Better Late Than Never

About 6 months ago, after years of curiosity, I finally decided to give cloth diapering a try. The decision didn’t come easily as I discovered Cd’s over 5 years ago when my second child was born. I had thought the diapers were cute and really neat but initially didn’t give it much more thought than that. About 3 years later when I had my third child I met some other women online that cloth diapered and had only had good things to say which really made me want to give it a try, but in the end I chickened out. I didn’t want to spend money on it and not like it. Plus, dh really wasn’t on board. Then I got pregnant again. This time I did my homework and researched all the types of diapers, how much the cost was in relation to disposables and got many opinions of current cloth diapering moms. After all of this, I made my proposal to dh and told him I really wanted to give it a try, and if it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out. This being my last child I felt compelled to at least give it a try, I didn’t want to have any regrets. The most economical choice seemed to be covers and prefolds, so in January I purchased all my diapers and cover’s, prepped them, folded them and admired them….for four months! So imagine my disappointment when I kept getting leak after leak, all the while laundry was piling sky high (my daughter was also spitting up a lot so add that to my already mounting laundry, and that makes for a tired mommy!). I felt like all my excitement and anticipation was in vain. Today my sweet Sophia is five weeks old; it also marks my fifth week of cloth diapering! It’s been an exciting and stressful time, but I think we finally have it down. That first week was really rough; trying to maneuver prefolds around newborns contorted legs is some feat. That combined with my lack of experience with the diapers caused many a blow out. After about the second week Sophia’s legs were more relaxed and I became more confident and was able to wrap the diapers better, resulting in a tighter fit. I’m so very glad I stuck it out, and am confident things are only going to get better and better as I continue my journey experimenting with other kinds of diapers and routines. So far I really like my fitted diapers and prefolds, and can’t wait to try out some of the other types of cloth diapers on the market. Cuteness factor aside, I feel wonderful that I can keep a few thousand diapers out of landfills. We are still using disposable at night until I find an over-night cloth diaper that works for us, but even so that is an enormous decrease in diaper consumption and cost. I feel absolutely wonderful that I can help our planet, my child, and my pocket book!

Written by Gwenn of My Life With Three Ladies and a Gentleman.