Making the switch to cloth diapers

Last year, I was in Flint doing some shopping. I parked near a store, and when I got out of the car, I saw that there was a disgusting dirty diaper in the next parking spot. It was saturated and bloated from sitting out in the weather, but was otherwise intact.

However, when I came out of the store, I saw that someone had run over the diaper, causing it to explode with nuclear force, all over my new car. It was completely nasty, and the residue from the diaper was really difficult to remove from my car, too.

That incident has been in the back of my mind ever since. Disposable diapers, for all of you who don’t know, are full of all sorts of toxic junk, like dyes, sodium polyacrylate (the super absorbent gel), and dioxin — stuff most parents wouldn’t want next to their baby’s skin if they really sat down to think about it. Not to mention that babies go through an awful lot of diapers during their pre-potty training years, and all of those diapers are simply sitting in the garbage dumps, taking up space and poisoning the planet.

So now, after three years of using disposable diapers with Logan and almost nine months with Jordan, I have finally decided to make the switch to cloth diapers. Yes, it’s late in the game, but even by making the switch now, I’ll still be keeping an awful lot of diapers out of the landfills, and I’ll even be saving money in the process.

I never really seriously considered going with reusable diapers until recently, and I’m not exactly sure why. I guess it’s because disposable diapers are really convenient. You really barely even have to deal with any messes. You just open the diaper, give a few swipes with a disposable wipe and toss it all in the trash.

Part of the reason I decided to switch is because I’ve since I joined the world of mommy blogging, I read journals of lots of moms who use cloth diapers and swear that it’s not that hard. After reading a number of these blogs, I did some thinking and decided there’s really no reason I shouldn’t be clothdiapering, and quite a few reasons I should be.

So, I started researching, and realized there are a lot of options for cloth-diapering moms these days, and none of them are really easy to implement.

I headed out to the local stores in search of the items I would need, and all I could find were some plain old cotton diapers you’d use with pins, and some rubber pants. These are the cloth diapering props that my mom used with me, but thanks to the internet, I now know there are lots of better ways to do it. It’s just a matter of figuring out what works best for you.

Now you can find all sorts of diapering options, including one-size diapers that allegedly fit a baby until he is potty trained, pocket diapers in which you stuff an absorbent insert and other diapers you use with a waterproof cover. The fabrics used vary widely, from hemp and bamboo to cotton, wool and polyurethane-laminated fabric, and they come in pretty much any color and print you can think of.

I did my research and ordered a bunch of different diapers to try. I received enough in the mail to get me through a day and made the commitment to give it a shot. That first day, I will admit, was rough. For one thing, you have to change cloth diapers a lot more frequently than disposables, which hold an incredible amount of fluid. Plus, my first pin-job looked like a second-grader could have done better.

The second day went better, but then I realized something. I had been dealing only with wet diapers, not really dirty ones. What would I do when I had to deal with, well, doo?

I found out on the third day.

And it wasn’t pretty.

But I did it, and I have been working on my technique ever since. I have narrowed my diaper choices down to a few that seem to fit best and I have the washing and drying down to a science.

I’m only a week in, but I am glad I switched to cloth diapering. As a matter of fact, I would love to encourage more moms to do the same. It’s so much better for the planet, and after the initial expenditures, there is nothing else to buy.

If you are a mom and would like to make the switch to cloth but don’t know where to start, feel free to e-mail me at krys13@msn.com. Another good online resource is diaperpin. com, which has lots of tips and reviews of cloth diapering products.

Krystal Johns writes “Tales from the ‘Hood (Motherhood)” for The County Press. She can be reached at krys13@msn.com