I mentioned last week that our family resolution for 2016 is positivity (among other things). Another “word of the year” is also going to be “cloth” - with an accent on keeping it low-stress. Because, life.
As our little newborn girl (at what point do they switch from “newborn” to “infant” or even “baby”?) continues to beef up and lessen her - shall we say - messier diapers, we’re looking to finally take the cloth diaper plunge. You can read about our experiences/failures with our son in this blog post, but this time we’re dedicated to making it work without stressing ourselves out about the whole thing.
So far, we’ve prepped a plethora of diaper styles and done a handful of days with the little one to stick our toes in (again). I was hoping to make January 1st our official “daytime diaper switch” day, but since we have a limited amount of newborn/appropriately sized dipes and are currently under a boil water advisory, we’re trying not to make too much dirty laundry. Ahhh, the best laid plans…
Regardless, that’s the plan! We’re so cross-eyed with exhausted delirium during our nighttime changes, I figured that starting out with cloth during the daylight hours would be a nice jumping off point. Plus, we’re lucky (knock on wood) that our Harper sleeps a solid 5+ hours at night between feedings, so throwing a wrench into that sleep cycle with additional changes or analysis of which style of diaper and soaker solution will work is beyond my mental capacity right now.
Sleeeeeeep goooooood. (Monster voice.)
On the days that we’ve tried, I’ve preferred the newborn AIOs, big-time. Not to mention - SO CUTE! Out of sheer surplus, though, we used plenty of prefolds with our adorable Thirsties covers. They worked well, but I just didn’t like how they fit her tiny little frame. However, with a growth spurt lately, I’m going to give them another shot. At this point, I’m keeping an open mind to figure out what works best for us by literally keeping a variety of styles at hand.
I’d like to be 100% cloth 100% of the time, and hopefully we’ll get to that point. But, as with all things in the world of mommyhood, the guilt is strong; if we don’t go “all the way” with cloth, I definitely feel the weight of that decision.
But, the thing is this: we do the best we can with all things in life. Our best HAS to be good enough, even if it’s not what others deem to be THEIR best.
We all have reasons for choosing cloth. The financial savings. The environmental friendliness. The lack of chemicals. The sheer adorableness. So, every time we choose cloth, it’s a win. One less box of disposables purchased. One less diaper in landfill. One more adorable tushy in the world. We should pat ourselves on the back every single time we choose to use a cloth diaper. If we only use them 50% of the time, that’s 50% less diaper landfill waste, 50% less continual cost, 50% less chemicals OTB, and 50% more cuteness. If we decide not to use them when we travel or visit family or when our little one is sick, we should be proud of the vast majority of the time that we do choose cloth.
There is no “cloth competition” to be won. We’re all awesome for making this choice for our families, no matter how frequently we make it.
That said, I am chomping at the bit to make it our new norm. This little girl’s too cute not to be sporting Alice Brights and Poppy as much as possible.
What about you guys? Are you “all in” or are you a part-time CDer? Did you jump into cloth diapering head-first or one toe at a time?
We all have reasons for choosing cloth. The financial savings. The environmental friendliness. The lack of chemicals. The sheer adorableness. So, every time we choose cloth, it’s a win. One less box of disposables purchased. One less diaper in landfill. One more adorable tushy in the world. We should pat ourselves on the back every single time we choose to use a cloth diaper. If we only use them 50% of the time, that’s 50% less diaper landfill waste, 50% less continual cost, 50% less chemicals OTB, and 50% more cuteness. If we decide not to use them when we travel or visit family or when our little one is sick, we should be proud of the vast majority of the time that we do choose cloth.
There is no “cloth competition” to be won. We’re all awesome for making this choice for our families, no matter how frequently we make it.
That said, I am chomping at the bit to make it our new norm. This little girl’s too cute not to be sporting Alice Brights and Poppy as much as possible.
What about you guys? Are you “all in” or are you a part-time CDer? Did you jump into cloth diapering head-first or one toe at a time?
