Diapers

In preparation for lending them out again, we just got our stash of cloth diapers back from the most recent new parents we had loaned them to.  I went through all of them this evening, fending off excited children who just wanted to throw them everywhere, and got more than a little nostalgic in the process!

We started cloth diapering Mateo in perhaps not the most usual way.  For some reason, despite the fact that we live in what must be the cloth diapering capital of the world, I was completely against doing it.  It just seemed like a huge hassle.  I was so sure we would never do it that I hadn't even given it a second thought...or a first one!  So, when Sacha came to the opposite conclusion (ie, cloth diapering?  YES!) when Mateo was about a week old, I nearly blew a gasket.  I am not normally so excitable, but we were both incredibly overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and all that, and I just couldn't handle it. 

Of course, as with almost every decision we've made in the 12 (!!) years we've been together, Sacha was right on target.  Once I calmed down and we agreed to try out this cloth diapering thing and just see how it went, I liked it more and more.  It was just one of those things that took getting used to, and once we had a routine, it was easy to keep up with.  We cloth diapered both Mateo and Natalia full-time during the day until they were potty-trained, which happened at about 18 months for both of them. 

Using cloth helped us feel good about throwing away fewer disposables (which we still used at night), but it also dovetailed nicely with the exposure to the potty that we started essentially from birth.  The kids never got used to feeling dry in their diapers, at least during the day, and so they always knew when they had used them.  Of course, we changed them frequently, so it's not like they were sitting in anything, but they were certainly aware of it when they were wet.

Of course, there were some hiccups along the way, including the first few days, when we didn't realize that you can't put most diaper creams on cloth, because many of them contain some kind of cod liver oil and that stinks to high heaven when you try to wash them.  Not only that, but the smell just gets worse and worse and more and more fishy the more times you put them through the wash, plus turning the rest of the load fishy as well.  Happy times!

Overall, though, the whole experience has been very positive.  We eschewed a diaper service and just washed them ourselves, which was much easier than I expected.  Yes, there was a fair amount of pre-rinsing involved and getting them ready for washing wasn't always the most appealing task, but it all went very smoothly with the actual washing...and, as proof of that, I offer up our huge supply of cloth diapers of all types, which are only minimally stained after three years of us using them full-time and then several other families using them between then and now. 

When we had Rosie, as I may have mentioned in the past, all of what I just said went right out the window!  It really wasn't a big deal to cloth diaper the older two kids, but somehow it was the straw that broke the camel's back with #3.  I take the blame for this, because I just couldn't handle it.  I don't remember fully what we did when she was a newborn, but I'm pretty sure we gave it a good try.  It was when Sacha went back to work that I just gave up.

One of the reasons we started Mateo on cloth in the first place was that his skin was VERY sensitive and he was getting lots of rashes from regular disposables.   This got better almost instantly with cloth.  Natalia had similarly sensitive skin.  Rosa, on the other hand, is our little indestructible baby and her skin wasn't affected by what diaper she wore.  In fact, in the end, we ended up using a cheaper generic diaper for her and it didn't matter one bit.  With the older kids, it was Huggies or nothing for nighttime.

So, Rosie has been our 99% disposable baby.  That has been great, too, and has had plenty of upside in terms of convenience.  I think I would have been a much worse and less patient parent (and I struggle with that anyway) if I had been trying to force the cloth diapering issue when it just wasn't working with three little ones. 

Anyway, we are now at the point where diapers, cloth or disposable, are about to be a thing of the past.  Six years of diapers, whew!!  We are still going to need them at night for awhile, I'm sure, but Rosie is just about there in terms of daytime.  She has been using the potty during the day for three weeks now, and she has had just a few accidents.  She has been wearing underwear and doing great with it.  We just have to remember to take her at regular intervals, but she has shown that she can control when she goes and has even been waking up in the mornings and from naps dry.  She is clearly ready, even though she didn't have nearly as much exposure to the potty from birth.

I didn't mean to write such a dissertation on diapering, but, really, it has occupied many of my thoughts for the past six years.  I mean, I can't even begin to imagine how many diapers we have changed.  It was all for a good cause! 

And, we hope that our stash of cloth diapers will continue to be useful to others as time goes by.  There are sure a lot of them!  We may have gotten a little bit too into it :)  Here they are, in all their glory, with the kids that have long outgrown them!