The Cloth Diaper experiment

Ok, so not too long ago (on a very secret Crunchy Dad's Society FB Group Page), B.B.B!, I posed the question:

Hey Crunchy Dads. If your S.O. were to suffer the unthinkable and you were left with the Crunchy Legacy are there any bits and bobbles you'd simply do away with? For me it's cloth diapers. I'd just go as close to crunchy disposable as I could get. Cloth Diapers= Never Ending Laundry Burden.

The answers varied from very sweet responses like, "I don't know. I think I'd want to keep doing things she liked to do so I could continue to feel close to her. Mushy, I know..."

To, "I'm with you on the diapers. We have two in cloth right now and it really sux.  Also using cloth wipes. Which to me just makes things harder for no reason."

And I am completely with homeboy on this one. Folks stopped using cloth diapers for a reason and that reason is ... EWWW.! But, in my quest to become more crunchy I've decided to figure out the cleaning and folding side of cloth diapering. I've already got the changing part down pretty well. And if C.M. has anything to say about it, probably the shopping side too.

It's that time again

Cloth diapering isn't an easy thing to do. Not from my perspective anyway, but I do understand why people would choose to do it, especially crunchy types like us.

One major benefit is diaper cost savings. It's estimated that a family could save up to $2700 on diapers Vs. using disposables alone. I do know this, C.M. is very good at getting diapers. A three pack of Bumkins will run you $70 easy. Bumgenius can run $25 EACH! According to C.M.'s calculations our entire 7 month diaper cost has only been $45. On top of that she has been able to help others with cloth diaper stashes of ten diapers each that's $120 worth of cloth diapers free. Wow I know! I sound like an infomercial.

Then there's the environmental impact. We add zero tons of diaper waste to landfills, and we do not directly contribute to the rather large carbon footprint that results from manufacturing disposable diapers.

I know some folks don't care about their impact on society or their ecology. There are benefits that directly affect your child as well like less diaper rashes and quicker potty training.


 Pros, Cons and otherwise we all have a choice to make and around here we cloth diaper. Up until now, C.M. has been taking care of all of our cloth diapering needs. This month it was my turn to roll up my sleeves and get some dirty diapers clean.

 First things first you have to learn to get those suckers clean and this is not a task for the faint of heart. From the basket full of soiled diapers and wet cloths one must transfer these into the washer. Pulling the wet and soiled liners from inside the diapers is way up there on the scale when it comes to things I've done that are pretty gross. Not quite as high as working the laundry at a nursing home, but pretty gross anyway. Then, depending on the degree of soil, you would:

I did say EWWWWW

Rinse, Wash, Rinse, Rinse, Dry.

Wash, Rinse, Rinse Dry.

You can also "strip" the diapers which I think requires bleach, two more rinses and the sun.

So now I've gone ahead and done the damned diapers a few more times and there is always new shit popping up. The kid has had a growth spurt and is bigger for these diapers but smaller for this one and that one. This applies to the liners as well, meaning to say that you can tie this one into that one but only if you snap this one down and double stuff that one in step three. This one is good for overnight but you have to be "active" when you break this other one out. And did I mention that we have new diapers too? These are fancy and have the double snap liners.

This month is the month that baby-bop's little leavings have begun to stink a bit. Baby pee is as bitter and rank as ever. I can't tell you the number of times I've just felt like I smell like baby pee. Doing the diapers makes me paranoid that there is baby gross on everything. And, there is baby gross on everything and that's ok.

And she just pooped again

I will say this for cloth diapering, I hate admitting when something that I don't want to do is worth doing. It's like with recycling. I don't want to deal with that shit. But I will compost and be all supernanny about it and shit. I don't want to cloth diaper. It's a pain in the ass and I get way closer to my childs waste than I'd like to be. But I can't ignore the fact that even with all of the things one has to learn to do it is simply better for everyone. Better for the environment, better for our wallets and better for our children. And then there is the whole, "what do you do if there are no more disposables," question? Well I'll tell you what you do, you learn to tie T-shirts into diapers, that's what you do. There will be so many T-shirts left laying around ....