August 12th, 2009 by Ascelyn
I’ve been told I’m crazy. This is nothing new. I really don’t think I am this time, though. Of course, that’s also nothing new.
After the first few weeks of the poop-stravaganza that is having a newborn, when I’ll have J at home with me and at least the potential of outside forms of help, I want to try cloth diapers. This is not because I am filled with boundless energy, or am a Crazy Liberal Treehugger ™, or even (I think) because I’m crazy. It’s actually because I’m cheap and lazy.
Let me make a comparison. I hope and plan to breastfeed. There are a hundred and forty-two different reasons for this, some of which are that it’s better for the baby, better for me, saves tons of money on formula, saves tons of time driving back and forth to the store buying formula and then mixing it up, and so on and so forth. Also, biologically, the whole thing is very cool. Also, the smell of formula makes me gag, and I don’t like gagging. So while I can totally see how it would be a pain for some people, it makes sense for me to try. Very few people will disagree with this. Those who will have, so far, just seemed angry that my choice may somehow invalidate their choice to formula feed from birth on. They can do what they want, and I’ll do what I want, and can’t we all just get along?
Diapers are much the same. One must drive to the store, all of which are somewhat significantly out of the way for us, and then pay lots and lots of money for pieces of plastic and chemicals. And while I’m no hippy treehugger, some of the things that are coming out about those chemicals and their long-term effects, particularly on boys, are disturbing. But back to the cheap/lazy aspect. Once acquiring the disposable diapers (over and over and over again) and having the child fill them with really nasty substances, one must find a way to dispose of them. Hence the “disposable” in the name. This is what makes most people like them, but what makes me really not want to deal with the issue. Sure, the average person can remove the diaper from the child, throw it in a plastic bag, and put it out on the curb every other day or so to be whisked away by overall-clad men in large green trucks. We out here in the sticks have neither curbs nor trash pickup, though. Our refuse must be carted to the “local” landfill, about 30-45 minutes away if you don’t get stuck behind some old man out for a pleasure cruise. The landfill charges a minimum of about $12 per visit, then additional fees based on weight. Since the idea of used diapers accumulating under my back porch until a reasonable weight is reached to make a dump run is really disgusting–especially when we have all manner of local wildlife that love to tear into our trash even when it’s only left outside on the deck for twenty minutes–well, eww. At the same time, we can’t be driving over an hour every couple of days and paying ridiculous amounts of money to get rid of the things. My parents have kindly offered to let us drop off the occasional bag at their house, but it’s still out of our way and would involve driving around with poopy diapers in the car. While it wouldn’t be anticipated, I know us well enough to realize that at times it would also involve those diapers sitting in the car in the sun all day while we were at work, because both J and I are very much NOT morning people and tend to just barely make it to work on time as it is. I know we’d push things to the last minute and not have time to drop off diapers on many occasions. Again, eww.
On the other hand, if you run out of cloth diapers, you run an emergency load of laundry. Inconvenient in the middle of the night, yes, but at least it can be done in pajamas without leaving the house, and it probably would take less time than driving all the way to the store and back. And every other day, instead of driving to the dump, the dirty diapers are tossed in the wash. Would it end up using more hot water and detergent than only washing clothes? Sure. But it also means I won’t be paying the landfill crazy amounts of cash, and again, a load of laundry takes less time than driving to the dump. It can also be done while I’m doing other things, while driving is pretty much driving and cannot be multitasked.
See? Cheap. And lazy. I’ve been told by the majority of the people who know I intend to try this that I’m nuts and will give up once I know how little time I have after the baby’s born, but the time is just the thing. I won’t have any, so I can’t handle all that extra driving. At least I can spend time with the baby while the washer is running.
