I just can't comprehend how much garbage my babe would be creating by using disposables (apparently diapers are one of the worst offenders in landfills - they take up tons of room and don't decompose, plus they leak human waste, obviously, which runs contrary to World Health Organization codes).
So, cloth it is. I grew up with cloth and that's what I saw most moms use, so it doesn't seem all that daunting to me. I'm sure it will FEEL daunting when I have to change a dozen diapers every day and do laundry every other day, but I won't worry about that until it happens.
My midwife recommended Mother-ease diapers. They're Canadian made and you can choose 'one fit' dipes, so that you don't have to upgrade sizes every so often. So that is certainly cost-effective. Midwife said that the moms she works with have really liked them. She did point out that the diaper will be huge on a newborn, but I think that's probably ok, since it'll be January (hence freakishly cold here), and the extra fabric will only help.
So I've bookmarked the web page and will show DH tonight to see if I get 'approval' from him. The cost of 24 diapers, liners, and covers is around $350 (Canadian dollars), so in the long run, we'll save some cash. Plus DH's mom is making a stash of old-fashioned dipes for us, so we'll have those as backup.
We shall see.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
diapers
Posted by one-hit_wonder at 6:06 p.m.
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5 comments:
Im sorry your family are such a bunch of drama queens, but Im glad to hear that the pregnancy continues along smoothly and that you are thinking about what baby gear you need and how you plan to do things when the baby shows up.
I really hate that mindset that the "nuclear family" is the highest order and trumps all. As you say, it's a fairly new model, for the Western world anyway, and many many places do not now, nor have they ever, attempted it. What ends up happening is that women (smart, successful women that we know in every day life) get it in their heads that they must bear the brunt of childcare without ANY help at all. Maybe they feel their husbands can help. But they seem to think that getting grandma to watch the baby for an hour while they go out food shopping or something is akin failure of proper mothering. They will say things like "WE want to raise the baby ourselves, not have someone else do it." Im not sure what they mean by "raise" but most of these people plan to send their children to public school, so perhaps their children are "raised" by the age of 5, since clearly, once in school, another adult besides mom and dad has some influence.
As you can tell from my rant, Im on the side of "it takes a village."
Anyway, I never used cloth diapers, so I don't know how the sizing works. I can tell you that if the disposable diapers are too big, leakage occurs. So make sure there is a way to tuck the excess cloth or fold it, so the pee/poo isn't simply wicked up and absorbed by the child's clothing. 'Cause yuck.
Have you ever read the blog "A Little Pregnant"? I think you might find it funny, at least someday, after the baby comes. The woman who writes it has one child via IVF, and the other via IVF with donor eggs. She is well acquainted with IF and writes beautifully and very humorously.
I grew up with cloth diapers too. We are going cloth (with backup biodegradable disposables for travel since I dont think changing twins at church would be a lot of fun...) We are using a diaper service, though. (an eco friendly one). I also remember the work in cleaning dirty naps and I have NO desire to spend the little free time I have doing that. So, a service it is! When you add up the cost of electricity to wash them in hot water (not to mention the cost of my precious time), it actually works out well cost wise. Right now, the babies go through 8-10 diapers EACH a day. That's a lot of diapers. And I'm sure they'd go through more if the NICU used cloths. So, the service it is! They require no cleaning, etc. Just toss the dirty one in a bin and then give the bin over. You get clean diapers in return!
I'm intrigued by cloth diapers too. And if I were going to be at home for more than 3 months, I'd be seriously thinking about elimination communication (or whatever that is called).
I'm still totally freaked out by the tightenings I'm getting - I'm so envious that you're past 24 weeks and working full time. And that you're feeling the kiddie move. Mine I _might_ have felt one night last weekend, nothing since.
Can't wait to see the fancy pram!
Do you know that cloth diapers are the norm around here, and these Huggies/ Pampers are still catching up?
Oh, BTW...Here' a little something for you!
http://ovulationticker.blogspot.com/2009/10/awards-schwards.html
We use cloth diapers and LOVE them. I have a bamboo Mother-Ease diaper and it's fabulous!
Don't get your hopes up too high for CDing when the little one is super tiny. They're quite an awkward fit for the first few weeks. Many hard core CD mamas use disposables for the first couple weeks.
If you have any questions about cloth diapers, washing, etc, feel free to message me! We've been doing it for 4 months now, and we have a pretty good routine.
You'll definitely save a ton of money.
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