To cloth or not to cloth

I am approaching the birth of my second little boy and I am so elated that I don't have to buy diapers!  Why?  I chose cloth!  Maybe you know for sure that cloth is not right for you, but if you are on the fence like I once was, here are a few things I have shared with mom's who have asked me why I chose cloth:

1. I don't have to buy new diapers!  None - zip - zero - zilch!  I can re-use the diapers I used for my first boy.  And the best part is that with more washing, the cloth diapers become more absorbent.  Oh and those late night runs to go pick up diapers because someone forgot to get some ... well that just turns into doing a load of laundry, how easy is that? (And when camping, we washed and hung them to dry.)

2. No diaper smell!  Seriously.  I remember being single and having friends with kids.  One thing that always grossed me out is the smell of stinky dirty diapers.  Blech.  The great thing about cloth is I just shake off the #2's in the toilet and toss the diapers in the wash at the end of the night.  Every day those dirty diapers are washed clean and I am ready to go for the next morning.  There is no stinky dirty diaper trash in my house making us gag every time we open it.  You know what else I found?  Baby pee doesn't smell that bad.  Really!  There is something about the chemicals in the diapers that make pee smell so stinky.  When I take the diapers off my kiddo, there is no funny pee smell.

3. Never purchase diaper rash cream again!  This was one of the biggest sellers for me.  At the hospital with my first boy, I was provided with tons of disposable diapers.  I figured why not use them; I am technically paying for them with my hospital stay anyway?  Well, my newborn started to get little red patches down there on his second day in this world.  He had terribly sensitive skin and the chemicals in the diapers were doing him no good!  I started wrapping hospital towels around him instead of using diapers and found that by the third day his little rash was gone!  When I got home it was nothing but cloth from then on ... until my husband protested.  So we used cloth at home and disposable for going out.  Guess who got diaper rash again?  Yup, the little one.  This time my husband begrudgingly agreed to use the cloth.  After a few weeks he got used to carrying a bigger diaper bag with me to fit cloth.  And then it came:  He looked at me one day and said, "You know, I think the cloth is actually easier than the disposable!"  Since then, I have recommended switching to cloth for many friends who have kiddos with diaper rash issues and it seems to work beautifully for them too!

4. They are cheaper in the long run.  We invested about 400 dollars total in cloth diapers.  WOW, RIGHT?  Well my first one was running about ten diapers a day.  Pick your favorite diaper brand.  Check to see how many diapers you use daily.  Multiply it out for at least 2 years.  I promise, even considering laundry cost of running your washing machine, the cloth diapers are way cheaper.

5. So cute!  I live in Texas where it gets HOT!  In the summer I hate putting too much clothing on my baby, it gets hot for them too.  But cloth diapers are so cute, in lots of colors and styles; they look like cute little bottoms.  I have no reservations about taking my kiddo out in a cloth diaper and tee shirt (but the disposables and tee shirt, that somehow looks kinda, well, trashy).

6. Soft, soft, soft.  Ok mom's the cloth diapers out there are not the same as your mom used.  These have snaps and velcro and are so soft inside.  Ever wear a maxi pad?  Yeah, those aren't so comfy are they?  I don't care what the ads on TV say!  Babies just can't say that they don't like it.  But imagine two years with no break and a maxi pad stuck in your drawers ... ugh.  The cloth diapers are so soft; I wish they made something like that for periods!

7. Potty training!  Who likes it?  Me!  Really.  Well that is kind of cheating.  I never potty trained my kiddo.  He trained himself.  People warned me that boys train late and to be happy if he is potty trained by 4.  He was trained by 18 months (ok not fully, we still had night time diapers), but he was fully trained for daytime.  I am convinced it was because of the cloth diapers.  All the disposable diapers advertize the amazing absorbency and wick away to keep baby feeling dry.  Cloth diapers let you know when you kiddo is wet.  And guess what?  Most kids aren't a big fan of wet diapers.  So my kiddo let me know when he needed a change.  It helped him to actually learn and associate the body sensation of going to the bathroom with being wet. He recognized that sensation early and took it upon himself to go to the toilet!  I think to myself, if he never felt being wet, would he have trained as quickly - I don't think so.

8. Last (but, of course, not least) it is better for the environment.  I know, I know, maybe it should be first on the list, but when you are a busy mom, sometimes the immediate takes precedence over the concern about future generations.  Luckily, I found cloth to actually be easier, so it made it easy for me to be better to the environment.  I am not going to list the specific toxins, hundreds of years it takes for diapers to decompose or stats on percent of landfills that are diapers, all of those can be found easily on the internet if you are interested.  It was just a nice thing to know that in addition to all the benefits for me and my family, using cloth also helped the world too.

What kind of cloth do you use Mommy McD?

I really like fuzzi bunz.  I also love that it was a mom who invented the diapers and started small.  I do know other people who have been happy with other brands too.  Size was also a consideration for me: My 2 year old was 40 lbs and 41" tall.  I needed a diaper that would fit him for overnight.  Below are some links to diapers that I and other friends have used with success: