GreenBean.: Cloth vs ... not cloth

In recent years, cloth diapering has made a comeback. Alongside it, nursing instead of feeding from a bottle, cloth wipes, and real fruits and veggies instead of baby food in a jar are making their appearance...again. Like in any other debate, people have chosen sides, and, in doing so, have created a bit of tension in between the two groups: Natural and...um...not as natural? Having been blessed with a little one recently, I have heard my share of Do's and Don'ts. Humorously enough, the differing opinions have come from within my family. (Which is always more fun, wouldn't you agree?) So, without further ado, here are the most commonly-discussed pro's and con's surrounding, specifically, cloth diapering...

"It's way to much extra work!" Usually, that is most people's first reaction. We live in a society of convenience, and, be that as it may, we expect everything, right down to 'what has to be done', to be made as easy for us as possible. I would argue that maybe a little work won't hurt us, and might actually be good for our world view...and our character. (But that's another blog.) Logically, with a baby under a year old, you will change between 4-6 diapers a day. This of course excludes the extra-fun blowouts, or extenuating circumstances. Whether cloth or disposable, you go through the same routine of pulling off the old, cleaning off the bum, and puting on the new. The difference here would be between throwing the dirty diaper in the trash, or in the laundry. "But you will do so much extra laundry!" The average household on a regular laundry schedule will run one to two loads every other day. This will not change if you add a few diapers into the mix.

Save your mula. Diapers have got to be the most frequently-purchased, RIP OFF item(s) in the world. I would pull out my soapbox here, but we haven't the time. A plus to cloth diapering is that you always have them in the house, and you don't have to run out at the last minute (usually after ten at night) to buy some. The downside to this is that you have to have the extra money up front in order to purchase enough of them. If you plan ahead, this is a huge money-saver in the long run!

Save thy planet. My sister-in-law, the queen of research, and of cloth diapering, recently shared with me some research that shows that the average disposable diaper takes about 500 years to decompose. WHAT?! Let's go back to how many diapers we are changing in a day, and multiply that by the millions of us who are throwing them into the trash. Yikes. Some would argue that the water use to do an extra load of laundry uses too much energy, but the 'other side' would say that it actually takes more water to manufacter disposable diapers than it does to wash the cloth ones. Just something to think about.

Love their bum. Cloth diapers are well made, and the breathable fabric is so much better for Baby's bottom. Little to no rashes are a perk, and blowouts don't happen! HELLO. Eventually, it will be time to potty train, and I have heard over and over again that the little ones potty train quicker because they don't like wet pants any more than the rest of us. Imagine that.

POOP. It happens. Quite frequently if you're a baby. Dealing with the poopier moments in life is something that we moms (and dads!) must do no matter what. Learning to deal with the ACTUAL poopy moments can be a bit of a pain, but once you get the hang of it, you just get 'er done. Give yourself an extra five minutes to rinse the stinky down the drain, and then toss that sucker into the laundry basket. (The diaper, not the other thing.) There are actual devices that you can have installed on your toilet- they sort of resemble a detachable shower head. Which, by the way, those work too.

All in all, I am a bit biased, but only AFTER we did the disposable thing for a while. I have personally discovered that it is way more fun to use quality, and sometimes homemade cloth items- they are cuter! There are a couple of links that I would like to share with you, courtesy of my sister-in-law...who, coincidentally, is cloth-diapering TWINS. Now you really have no excuses.