When I was pregnant with my first daughter, a friend was toying with the idea of cloth diapering her second. She had done all her research. She was sure it was the right thing for her. Her husband had different plans. He promised her a third baby in exchange for avoiding THAT.
She took the bait. At the time I thought she was crazy. I was fully content with the modern world of disposable diapers. But our conversations had an impact on me.
Not a life-changing “ah ha” impact; just a little seed of an idea that grew at a very slow pace.
I didn’t have a deep inner drive to save the environment through a one woman anti-disposable diaper movement. Don’t get me wrong, I love the planet and think we should take care of it, but seriously- who wants to deal with all that poop?!
Thankfully, I didn’t have a child who had a negative reaction to the synthetic and chemical exposure of disposable diapers. So there was no motivation in that regard either.
And at the time, we had the money to buy diapers… and lots of family who gifted us diapers. So the seed simply waited to be nurtured by time.
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When number two came along- my second daughter, not poop- the seed sprouted. I bought a few cloth diapers on a whim in the grocery store. G diapers come with a cover, a plastic liner and you can buy disposable (and flushable) inserts. The only problem was I was now washing diapers and paying to throw away inserts! This was a DERP! moment for me and I went back to disposable diapers. A few months later, with the nagging draw of cloth diapers still lingering, I bought a few of a different brand with washable inserts a few and gave it a half-assed second try. I used them sometimes, but not regularly- not that my supply of 3 would have allowed it anyway. I just couldn’t bite the bullet.
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When baby number three arrived a bit earlier than expected we had two in diapers. With my strong desire to delay my return to work as long as possible I found myself forced to make the commitment. We simply couldn’t afford disposable diapers.
So here I find myself- a cloth diapering mother by necessity, not by choice…and I can tell you, it’s not that bad. I relish in knowing I’m not throwing our savings in the trashcan, I’m never going to run out of diapers, and hell- I’m even helping the environment.
Join me over the next few posts as I share what I’ve learned on my short journey.
Brenna loves her cloth diapers!
