39 Months of Cloth Diapering

I have spent 39 months as a cloth-diapering mommy.  We're not some weird, tree-hugging family (not saying that tree-huggers are weird).  We're quite normal.  We recycle, we plant trees, we just don't usually hug them.  However, we made the decision to cloth diaper Aric after plenty of research and discussions with other friends who cloth diapered their children.  Our decisions to cloth diaper were based on two reasons: the first being that we lived out in the country with no trash service and, the second, because we really didn't have much money at that time. 

Since we had no trash service in the country we had to sort through our trash, recycle and burn what was leftover.  Disposable diapers aren't recyclable and they don't burn.  We also had no intention to start trash service.  We didn't have the money for the luxury or the desire to drag our trash down a quarter mile driveway for pickup.

In addition, we were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of money that is spent to diaper a baby.  It was better for us to spend more money up front to establish a supply of cloth diapers and covers than to spend a seemingly endless amount of money over time buying disposable diapers. 

We believed in our decisions and were determined to keep at it.  After Aric's umbilical cord fell off we began cloth diapering and never looked back.  I'm not saying that no disposable diaper ever touched his bottom, but the majority of the time he wore a cloth diaper.  I used the Mother-Ease system and LOVED them.  They worked well for us. (Note: I'm not endorsing any product, just saying what we chose.  They may not work for everyone.)

When Kellyn was born I ordered another dozen diapers to help cover an additional bottom and three Sandy's diapers for Aric and his larger bladder to wear overnight.  We cloth diapered two kids while they were at home.  It's not glamorous, but it did save us quite a bit of money over time.  Neither Ryan nor I have regretted our decision to cloth diaper the kids.

Fast forward to 38 months of cloth diapering; Aric is potty-trained and wearing Pull-ups overnight, while Kellyn is now using Aric's Sandy's diapers.  Kellyn began waking up every night in the middle of the night.  She was crying and wandering around the house.  One night I decided that maybe she was drenched and uncomfortable and decided to put her in a disposable diaper overnight rather than a cloth diaper.  It worked and she started sleeping peacefully through the night again.

Fast forward to 39 months of cloth diapering; Aric is still potty-trained and wearing Pull-ups overnight, while Kellyn is using cloth diapers during the day and a disposable overnight.  Ryan and I were becoming increasingly frustrated that anytime we changed Kellyn's cloth diaper it was drenched and we had to change the soggy cover too.  Yes, our diapers were well used, but they should have held more liquid than what they were, especially since I was adding liners to help absorb more liquid.  Then I thought about it and realized that Kellyn likes to have a drink.  All day long she either has a sippy cup of juice, water or milk close at hand.  Which means she has quite a bit of liquid that needs to come back out.  With a toddler size bladder, she can hold more and her diapers were slowly losing the battle. 

Kellyn is getting close to potty training, but not quite there.  When I become more mobile I intend to work with her and try to potty train her.  (Potty training with crutches doesn't seem like a great idea.)  In the meantime, Ryan and I had a discussion and decided that maybe we were done with cloth diapering and would just switch to disposables for our sakes and for Kellyn's.  The other day we stopped and I'm okay with that.  39 months is a nice long run and we both feel we got our money's worth out of those diapers. (I'm just sorry for my mom, because we made that decision near the end of her visit rather than at the beginning of it.)  Don't worry about those diapers.  They will be boxed up and passed along to a newborn who will get some good use out of them.

Would I do it all again?  Most certainly.  It was a good experience, saved us money, and wasn't the hassle that we thought it would be.