My daughter was born nearly a month ago (in fact, I'm typing this one-handed as I sit here nursing her at 2 a.m.) and I've already started to chastize myself. Not as a bad mother, mind you, but as a bad greenie. In the almost four weeks that my daughter has existed on the outside, she has only been in a handful of cloth diapers. (There, I said it.) Both my husband and I feel very strongly about making sustainable, ecologically friendly choices as well as raising our child with a simple, product-limited philosophy. There was never really any doubt we wanted to use cloth diapers, although we agreed before the birth that we would do disposables while we were in the hospital and until we got settled in at home and were ready to get into a routine. A week, tops. But we spent her second week away from home visiting my parents, and while we gave the cloth dipes a trial run during that time, we ended up using sposies since it was easier for my folks, who were doing a lot of the babyminding while my husband and I got caught up on some rest. Then, our daughter developed a mild yeast rash on her bum, and we gritted our teeth and decided that to avoid having to go through the time-consuming process of stripping the cloth dipes to prevent re-infection with the yeast, we'd just keep on with the disposables until the rash cleared up.
Which brings us to today - a rash free bottom and the end of the (good) excuses for using the disposables... and I find that I'm filled with dread. Granted, we only tried the cloth diapers for a couple days - far too short a time to get into a rhythm with it - but they seemed like such a hassle compared with the sposies. Now, lest you think I'm just grade-A lazy, I should say that I do suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome and am having to be very cautious about my energy expenditures as I recover from the birth. In fact, one of the situations in which my husband and I figured we might need to fall back on a temporary sposie contingency period was the event of a flare of my illness, so I've been trying to comfort myself with the idea that this is also a situation where we are having to make some concessions due to my need for extra rest. I've also tried to rationalize it by our use of "eco-friendly" disposables - chlorine free, made from renewable materials, some biodegradable components, no chemical gels, etc, but that's a small comfort - it's still a throwaway hunk of junk. And despite the fact that my daughter looks simply adorable in her bright orange cloth diaper cover, I'm really struggling with the idea of giving up the convenience of the sposies. I keep hoping that the sight of the bulging garbage bag will bring me to my senses and that once I bite the bullet and get in the flow with the cloth I won't look back, but for now I feel pretty weak. Here's hoping this passes soon.
Which brings us to today - a rash free bottom and the end of the (good) excuses for using the disposables... and I find that I'm filled with dread. Granted, we only tried the cloth diapers for a couple days - far too short a time to get into a rhythm with it - but they seemed like such a hassle compared with the sposies. Now, lest you think I'm just grade-A lazy, I should say that I do suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome and am having to be very cautious about my energy expenditures as I recover from the birth. In fact, one of the situations in which my husband and I figured we might need to fall back on a temporary sposie contingency period was the event of a flare of my illness, so I've been trying to comfort myself with the idea that this is also a situation where we are having to make some concessions due to my need for extra rest. I've also tried to rationalize it by our use of "eco-friendly" disposables - chlorine free, made from renewable materials, some biodegradable components, no chemical gels, etc, but that's a small comfort - it's still a throwaway hunk of junk. And despite the fact that my daughter looks simply adorable in her bright orange cloth diaper cover, I'm really struggling with the idea of giving up the convenience of the sposies. I keep hoping that the sight of the bulging garbage bag will bring me to my senses and that once I bite the bullet and get in the flow with the cloth I won't look back, but for now I feel pretty weak. Here's hoping this passes soon.
For me, cloth diapers, just like any of the million other things that become a new part of "normal" when you have a baby, just become part of the routine. The folding, the washing, the more frequent changes, all just become part of what it means to care for your baby. I dreaded moving into cloth with the second, but was again happy once I made the transition (when her umbilical cord finally dried up and fell off at 6 weeks old!) Don't give yourself a hard time. Use them gradually at first, reserving the disposables for times like extended periods of sleep, travel, etc, and it'll grow on you. The trash and cash definitely will be an incentive too! Good luck. Also, it gets easier as they get older because they don't need to be changed as often. Hope this helps!
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