Ch-ch-ch-Changing Diapers

Oh dear. Did you read Granola Glam? It's about doing things that might have you arrested by the Crunchy Cops. I do my best to keep the Earth in mind with almost everything I do. Sometimes, I fail. This blog is about one of those times. It involves diapers.

I have been a cloth diaper advocate for nearly a decade before my son was born. My mom used plain old flats on my and my brothers back in the 1960's and 1970's. She worked in maternity care for 3 decades and actually mourned when disposables came out because she thinks they are too much fuss...as well as a waste. So, cloth diapering was never an odd idea for me. I really began advocating it when I read an article about it in Mothering Magazine. I was absolutely hooked on the idea and it was almost 10 years before I'd have my own children. Back when I read that article, fancy stuff like All  In One diapers (diapers that are just one unit - diaper and cover together - they look like a disposable, only they are cloth) were kinda new and there definitely wasn't a market with 390,845,745,839,054,899,589 cloth diaper companies. Time went on and I would occasionally troll the cloth diaper boards on AOL (remember THAT?) gleaning information for when I did have kids. I remember when a huge controversy erupted over pocket diapers. I don't remember the details - I think the originator of Fuzzi Bunz - which was originally a WAHM company and is now a China-based company - had patented her pocket design and people were up in arms over it. Anyone remember? Anyway, my point is that cloth diapering was just like breastfeeding and natural birth. It was something I knew I would do without question.

I built a stash before my son was born. I bought mostly prefolds and covers and a couple of Kissaluvs contours. I had met my friend, Amber, online through a due date club. Turns out, she loved to make diapers and made me my son's first fitted. Amber is the owner of Mudshrimps, one of the most awesome cloth diaper companies out there, and has kept my babies' bums looking stylish in their cloth diapers. I didn't start him in cloth until he was a few weeks old, but kept at it after starting and used disposables only occasionally for travel, overnight or lazy days. By the time he was potty learned, I had a very large stash. Did I need all the diapers I had? No, I could have made do with probably half my stash, but cloth diapering is addicting. I even experimented with making some. I made one whole diaper with my mom supervising my sewing machine usage because I suck. Other homemade dipes were made by my mom.

My daughter has been here since last August and we have not used cloth anywhere near as much as I planned. I bought a few new diapers in anticipation of her arrival and Mudshrimps sent me some custom goodies. I only bought a couple of packs of disposables to use in the beginning. I had started using the brand Nature BabyCare when David was potty learning. They are far more "eco friendly" (as much as possible for a disposable diaper) than the king of greenwashing, Seventh Generation. We ended up using disposables far more than we ever wanted. When she was initially diagnosed with the hemangioma on her vulva, we had to apply tons of metronidazole gel and lidocaine to the area in order to heal the ulceration that formed. This crap is no where near cloth diaper friendly. I used liners - fleece, flannel and disposable - but found that the gel was able to seep through when she urinated. I didn't want to ruin diapers, so we started back in disposables full time.

Her hemangioma is still there, but it has gone down quite a bit and the ulceration has healed. There is no reason to avoid cloth diapers for now....but, I failed. We've been using way too many disposables on her lately out of completely sheer laziness. It didn't help that I signed myself up for an Amazon Subscribe and Save shipment for the Nature BabyCare dipes, so I ended up getting four packs of them shipped to me each month. It's shameful. I just shudder when I think of all the diapers we've had go out in the trash lately. It's not a pretty thought. So, we're changing all of that. Nature BabyCare has made it really easy for me to make this change. They keep "improving" their diapers these days and have switched manufacturing facilities. I have had problems with almost every pack - missing tabs, leaking and the latest issue has been that fucking SAP gel exploding when her diaper wasn't even wet. Add that to last week when we went out to eat, she pooped and the diaper gave up. It was a brand new diaper and a regular poop. It just repelled it - poop was all over her, all over the seat, all over my new shirt (an awesome nursing top, to boot) and it ended up all over my husband as well. It's one of those things I technically laugh about, but I'm so fed up with the failure from these diapers lately. Now, they have been gracious when I complain. I once got two free packs of diapers. Recently, they sent me a pre-addressed envelope to send them a diaper from one of the defective packs. They have always been easy to work with, but I can't keep using diapers that are going to fail just because their customer service is lovely. I can't keep using disposable diapers, period.

Last week, I cancelled my diaper subscription. I have 1 and a half packs left and I expect that to last quite a while. I joined a challenge to diaper my baby in nothing but flat diapers for one week. Her Squishyness has been nearly 100% cloth-diapered for the past week and I intend to keep it that way from now on. There is already a marked difference in our garbage output since we switched back to full time cloth. I may even try my hand at sewing new diapers this summer. And when I say that, I mean I am going to ask my mom to sew diapers this summer, because I am a sewing machine failure. Maybe I'll sew some wipes.

There you have it. I am re-committing myself to the health of my baby's little butt and to the health of this planet by going back to full time cloth diapering. All I have to do now is temper my addiction to buying adorable diapers and getting fluffy mail. Oh look....a coupon code...

P.S. I know you are drooling at the diaper cover in the picture. I happen to worship David Bowie and Mudshrimps custom made that cover for me. She also did a Bowie diaper for my son. She does custom prints on covers and diapers and I highly recommend her! No, I was not reimbursed in any way to share my Mudshrimps love.