and why we don't do it!
I am sure all of my friends out there were shocked to see my post title. I know you were thinking, what?! Moriah is going to cloth diaper??
Nope!
I want to be the first mom in blog history to write a blog about why we don't cloth diaper!
So here we go...
First reason:
We don't want to!
I don't think I need to expand on this reason :)
Second reason:
I have yet to be convinced that cloth diapering saves money. I have read blog after blog about how much money you can save if you decide to cloth diaper. I am still not convinced. Here is my take on it: Cloth diapers are an investment. You have to buy a full supply of diapers {24-36 is average}, inserts, wet bags, a diaper pail, diaper sprayer, special detergent, and then of course you need a great washing machine to wash these suckers each night. And yes, I know I have read that you can buy a complete package to start it all up for around $400. Everyone says, about $400 and you are done, never again will you have to buy another diaper. Well from everyone I know who cloth diapers, that does not seem to be the case. Unless you buy all gender neutral diapers {to use for each of your children down the road}, you will have to invest in an entire new set with your next child if you have a baby of a different gender.
Plus, there are some ADORABLE designs out there, and that is what makes cloth diapers so much fun to keep buying. Each company continually comes out with new designs and the cd mom just has to have the cutest new prints. That does not help the cost of these pricey little investments.
For us, disposables have not even cost us what I imagined it would before we had kids. We were fortunate enough to get diapers at my baby showers and they were enough to last us the first 3 months of Camden's life. So at 3 months I had to start buying diapers. We did the research and discovered that the Target Up&Up brand was the best deal. They average about $0.16 per diaper. The pack we buy right now contains 124 diapers for $19.99. We average about 4 diapers a day which means we can go 30 days for $19.99. The smaller sizes have more diapers in each box. So, the size below what Camden is in now is still $19.99 but you get 144 diapers. So on average we have only spent about $20 a month on diapers. Which in 2 years {hopefully less than 2 years if potty training goes as planned} means we will only spend about $480 in diapers. That is a set of cloth diapers right there. We don't complicate things, so the only other thing we need with disposables is a diaper genie. You do have to buy replacement bags for it, but we maybe have to replace the bag in it every 1.5 months and they cost about $6. The reason we rarely replace the bag is because we only use it for pee diapers. Diapers with poo in them...well let me make it simple for you, we throw them out the window. Yes, out the window. The diaper genie does get a little stinky when full of poo diapers, and I don't like smelling poo in Camden's room. Wes decided that we would throw his poopy diapers out his window, and collect them outside and just throw them in our large trash can. So far it has worked out great. Camden even joins in on the poop throwing fun. After a poo diaper change he loves to to grab his diaper and carry it to the window. I open it and he throws it out. We are so proud of our poop throwing kid!
Third reason:
Disposables are easy!
Our parents didn't always have the luxury of disposables. In fact, my mom tells me stories of her cloth diapering days with my older sister and I. She used the pre-folds (which we now use today as burp cloths) and they were a bit of a hassle to fold roll and pin. She also had a diapering service who would come every few days and pick up her nasties and bring a new clean set. She chose cloth because the disposables in those days {as she says} weren't what they are today. They were horrible quality and just didn't work out too well.
By the time my younger sister was born disposables were much more popular and much improved in quality. My mom loved having these little luxuries.
Fourth Reason:
Trends.
I am part of a circle of moms where only about 2 (shout out to Melissa & Jordan) of us do not cloth diaper. I hear all kinds of cd {cloth diapering} lingo and it makes my head spin; AIO, inserts, types of inserts, pockets, snaps, clips, velcro, elastic, disposable liners, thick liners, double liners, panty liners...ok, not panty liners, maybe I have gone to far. I just know that there is a lot of research involved with deciding on what kind of cloth diapers you want to use, and it seems overwhelming. The trend of cloth diapering has gotten out of control and I just don't understand it.
Pro's:
Yes, there are a few pro's to cloth diapering, I will admit. It is better for the environment...sort of! You don't have diapers taking up all the land fills; however, you do have to use a lot of electricity and water to wash the little nasties. And I know it can be a lot more gentle on babies who have sensitive skin. I have also heard they are better for kids who have massive blow outs; I think they hold everything in a little bit better.
To finish I just want to say, I am not against cloth diapering in any way. These are just the reasons we have chosen not to. We have always said that we want to make decisions that we feel are best for our children. If I have a baby with extra sensitive skin who can't use disposables, then by all means, I will invest in the cloth diapers to do what is best. We are so thankful that Camden has been so easy and has never had a blow out, never had diaper rash, and can literally wear any diaper and have no problems. Wes and I both agree that cloth diapers are cute...very cute! But cute doesn't make me want to invest more of my time into stuffing diapers just for cuteness.
Plus, the Target diapers are pretty darn cute for being a disposable. No obnoxious characters and just plain ol cute polka dots. Good enough for this Mama!
