week.  I can see why so many people use them.

So will I make the switch to disposable diapers?  NO!!!

We use cloth diapers for two reasons. One reason is I have two kiddos in diapers right now and I can't imagine having to buy that many diapers.  The package of store brand diapers I bought was about $7 for 31 diapers.  I used them all in 5 days.  That comes to over $800 a year for two children and more than $2,500 by the time they are both potty trained!  When I bought all the cloth diapering supplies I spent less than $400.  They have lasted the last three years with one child and I'm reusing them with a second child.  Granted I only bought a small package of disposable diapers and I probably could have saved more buying in bulk but not as much as buying cloth.

The second reason is I can't conscientiously throw that many diapers away on a daily basis.  Ms. Q and I learned about how long it takes different materials to decompose in a landfill last year as part of our Earth Day activities.  It takes a banana peel 3-4 days to decompose, cardboard about 2 months, aluminium cans about 300 years, disposable diapers - 550 years!!  That means the diapers your baby wears today will still be laying around when your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandbabies are in diapers. (And in case you need more motivation to reduce, reuse, and recycle; it takes plastic bags about 1,000 years to decompose, plastic bottles 1 million years, and glass almost 2 million years!) 

When it comes to making decisions about caring for our children there are so many choices to make and so many options.  Everyone makes these decision based on needs, values, and experience.  I know we all try our best to make the right choices so please keep in mind the option of cloth diapers for your baby.  It's worth considering.  There are so many modern cloth diapering options available out there - these are not your mother's cloth diapers.  Look around the internet, it might be worth it.

Diaper with Snappi, no pins needed

Diaper cover, no plastic pants here