Ditching the Disposables

God increasingly has convicted me of how much garbage we throw away in this disposable society. As parents of three small children, one of the most consistent and prolific forms of our garbage was disposable diapers.

When we were expecting our daughter, we looked into a cloth diaper service, even had the first batch ordered and ready to go. However, the first time we used one, she soaked it through with sweat (it was August) and it seemed bulky and awkward. The fact that the hospital provided us with disposables which lasted for the first two weeks of her life, and we had gotten used to them, didn’t help much. At the time, it seemed the only thing to do was stick with the disposables.And so it went for two more children and four plus years, until finally, God revealed there was another way.

First, one of my cousins with a daughter about the same age as our youngest had been using cloth diapers for almost a year. She showed me what it looked like and affirmed she liked them much better than the occasional disposable she used when they had an outing. That planted the seed. Then, in a conversation with another mom at our church, I learned of a whole new generation of cloth diapers…and a new vocabulary with it. Just Google “pocket diapers” and you’ll come up with a gaggle of fun names – Fuzzi Bunz, Happy Heiny’s, BumGenius, all of which offer the Generation Next of cloth diapers.

After doing much research, I decided it was time to take the plunge and order them. So far, we’ve been pleased with how relatively easy they are to use. Sure there is a little extra work on the laundry side of things, but since a mom who doesn’t like to do laundry designed them, it really is not that time consuming. And your contact with, um, poop, goes up but you can’t avoid that reality even with disposables. However, the benefits far outweigh any downsides...knowing we are reducing landfall waste, huge cost savings after the first year (the inital cost outlay for us equalled what we spent in one year for diapers) and saving money on diaper creams (you can’t use them with these diapers). Even the laundry detergent recommended for cleaning the diapers is environmentally friendly because it’s vegetable based and you only need a half tablespoon per load!

One thing I've discovered with all the use the diapers are getting is that the odors become harder to get rid of. After checking out the Fuzzi Bunz information site, it looked like all that was needed was some extra rinsing and using a full scoop of the detergent. That seemed to help.

Have you ever tried cloth diapers? If so, what was your experience like? Any helpful tips for parents new to the experience? Post your thoughts in the comments section under this post.