So there ya have it. I love disposables! I don't love cloth diapers! But I love all my Mama friends who do!
Fourth Reason:
Trends.
I am part of a circle of moms where only about 2 (shout out to Melissa & Jordan) of us do not cloth diaper. I hear all kinds of cd {cloth diapering} lingo and it makes my head spin; AIO, inserts, types of inserts, pockets, snaps, clips, velcro, elastic, disposable liners, thick liners, double liners, panty liners...ok, not panty liners, maybe I have gone to far. I just know that there is a lot of research involved with deciding on what kind of cloth diapers you want to use, and it seems overwhelming. The trend of cloth diapering has gotten out of control and I just don't understand it.
Pro's:
Yes, there are a few pro's to cloth diapering, I will admit. It is better for the environment...sort of! You don't have diapers taking up all the land fills; however, you do have to use a lot of electricity and water to wash the little nasties. And I know it can be a lot more gentle on babies who have sensitive skin. I have also heard they are better for kids who have massive blow outs; I think they hold everything in a little bit better.
To finish I just want to say, I am not against cloth diapering in any way. These are just the reasons we have chosen not to. We have always said that we want to make decisions that we feel are best for our children. If I have a baby with extra sensitive skin who can't use disposables, then by all means, I will invest in the cloth diapers to do what is best. We are so thankful that Camden has been so easy and has never had a blow out, never had diaper rash, and can literally wear any diaper and have no problems. Wes and I both agree that cloth diapers are cute...very cute! But cute doesn't make me want to invest more of my time into stuffing diapers just for cuteness.
Plus, the Target diapers are pretty darn cute for being a disposable. No obnoxious characters and just plain ol cute polka dots. Good enough for this Mama!
So there ya have it. I love disposables! I don't love cloth diapers! But I love all my Mama friends who do!
9 comments:
I like you Moriah! I like you alot! I think we would get along great! I have a post on my blog called, "cloth diapering and other forms of torture" which is meant mostly to be funny, but also to point out some of the arguments that I see made for cloth diapering and how I was also unconvinced about them.
Also wanted you to know that the encryption image word that I have to enter in order to submit my last comment was, "grodys." Oh, the irony.
LOL :-) I love you!
Seriously, I think that I could have written this same exact post prior to when I was pregnant the second time around. I too LOVE/Loved the Target brand diapers, but my child must pee more than yours because I was going through 2 boxes a month, though in my mind it was still cheaper than the 'investment' I kept hearing about with cloth. But then as he kept going up in sizes and the number in the packages kept going down I knew that we just wouldn't have it in our budget to use disposables with 2.
Anyhow here are my thoughts after reading your post:
1st reason: I'm right there with you. We didn't want to either, but we had to.
2nd reason: It does save money- if you need it to. There are so many moms out there that say it saves them money and are still spending $400+ on them, those are also the moms who were using Pampers :-) Want to know how much I have spent on my entire setup (not including gifts or anything given to me, which by the way is enough to diaper all of my children forever)? $145. Which means I saved $335 over your disposables, just for 1 child. :-) Now, I am the exception among most of our friends though. Because I don't buy expensive brands and I don't buy all the 'gear' and extras that everyone else uses. I have my diapers (prefolds, covers, and some pocket diapers), washcloths (for wipes), and a wetbag. Thats it. We don't use special detergent. Our electricity bill went up $2 a month. And we don't have a great washer or dryer, in fact they are second hand and probably 15 years old. So technically YES you can save money, you just have to be smart about it and not think that the 'name brands' are the best way to go.
3rd reason: I think that is subjective. They are easy because they are what you know. Honestly using prefolds is second nature to me now, and Parker leaks out of disposables which means changes of clothes and more laundry which does not equal ease for me. Plus like you said, they are a luxury. And we don't get many of those around here.
4th reason: yeah it is trendy, and I don't understand why. The way you choose to diaper your baby shouldn't be subject to trends. Honestly who cares what means you use for catching your child's poop? I don't. lol.
And you'll never hear me trying to convince someone to use them unless they start talking about how 'tight' money is. But then I promise, I never tell them they need to go buy 24-36 Fuzzibunz (the people who do that don't know what it is really like to have a 'tight' budget.)
LOL To each their own! I have spent probably $200 for my diaper set up and I can't say it was worth it or not so far since this has only been Day 2. I do figure that I can wash every other day (no horrible smells yet) and like Jessica, I have a 2nd hand washer that our realtor gave us and it seems to be doing the job so far. I did go with mostly neutral prints and colors in the hopes that Josh and I will be blessed with another child in the future, if not, I know plenty of folks who favor cloth with little ones on the way that I can pass them on to. So far it seems pretty easy, but we have disposables for backups and for my somewhat reluctant husband. Hahaha
It is a pretty crazy world out there and is just about as overwhelming as when you go to do your baby registry and trying to figure out what kind of bottle to choose.
