Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Oil in the Gulf leads to exploration of cloth diapering?

I'm pissed/heartbroken about the oil in the gulf. I've irrationally been breaking down in the car every time NPR has an update on the situation. The beaches of the Florida panhandle, where I learned to swim, thought crabs were going to get my toes and escaped to as a teenager are at risk because of people like me...who often talk "green" and have generally "green" feelings- but don't act. We use plastics like there going out of style. I work 30 miles from home and yet talk up the need for walkable community. While Dallas has public transit, I've get to get on it. We thought about cloth diapering and then decided to use disposable, because its "too much work".


If I'm going to irrationally tear up in the car because my "happy place" is being threatened by oil- I might as well do one little thing to cut down on some environmental impact- so, we're back on a cloth diaper track.

So, for you cloth diapering mamas/dads out there, if both parents worked, how did you make it work? What did your diaper/wash schedule look like?

What diapers would you recommend for a boy?

What are the must have accessories?

Did you use a service? (I like the idea of water/washing economies of scale obtained through a green service).

General wisdom?

4 comments:

anofferingoflove said...

yay!!! what a positive way to respond to this environmental disaster.

we use bumgenius (3.0 one-size). we bought 24 of them for about $400 from diapers.com. its a big initial outlay, but we were spending over $100/mo on disposables the first two months of our daughter's life (when she was too tiny for the cloth ones). so, they have definitely paid for themselves at this point.

we have two diaper pails by our changing table - one for trash (mostly wipes - we arent on the cloth wipes program yet) and another for the cloth diapers. we just throw the soiled cloth diapers in the covered diaper pail until we are ready to wash.

about every third day, we throw all the cloth diapers in the wash. we do a rinse cycle on cold, then start the machine over, add detergent, and do a hot wash/cold rinse cycle. its really not that time consuming. we fold in the evenings, while watching tv.

we also bought a bumgenius diaper sprayer, but havent used it yet. when they get older and are no longer breastfed, the sprayer is to assist in knocking the solids into the toilet before throwing into the pail.

i love cd'ing! i love that our baby has soft cotton against her skin, not plastic/paper; that we are saving $$; and that we are doing something earth-friendly. plus, they are super cute ;)

if you want to email me, id be happy to tell you more or answer whatever questions you have. im a big advocate of cd'ing now and love to talk about it! :D

Anonymous said...

I can absolutely relate. We decided to go disposable because of the work, even though we were committed to cloth for the first seven months of pregnancy. I'd love to do cloth, but I'm just not sure of the value/work when it comes to having the baby in daycare all day (no cloth allowed). I wish I knew what to do!

Anonymous said...

We love cloth diapering. We use pocket diapers. Currently we have Haute Pockets, but there are some manufacturing problems, so I would't recommend them. I would recommend getting a variety of cloth diapering options to find out what you like. However, pocket diapers, we have found, are pretty good for diapering boys because you can put the extra soakers in up front. My favorite websites for cloth diaper deals are nickisdiapers.com and kellyscloset.com. Both of these are great.

I recently wrote a post on our CD experience so far if you'd like to read it. It's here: http://reproducinggenius.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/the-diaper-post/ . Our experience is different from what yours will be because we work from home, but new cloth diapers make it so much easier--and the laundry isn't a very big deal at all (maybe 2-3 loads a week?).

It takes some serious dedication, but once you get into it, it really is fun. Please don't hesitate to email me if you have questions either. The CD world can be a little overwhelming, but it's so very worth it.

K said...

I have a boy and work outside the home and love, love, LOVE cloth-diapering.

We use All-in-Ones for daycare because they go on just like disposables so they are easy for the daycare staff. At home, we use a variety of diapers, mostly bumGenius. We wash diapers every 2nd or 3rd evening.

We don't use a service so I'm not an expert, but I believe you are restricted to prefolds with a service. Just something to keep in mind as you're researching options.

I have more CD thoughts here if you are interested: http://romancingthestork.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-turn-for-cd-post.html

Good luck!! :-)