Welcome to Cloth Diapering

Why I Chose to Cloth Diaper, it might not be what you think

Before I had children, I always knew I wanted to cloth diaper. 

I'm not sure if it was because it was what my mom did and I felt it was expected of me. I have always been aware of the environment, but didn't really take many steps to do my part. I recycled my cans and cardboard, but did not go a lot further than that. 

When I became pregnant, my spouse was not on board with the idea of cloth diapering. Poop is ‘gross’. Well yea it is, but so is every single disposable diaper taking 400 years to decompose. So is $30-$50 a month on diapers, money that you're literally THROWING AWAY. 

I had very little knowledge of the world of cloth diapering. And by very little, I mean next to none! All I knew is that they were cute and nothing like what our parents used. 

When I was around 6ish months pregnant I found a screaming good deal on a lot of cloth diapers with a wet pail and bags. Seriously, my knowledge of the topic was so little I didn't know what a wet bag was, or that all cloth diapers were not created equally. 

I bought a lot of 20ish diapers that were all one size, white diapers with microfiber inserts. I did not know what microfibre was! (for those of you wondering, it is a synthetic fabric that rapidly wicks moisture away but doesn't hold it for long. Meaning it's great for a lot of liquid coming quickly but not for long periods of time. And because it is synthetic, it cannot go against your skin or it will dry it out very very quickly; bum rash.) 

I like to think of myself as a pretty realistic person. In the sense that while I knew I didn't know what to expect, I knew not to get my expectations too high, or bite off too much. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I knew it was going to be hard and I was going to be tired. Because of that, the realistic side of me knew not to attempt cloth diapering in the beginning. I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know anything about being a mom or having a newborn. 

Enter Baby A! 

Boy, I sure didn't know anything about having a newborn! 

Do they really poop this much?

Are their poops supposed to be this huge and forceful?

Is it normal to have to change her outfit (and often mine) three times a day?

Are her diapers too small?

Am I fastening them correctly?

Do they suck?

Let's try Huggies. Lets try Pampers. Lets try Honest. 

Seriously, this girl was a pooping MACHINE. It was unbelievable if one outfit lasted all day. If her diaper contained her shitstorm, it was a freakin miracle.

Enter cloth diapers. 

A good friend of mine cloth diapered her kiddos. She said she started when her first was 9 months because she shit out of everything. Hmm that sounds very familiar. She shared some knowledge and helped me out a lot. 

I quickly learnt the lot of plain jane big bulky white diapers I bought six months earlier were not going to work for our little princess of a pooper and sold them. I got what I paid so was happy with that! 

I found a few random ones around town for sale and just started out. I joined facebook groups for cloth diapering. I reached out to local mamas to get wash routine help and fit checks and troubleshooting leaks. 

It was a whole new world. 

It was an addiction. 

I was in love with cloth diapering! 

Seriously, a passion developed, I continued to learn about fabrics; bamboo, hemp, cotton, microfibre. I learnt about PUL, and snaps vs hook and loop (aka velcro but that word is trademarked). I learnt about ethically made and ‘china cheapies’. 

I started cloth diapering A when she was around 3 months old. Part time at first, just at home. But the blow outs ALWAYS happen in the car seat. Why was I putting her in the shitty disposables for the one time I needed her to NOT blow out? So I gained some courage and just started taking her out. We had a few leaks but it didn't take long to figure out why and fix it. 

As time progressed we really got into our groove. I traveled with them when we went on road trips; day trips and overnight. We did overnight cloth for a while. Not consistently as A was a TERRIBLE sleeper and I just wanted to make sure wetness sensitivity wasn't interfering with what little sleep we got.  

Enter child number 2, little D, a son. And let me tell you, cloth diapering a boy is a whole new game! But our cloth journey continued. We figured out the difference of diapering a boy and were on our way! He had some medical issues (another post for another time) and would have some MASSIVE movements, and as long as the diaper was properly done up it would contain the mess! 

In total, we cloth diapered for over 4 years give or take, off and on, and I can count on one hand the amount of blow outs we have had from cloth diapers. 

While yes, in the end I chose cloth for environmental reasons, I started our cloth journey because our sweet innocent princess of a baby daughter took bowel movements that would make your father jealous!