I am so half and half on this! ha! Jessica ALSO told me about Target diapers back when Gracelyn was little and we STILL use them on G at night... I LOVE the polka dots.. as you saw that I made my sisters diaper cake out of the Target brand because they are cute and cheap YES!
My little sensitive one... we tried every brand and we decided that we had to change something... just wasn't fair to her red blistering bum :( As you know we were back and forth and back and forth when I was pregnancy with #2 but decided it wasn't worth it for us... that was until we had her skin and blow out issues ( I still worry I have scarred you from that blowout in the hospital ha!) We also didn't have the money to spend on a whole fancy CD system... so with the help of jessica we were able to get started with prefolds and covers... I got the 4 covers for $12 and Jess lent us prefolds to try... then she and I went in on a co-op buy for some CHEAP pocket diapers sold internationally... I think we paid $50 for 12 :) I was given a wet bag and a diaper pail and I use my shower head hose not a diaper sprayer.. we use normal tide detergent...so all in all we made it work for not having the money... and am looking forward to the day we get to bless some other baby with skin problems since we will NOT be passing these down to our next child ;)
However, we have both agreed that though I will miss the cute fluffy bums... when we adopt our little boy he will be sporting the polka dots once again !!!!! That is unless he has skin issues to ah!
So I LOVE disposables, I LOVE cloth diapers and I love all my friends who use both ;)
Woo hoo! I got a shout out ;)
Well, I think you know me well enough to know that I would have to respond to this post. :)
I first have to say that I truly could not care less how someone catches their child’s poop. Whatever works for you and your family is what you should do and that’s all that matters.
My reasons for CDing have changed over the past year and now rank in this order: 1. No chemicals & better for the environment, 2. CUTE!!!, 3. money savings
However, I do want to fill in a couple of about CDing (hey, an acronym! LOL).
CDing for a short amount of time will never save you money. That being said, we started CDing Colin when he was 11 months old, haven’t bought one disposable since then, and the diapers paid for themselves already. We have spent exactly $511 dollars on CDs and that number will definitely not increase since he’ll be potty training this year. I have bought and sold some diapers in the process of figuring out what we like. We went the ‘expensive’ route and bought All-In-One diapers and got them all for $20 on sale. We also bought 30 pre-folds off of Craigslist (never even used-wahoo!). The diapers I didn’t like, I sold and made back almost all of my money. Your range for the cost is definitely high – most pockets and AIOs (the most convenient types) cost between $9-24 each – definitely not the upwards of 20s and into the 30s – the only diapers that cost that much are the “collectable” and hard-to-find diapers (yes, there really are people who collect hard to find prints. No, I am definitely not one of them). Oh, and you can totally CD for MUCH cheaper – it would be possible to have a stash that would last from newborn to potty training for $150 if someone wanted to. We did buy gender neutral diapers, although, I’m sure I’ll buy a few pink diapers if we ever have a girl. We wash diapers every 3 days in a HE machine and it doesn’t use much water or electricity in our HE washing machine and we use Tide Original Powder for our clothes and diapers. We only use 25% of the amount of detergent that you would use when washing clothes when we wash diapers, so that cost is not much.
If I had to CD the way our parents did, I would not ever CD. Just as disposable diapers have gotten much better over the years, so have CDs! Rubber pants (the original CD cover) are practically non-existent and I’ve never met anyone who uses diaper pins even with Prefolds.
However, since you address the cost of cloth diapering in your post, I’ll do the same.
Total money spent to CD Colin and build a huge diaper stash: $511
Total cost to diaper baby #2: $0
Total cost to diaper baby #3: $0
Total cost to diaper baby #..., well, you get the idea.
Resale value of everything in extremely used condition when we are done using them – about 25-40% of what we originally paid. There is a surprisingly large market for used diapers (I’m sure you’re cringing at the thought! :) )
Total cost to diaper all of our kids: about $300 after I resell.
But, I truly don’t care how you catch your kid’s poop! Just thought I’d lay out the $$ amount. Yes, the startup is expensive. And yes, if you continue to buy CDs like a crazy woman and not sell off the old ones, you could spend a ton of money. But, you really can’t argue the money saving aspect of it.
(I'm glad we got to meet in person. Now I don't feel like such a stalker!) To add to your post: do you use amazon.com/mom subscribe and save program? We love it. Our 7th generation diapers come out to about 19 cents a diaper with the 30% discount you get every ON EVERY ORDER of diapers/wipes. Plus 2 day free shipping. And sometimes parenting magazine has an additional 20% off.
As our daughter is in daycare, cloth diapers aren't an option but to each their own!
I'm right there with you, I am a proud disposable diapering mom!!! :)
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