Mothers of a certain age, those with children who have long since graduated from university, found a job, and another job, and a spouse or two, and had children of their own, in other words, those who just missed out on the convenience of disposable diapers, are usually shocked and somewhat appalled to find out that I diaper with cloth. They can't believe that I would choose to do something that, in their memory, was both unpleasant, smelly, and labour intensive, what with the pins and all.
Velcro and snaps apparently weren't around back then.
If diapers today were as they were back when I was peeing my pants, I'd probably use disposable diapers too, and end of blog post.
But they're not. They are much more fun to use these days, if fun is the right word for doing something kind of disgusting. All those cute froggy and teddy bear patterned diaper covers, etc etc.
I still use disposable diapers at night (soon to stop) and when Sproglette and I are out and about (not soon to stop). But the rest of the time, her little butt is padded in cotton, thus making it appear humungous. It's all part of the cuteness.
When I found out I was pregnant back in late April, I started thinking about what life with a baby would be like at the camp in the middle of nowhere, Vietnam.
Thinking is the wrong word, stressing would be the more accurate term.
In addition to fretting over whether poisonous snakes would be attracted to the baby's milk-spattered face or whether she/he would be bitten by a monster mosquito secreting a mixture of malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and typhoid, I wondered how the hell I was going to manage the harried and infrequent shopping trips with a baby in order to buy the basics, like diapers. Plus, I had seen what Vietnamese diapers did to my friend's son's bottom and I wasn't about to put my kid through that either.
So, after doing a bit of research online, I decided to try cloth. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about running out of diapers nor if the sprog would get the mother of all diaper rashes with no pediatrician or diaper cream for miles around.
The above mothers often assume I'm doing it for environmental reasons (or because I'm a masochist). Assume away. I'm happy to be smug. The amount of garbage generated by me and Sproglette in her first 4 weeks of life was astounding. Bags and bags of foot-long maxipads, nipple pads, and dirty diapers every single day. When I switched to cloth and stopped leaking and bleeding, I (or actually my mom) only had to take out the garbage once every four days.
Heck, it's a kind of carbon offset, if you think about it and don't get all "but what about all the laundry soap and hot water and electrical dryer use" technical on me. (Hey, I air-dry, man.) I can fly half-way across the world many times, guilt-free, because I've saved our landfills from a mountain of biohazardous poop and piss in plastic. Mathematically, that's a minimum of 10 x (365 x 2) diapers!
So even though we're now going to live in Qatar where I can buy proper diapers and visit an English-speaking pediatrician at one of the snazzy, clean, down-the-road hospitals, I'll continue using cloth.
Just 'cause.
Damn good thing I still can't fit into any of my pre-pregnancy, hot weather clothes. I don't have room in my suitcase. Bloody diapers!
Hey - I'm planning to cloth diaper too once my sprogette is born in July. My mother cloth diapered us and she says it was no big deal. Also, I'm seduced by all those cute patterns!
Just wondering - how many diapers did you buy for each stage? And are you using prefolds, flats, fitteds, pockets or what? We have to air dry too so I want to make sure I don't buy anything that takes too long to dry.
Posted by: Kataroma | February 25, 2008 at 07:34 AM