Being good to the environment is important to me. So after our failed attempt at gDiapers, I still really wanted to try cloth. Once we were in our new house with only moderately hard water and a water softening system that works pretty well, I decided it was time to try again. I again immersed myself in cloth diaper information online. I looked at all-in-ones, pockets, fitted, prefolds. . . I looked at BumGenius, Happy Heiny, Imse Vimse, Fuzzi Bunz and a wide array of other adorably-named cloth diaper brands. I just could not decide. Looking at the pictures and reading the descriptions online was just not making it clear to me. I was suffering from Cloth Diaper Overload, which paralyzed me and made it so difficult to make a decision about what to get. What saved me you ask? Easy – Mom and Pop Place. This is a local store that carries lots of parenting items. They have environmentally friendly toys, nursing supplies, baby carriers, and many other things. And, they have cloth diapers!!! It made all the difference for me to be able to go somewhere and look at the diapers in person and see what they were made of and how they work. Plus, the owner of the store and all the ladies who work there are knowledgeable and very willing to answer all my questions. So, I took the plunge.
I decided to start with just a few items to try some different types of diapers, testing them in two ways. One of my big problems with disposable diapers (other than the nasty chemicals they’re made with and the fact that they will still be sitting in a landfill when my children’s children’s children have children. Figure that!) is that they could not contain Miss’s poo. I was cleaning up at least one poop blowout per day. That is not an exaggeration. The final straw for me was a major blowout that went up to her armpits while I was traveling two hours with her in the car by myself. Cleaning that up while on the road was not fun, and it was the second blowout of that day! So, the first test of the CDs was whether they could keep in the poo. And the second was whether I could get them clean. I bought 4 pocket diapers (2 Bum Genius One-Size and 2 Tiny Tush One-Size), six infant Indian prefolds, one each of fitted and contour Kissaluvs, and three covers. I used all of these diapers for a day and a half without a single blow out. Then I washed them using the standard cold rinse, hot wash with cold rinse, extra cold rinse CD wash cycle that I had been told to use. The diapers came out sparkling clean without a single stain. I was instantly hooked, and my addiction to cloth diapers began.
I returned to the internet to find different kinds of diapers to try, in different colors and patterns. I soon learned that I don’t much love using prefolds, that fitteds have their place, and that I prefer pockets. I discovered hemp and bamboo. I learned how to get rid of stains when they did occur (using the sun!!) and how to stuff a diaper to last all night without leaks. I found out how adorable cloth diapers can be and how much money they can save. And most importantly, I could feel great about doing this one little thing to have only the softest stuff against my daughter’s behind and to help the environment. Yay for cloth!
