My cloth journey began unexpectedly after venting about my "trash guilt" on Facebook. I had three little girls all in diapers and the sheer volume of trash that created each day was insane. I am a big recycler and recyle anything and everything I can yet we were producing an average of one bag of trash per day filled with almost nothing other than diapers. In my status vent I did not mention anything about cloth diapers, just my guilt over all the disposables. Yet, suddenly everyone wanted to help me learn how to use cloth. I had no clue so many of my friends even used cloth. I was shocked and touched at their willingness to help me. They were all so excited about it and kept using all of these strange and unfamilar terms. I decided I would humor them and give it a shot. One awesome friend even offered to send me some cloth diapers to get me started because my number one complaint, or should I say excuse, for not being able to switch was the start up costs. How could I say no to that? I agreed to try knowing it would be too hard and I would fail at it. I had three girls in diapers after all, no one would fault me if I couldn't do it. Then I could go back to disposables guilt free and be able to say "I tried, BUT......"
I received the diapers in the mail a few weeks later and decided to start slow, using cloth only on my oldest daughter at first. I didn't want to jump in feet first trying to cloth diaper all three girls 100% of the time because I knew that would overwhelm me quickly. I decided I would start out part time, only using the cloth during the day while we were at home. I still used disposables on her anytime we went out and at bedtime. The first few times I put the cloth on her it was awkward, for both of us. Diaper changes went from taking about 30-60 seconds to easily lasting 5 minutes as I clumsily tried to get everything on just right. I couldn't help but chuckle after each diaper change as I watched her walk away funny, like she had been riding a horse all day. The extra fluff would definitely take some getting used to.
After about 2 days I was shocked to realize I was already getting the hang of it. It was WAY easier than I had ever expected. Dare I admit it? Did I actually enjoy it? This couldn't be happening, everything was going all wrong. This was not the plan at all. She hadn't pooped yet, I knew that would be the end of this silly journey. Bring on the poo baby girl.
Later that day SHE POOPED! Finally it was surely over! I went to change the poop and it wasn't that bad. What was happening here?
Laundry time rolled around. I knew this would be "the end". There was no way the diapers would wash clean. I started the laundry and it wasn't as gross or hard as I thought. Our washing machine had so many different options like a prewash, soak, and 2nd rinse cycles, perfect for cloth diapering. The diapers came out so clean and fresh. Now what? Bring it on!
A few days went by, everything was still going smooth. Dare I try two in cloth? Sure, why not. So I put the youngest in cloth as well. I was still a tad concerned about trying my middle girl out because she is my little soaker. She can soak through a disposable in an hour to the point where her clothes are wet too. I knew there was no way these silly little cloth diapers could contain her when a hefty disposable could not.
A few more days passed, now I had 2 in cloth and 1 in "sposies." OH MY! What just came out of my mouth? Now I am using "their" language. Sposies? Prefolds? Pockets? Covers? Snappis? What was this strange new language I was speaking? My whole day was filled with diaper speak as I bragged to all of my friends about how our journey was unfolding.
A week in and it was still smooth sailing with the two. No accidents, no leaks, no blowouts. I kept waiting for something, anything to go wrong so I could give it all up but nothing ever did. Then I asked myself "Do I make the leap? Do I add a third into the mix?" Oh what the heck, why not. So I added a third tush into the rotation.
Now I was proudly cloth diapering all three girls. Still only part time, only at home and while they were awake but I was doing it. I had wanted it to be hard. I wanted to fail so I could say I had tried. I wanted to be able to say I had put my best effort into it but it was just impossible with three. Who would blame me then? I had THREE! Maybe if it was just one little baby I could do it, but surely not three. No one would expect that. I felt so guilty knowing I had started with the intention of failing but ended up enjoying it so much.
So here I am, a little over 2 months into this journey and yes, I have to admit I am loving it. I am hooked now. I talk about it constantly to anyone who will listen, willing or otherwise. I have all of these new words added into my daily speech. I take pics of my girls in nothing but diapers because they are just so gosh darn cute. I have 4 kids age 4 and under yet I find myself occasionally catching a little "baby fever" just because I want an excuse to buy some of the teeny tiny newborn cloth diapers. I have even been using cloth overnight and outside of the house for the last month or so. So I guess I only have 1 thing left to say......
My name is Christy, and I am a cloth diaper addict.
Ah, it feels so good to get that off my chest.
After about 2 days I was shocked to realize I was already getting the hang of it. It was WAY easier than I had ever expected. Dare I admit it? Did I actually enjoy it? This couldn't be happening, everything was going all wrong. This was not the plan at all. She hadn't pooped yet, I knew that would be the end of this silly journey. Bring on the poo baby girl.
Later that day SHE POOPED! Finally it was surely over! I went to change the poop and it wasn't that bad. What was happening here?Laundry time rolled around. I knew this would be "the end". There was no way the diapers would wash clean. I started the laundry and it wasn't as gross or hard as I thought. Our washing machine had so many different options like a prewash, soak, and 2nd rinse cycles, perfect for cloth diapering. The diapers came out so clean and fresh. Now what? Bring it on!
A few days went by, everything was still going smooth. Dare I try two in cloth? Sure, why not. So I put the youngest in cloth as well. I was still a tad concerned about trying my middle girl out because she is my little soaker. She can soak through a disposable in an hour to the point where her clothes are wet too. I knew there was no way these silly little cloth diapers could contain her when a hefty disposable could not.
A few more days passed, now I had 2 in cloth and 1 in "sposies." OH MY! What just came out of my mouth? Now I am using "their" language. Sposies? Prefolds? Pockets? Covers? Snappis? What was this strange new language I was speaking? My whole day was filled with diaper speak as I bragged to all of my friends about how our journey was unfolding.
A week in and it was still smooth sailing with the two. No accidents, no leaks, no blowouts. I kept waiting for something, anything to go wrong so I could give it all up but nothing ever did. Then I asked myself "Do I make the leap? Do I add a third into the mix?" Oh what the heck, why not. So I added a third tush into the rotation.
Now I was proudly cloth diapering all three girls. Still only part time, only at home and while they were awake but I was doing it. I had wanted it to be hard. I wanted to fail so I could say I had tried. I wanted to be able to say I had put my best effort into it but it was just impossible with three. Who would blame me then? I had THREE! Maybe if it was just one little baby I could do it, but surely not three. No one would expect that. I felt so guilty knowing I had started with the intention of failing but ended up enjoying it so much.
So here I am, a little over 2 months into this journey and yes, I have to admit I am loving it. I am hooked now. I talk about it constantly to anyone who will listen, willing or otherwise. I have all of these new words added into my daily speech. I take pics of my girls in nothing but diapers because they are just so gosh darn cute. I have 4 kids age 4 and under yet I find myself occasionally catching a little "baby fever" just because I want an excuse to buy some of the teeny tiny newborn cloth diapers. I have even been using cloth overnight and outside of the house for the last month or so. So I guess I only have 1 thing left to say......
My name is Christy, and I am a cloth diaper addict.
Ah, it feels so good to get that off my chest.
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