Defying Convenience: Some Reasons to Consider Cloth Diapering

When I was a new mom, I don’t think I gave more than a fleeting thought to the idea of using cloth diapers.  It seemed…overwhelming at the very least, and the whole “I have to keep this delicate fragile being alive” thing was already almost too much to handle for a scared and nervous first-time mom.  

Enter babies number two and three.  While the fear factor diminished with each birth, the “barely keeping it together” phase kicked in, and again, the thought of adding more chaos to my day with the care and cleaning involved in using cloth diapers was far from realistic for me.

Looking back now, 6 years after my last baby was born, I realized a few things about that time in my life.  First, I spent A LOT of money on diapers, wipes and Diaper Genie refills.  Second, it is not considered a “serious medical condition” (I’m looking at you, mother-in-law; you are not a doctor) when you can’t remember your own name. And third, I don’t think I really understood the truly, truly negative impact of disposable diapers on the environment.

 The effects of both manufacturing diapers, and dumping diapers into landfills, were doing more harm to the future of my kids’ planet’s natural resources than I should have ever sacrified in the name of convenience.  Not even in the name of staying sane.  Because really?  Sanity is for overachievers. 

 So what, if anything, would have made a difference in those early confusing and crazy years?  What would have rocked my world enough to jar me out of my deer-in-the-headlights kind of thinking?

 Perhaps if I had someone to nudge my conscious and explain to me that cloth diapering IS NOT AS HARD AS YOU THINK, and that the benefits to my child’s world FAR outweigh the convenience of disposables, then maybe, just maybe, I would have taken the time to try. 

 Here are some statistics

• The average baby uses 6000 diapers before potty training
• 49 million disposable diapers are used per day in the United States
• It takes petroleum-based disposable diapers 200 to 500 years to decompose

 If you already have a baby, then I’m sure you realize the error in these statistics.  49 million was actually the number of diapers used in my house alone, and that was on a good day.

 I’m not going to get into the technicalities of cloth diapering; I’m more like a cheerleader, to let you know that no matter how overwhelmed and tired you are, that by making the choice to give cloth diapers a chance you are doing a HUGE service to the planet on which your children will grow up.