Cloth...Day One

Today started the first official day of cloth diapering in our household. Why? You ask. Many reasons, but mainly cost. And waste.

We fortunately have not had to buy but 86 dollars worth of diapers in 6 months because we received so many cases of diapers at baby showers. Thank you once again to everyone who contributed to our massive diaper stash! Even though we have not spent that much, the thought of spending about 100 dollars a month on diapers for approximately 1.5 more years is enough to make anyone cloth diaper.

I spent 90 dollars on all of the cloth diaper supplies and I think we have enough to last until he outgrows these diapers. They say he can wear them until he is 28 pounds, so, who knows, he may be potty trained by that time. If not it will only cost about another 45 dollars and that is the total expense until he is potty trained. (135 dollars is nothing when compared to approximately 100 dollars a month if we were to still use disposable diapers.)

I waited this long to embark on this journey for a couple of reasons. 1. He only poops every third day. (Need I add anymore reasons following this one. I haven't had to clean poop out of a cloth diaper yet, but I already know that it will probably be messy. No more messy than when he regularly poops though - he went through 4 outfits and got 3 baths yesterday. And that was with him wearing disposable diapers.) 2. I was a little iffy on how bulky cloth diapers were. They look pretty bulky and I didn't want them to flex his hips outward. I have read reviews on every cloth diaper there is and believe we purchased the least bulky and most absorbent there are.

So far, so good. It is 150 pm and he has been wearing the diaper since 700 am. I have changed the insert out 3 times today, each time the liner has been soaking wet and there have been no leaks. We even went out for an adventure to my friend Kim's house and it was just as easy as changing a disposable diaper. No hassle. No fuss. I, at one point, thought I would use disposable when we were out and about, but I have changed my mind. We are going all in. No more disposables. (Except maybe at night. Not sure exactly how absorbent the cloth will be with 5 pounds of pee in it by morning. We shall see. I may not be that brave yet.)

One of my friends told me that for each child you use cloth diapers with, you save about 1 to 2 tons from being accumulated in land fills. I did a little research and this indeed is the case. Maybe by at least starting now we are saving quite a bit from sitting in landfills. First a "green" car, now "green" diapers. Who knows what will be next. If Casey shows up to work in what looks like a hand sewn shirt and smelly body odor, someone call me in for an intervention.

We went to my friend Kim's house today and she has three little girls. Clay has never been around more than one child at a time and not for this length of time - he wasn't sure what to think at first, but an hour in and he was laughing and giggling at them. As they pet him. They liked petting him head like a puppy - it was cute. Amelia, who is 15 months, loved letting Clay's feet sit on her head - she found it very amusing! We had fun on our outing and look forward to spending more time with all those silly girls!

And I now hear pooping from the peanut gallery - wish me luck!