When I was pregnant with my first child, I was on a “I will be the perfect mom!” kick. (Read how that turned out.) Everyone else had tried this thing, but I was gonna do it right. I was going to do everything right. I thought one of those “right” parenting choices was to use cloth diapers.
I was given a complete supply of cloth diapers as a crazy generous baby shower gift. I was over the moon with excitement! Of course, it hadn’t fully dawned on me that these adorable little fabric pouches were soon to contain some of the nastiest sludge that could make even a seasoned zookeeper nauseous.
You see, I’m a half-hearted cloth diaperer. Of course there are so many benefits! Reduce waste, save money, less chemicals, easier potty training, less errand running, and the overall cuteness factor. But despite all that, I typically only have my son’s in cloth 50% of the time. I either can’t keep up with the laundry, or I get just plain lazy.
So since I purposefully use this blog to show my weaknesses, here are my dirty little secrets. (I hope that you can relate to my inner ridiculousness.)
7 Confessions of a Half-Hearted Cloth Diapering Mama:
Every time I see my baby’s profile, I think, “Look at that cute bubble butt!”
Every time people compliment me for my efforts at saving the earth, I think, “I care more about saving money.”
Every time we go out in public, I think, “I should put him in cloth so people know that’s what we do.”
Every time I see another child wearing cloth when my son is not, I think, “I should tell that mom that we usually use cloth too.”
Every time I see a picture of my child in disposables, I think, “I wish he was wearing cloth when that was taken.”
Every time I change a poopy diaper, I think, “Never again! Disposables from here on out!”
Every time I change a wet diaper, I think, “Why doesn’t everyone use cloth?”
Can you identify? What silly parenting monologue do you hear in your head? Share them in the comments!
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Liz Millay says
Love this Julie,
I, too, am a half hearted cloth diaperer. lol I hate how bulky they are on my 6 week old, I feel like he can’t move! And those disposables are just oh so convenient! I usually try to use the cloth during the day when at home and the disposables at night and when we are out. What brand do you use? I’m thinking I need to add a couple more pocket style to my stash – maybe that’ll convince me to be more excited about using them! 🙂
Julie says
We were gifted BumGenius. I think if this next one is a girl I need to get some extra cute ones to motivate me! 🙂
Jacy says
Hah! Sounds about right. 🙂 We use flats (like prefolds, but you have to fold them yourself — clearly, I thought this through) and Thirsties covers at home and overnight, and disposables for errands and travel. When we took a trip recently and I packed SO many diapers and then had to use them and just toss them, I both cringed (at the luggage space used and the waste) and was reminded of why so many parents do disposables (for the convenience). I love using cloth because I don’t care how wet my son is when I change him, and we also figured out that if I use an additional half-diaper at night, he doesn’t pee through it like he had been with disposables, but I really don’t enjoy the extra laundry, and the time folding them. I decided to cloth diaper more for the money-saving aspect than for being green (though I do have that sort of conservation-mindset), but we live in an apartment complex where we pay for laundry, so I don’t know that we’re saving much money (this kid’s use of them, anyway). I will say, though, that my son always starts to get redness with disposables but has never had any significant rash with cloth, and that, although it takes longer to fold the flats, I would still use them > prefolds because you can do so many different folds! The other things is, since we are trying to do minimal laundry, I rinse and hang my diapers to dry so I can only do diaper loads when my whole stock is used up (about once a week), and having flats over prefolds means they dry quickly then and when they come out of the dryer.
Btw, I found your blog via pinterest, on a pin of your ‘crunchy mama baby registry’ post, and I am still in denial that I am a crunchy mom or an attachment parent (but I totally am) – lol. Just like your “I’m going to be the best mom!” idea before kids, I had the perspective of “I’m not going to be one of *those* crazy AP, hippy-dippy parents” (like some I’d seen), except that I found myself aligning with basically all the tenets of AP without ever reading any books or anything about it.
Julie says
Ha ha! I know what you mean about kinda falling into the AP thing “innocently”!