Nay-Sayers!

So your best friend thinks you’re off your rocker. She can’t believe that you’re going to use cloth diapers. She says, “Eww those are gross and I don’t have the time to do all that extra laundry”. Your grandma tells you,“They are way too much work, I know! I did them back in the day and don’t you know those pins poked your aunts and uncles more times than I can count”. Aunt Candice says, “Those wet pails are such a pain and they stink.” Your mom says, “Don’t they cost a lot of money? You’re not saving because it’s all being spent on your water bill.” And well you just know that they smell bad.

When I first thought about doing cloth at the prompting of my friend Corey, everyone was telling me not to but her. So, I did my research and asked Annie and Corey both a million questions. When I finally decided to try it, I had all of these people coming at me telling me not to do it and that I’d “never make it cloth diapering” and no ammo to fend them off.

Let’s start with what bothered me the most…The Smell. Oh Lordy was I afraid of the smell. Turns out they don’t smell at all if you wash them correctly. I can remember smelling Annie and Corey’s diapers and saying “Wow, they really don’t smell.” They must have thought I was crazy burying my face in a Fuzzibunz and taking a big whiff. The proof for me was in the diaper. Have your friends smell them. Seriously, they don’t smell like anything. They are just as clean, if not cleaner than the clothes you wear. If your baby has a blow out in disposables, don’t you just wash their clothes? Of course you do, and it’s clean and it will be worn again.

Isn’t the water in the diaper pail dangerous and smelly? Cloth diapering has changed so much. Gone are the days of diaper pins, wet pails, and only using prefolds because that’s all that was available. Now we get choices; velcro or snaps, flowers or cow prints, All-in-Ones or Fitteds and Covers. Wet pails probably did stink and they allowed for bacteria to grow. Now we use a diaper pail made with odor eating plastic, no water, and Planet Wise Pail Liners, which makes for better smelling diapers and houses all around. If you do notice a smell in the pail, there are products such as Fluff Dust and Deo-Disks that can help eliminate that for you.

Oh the laundry! How will I ever handle the laundry? If you remember nothing else about me, remember this…I loathe laundry! I detest the smell of dirty clothes, washing them, drying them and especially folding and putting them away. Needless to say I have a hard time keeping up with my regular wash but my diapers are always clean. All you do is dump the diapers in your machine set it for a cold rinse, come back, add some detergent, set it to do a hot wash/cold rinse, and then one more rinse and they’re done. If you have a new washer you can actually program it to do all of that for you. Set it and forget it! There is something so gratifying about having them all washed, dried, and ready to go!

The next big thing for me was the cost. And yes, initially they do cost more up front but the money you save in the long run is crazy. HERE is a Cloth Diaper Calculator that will help you see exactly how much money you can save. This was big for me and my husband and ultimately was a deciding factor in our choice to use cloth. I invested $364 (which is more than I needed to) to start. I have since sold some of my diapers (you can too at www.UnderMyCrib.com ) and made back $85. I don’t know anyone that has ever made money back on disposables, do you?

After all of this, who wouldn’t want to cloth diaper?

~Gracie