Modern Cloth is Pretty Easy

Though I've learned a lot about cloth diapers in the last two years, I realized today that not everyone realizes how easy it is to deal with modern cloth. It made me think that I should explain how I became a CDing mama.

I started purchasing diapers before my son was born. I bought some totally lame All-in-Ones (AOIs), washed them up about eight times to fluff up the cotton, and waited for my baby to arrive. I didn't use cloth when my son came home because, quite frankly, I couldn't do laundry by myself and I felt bad about making my husband wash diapers since he was such a help in so many other ways in those bleary-eyed early days. Once I was physically able to retrieve laundry from the washing machine, I discovered that the diapers I purchased were impossibly large and would never fit my little 8-pounder. So I put aside my cloth diapers and used disposables. Those stupid diapers still don't fit my son to this very day. . .how in the world are they marketed for infants?!

I wasn't ready to give up using cloth, so I purchased some prefold diapers and a couple of modern diaper covers. I also picked up a diaper sprayer on clearance at Home Depot - it was only $1.00! Armed with some great tools, I was amazed at how easy cloth diapers were to use.

I decided to purchase a variety of diapers to round out my stash because I only had a dozen prefolds. So I bought some pocket diapers (bumGenius), some nice & trim AIOs (bumGenius), and some fitteds (Bambineo/Bambinex?). I also picked up a variety of diaper covers (Bumkins, Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, Thirsties, & Proraps).

I truly began to enjoy diapering once I was armed with some fun diapers. Weird? Perhaps, but if you have to change diapers eight to twelve times per day, you look for something interesting to break the changing table monotony.

Then things turned very strange. I began to covet a particular type of fitted diaper that is oh-so-squishy-soft. So I bought a few used ones (yes, they had been worn by other children) in all types of patterns. . .some are very boyish and some are a little girly, okay, a lot girly, but I figure no one else will be seeing his diapers besides me. I mean, I like the diapers very much, but he's just going to poop and pee in them, so who cares about the pattern? Anyway, though I detest a two-step procedure (diaper + cover), I love these fitteds. Seeing the fun prints makes diapering, well, fun.

Dealing with poopy dipes at home is one thing, but I was still afraid to use cloth while away from home. About a month ago, I finally decided to put the kiddo in cloth full-time and it hasn't been too bad. Well, I still use disposables at night because my boy wakes up rashy after wearing cloth for twelve- to fourteen-hours at night.

Thankfully, my son doesn't often make wet or smeary poops, so it's been rather easy to use cloth full-time. Sure, there have been a couple of times that the poo doesn't roll neatly off the diaper and into a toilet, but those times have, thankfully, been rare. Overall, I wonder why I didn't transition to cloth full-time a long time ago.

That's my story. That's how I became a CDing mama.