I’ve been looking into cloth for a while, but now that the time for decision-making is drawing nigh, I’m really starting to read reviews of different brands and systems. There seem to be three major possibilities: prefolds, contours, or fitteds with covers; pocket diapers; and all-in-ones (or -twos). From what I can tell, both cost and ease of use increase in that order. AIOs have the absorbent and waterproof layers sewn together, so they function essentially as disposables that can be washed between uses. Pockets have a waterproof outer layer and a wicking inner layer sewn together with a pocket between the two to hold an absorbent insert or folded prefold. You have to take the insert out before washing, then restuff them before using, but if you stuff all the clean diapers at once when they’re finished drying, they function like disposables. Prefolds are absorbent and need to be folded and held on the baby using either pins or a Snappi before putting on a waterproof cover, or potentially just folded and laid in the cover before putting the cover on the baby. Contours are essentially prefolds that have been cut down to the shape necessary to fit on a baby without needing to be folded; they’re a little more expensive. Fitteds have elastic around the legs and often have velcro or snaps at the waist, negating the need for pins or Snappis. You still need to use a cover, though. They’re fairly pricey compared to prefolds, but not as much so as pockets or AIOs.
What we use will depend on our circumstances by the time the baby’s born. Assuming I go back to work full time, the daycare provider will have a massive say in what we use, or even if we can use cloth at all. The lady we’re really hoping to get for countless reasons uses Montessori methods, so I’m hoping she’s a bit more open to things like cloth and breastfeeding than some of the places that are more…what? Old-school? Super-conservative? Regimental? I don’t know what to call them. But if she’ll only use disposables, then that’s just how it goes. If she’ll use cloth but wants the convenience of AIOs or prestuffed pockets, which is understandable when you’re watching multiple children at once, then we’ll need at least enough of those to send with her. If I stay home, on the other hand, and try to do things the cheapest way possible, it will likely be prefolds or contours with covers.
For a while, I was really excited about bumGenius 3.0 diapers. They’re pockets, but they’re one size fits all. With most systems you have to buy different sizes three or four times. Sure, they’re more expensive then a prefold and a cover, but you don’t have to keep buying them multiple times throughout your child’s diaper-clad life. Also, people who have used them seem to love them. Lately, though, I’ve become more hesitant. One of my original thoughts was that you could buy enough bumGenius diapers right at the start, use them all through the first kid, and then have them for any subsequent children provided the first is potty-trained by the time they’re born. I’ve been reading a large number of reviews, though, that say that while they’re great for the first few months, the Velcro starts to give out and the elastic lose its stretch after a while. Apparently the diapers aren’t lasting through a single child’s use for many people, much less multiple children. Maybe it would be more cost-efficient to buy sized covers and prefolds/contours after all. I’ll have to crunch some numbers later, at some point when my brain is working again. This is all ignoring the possibility of gDiapers, as well, which combine a washable cover with flushable absorbent liners. At this point, I’m not sure why that would be any easier than cloth, though, especially using flushable liners once the baby’s no longer taking in breastmilk alone. It might end up just costing more and requiring ordering of liners all the time without being any more convenient.
Before I do anything, I’m getting a sampler pack so I can test out some of the different styles. Thanks Mama has a nice one that includes a Bumkins AIO, a bumGenius one-size pocket, an Indian prefold, a Kissaluvs contour, a Kissaluvs fitted diaper, a Bummis super whisper wrap, a pair of Bummis whisper pants, and a Snappi. While I’m sure there are differences between brands, I think it should give us a good feel for what system or systems in general will work best for us. Since I’ve found a local lady who is about to start making and selling cloth diapers of her own design (apparently prefolds/covers and pockets), that’s another option I’d really like to pursue.
One small peeve. A lot of the pockets and AIOs boast that they’re so easy “even dad can do it.” I’m starting to get irritated with how crappy a reputation dads are given. My husband is a great guy, absurdly intelligent, and very hardworking. He’ll figure out which system works best for him, optimize it, and probably only complain that it could have been engineered better by doing this, this, and this. Some dads suck, yes, but so do some moms. If a dad can’t figure out prefolds and covers but a mom can, it’s because the former is lazy, not stupid. Give J a little credit. Sheesh.
I need food. This, as you can probably tell, makes me irritable. Time to find the man and get some sort of sustenance.