Accidentally Green

Making Healthy Decisions That Honor God and Happen to Help the Environment

My Family’s Diapering Decisions

Long before I was pregnant I knew I’d use cloth diapers, mainly because I didn’t feel right about putting a literal ton of my child’s dirty diapers in a landfill. When I tried to convince my husband about cloth diapering, the financial savings sold him right away.

My Family's Diapering Decisions/Accidentally GreenI researched a lot of the cloth diaper varieties – Prince Charming said he didn’t want to do the “origami” kind, but something that was as easy as disposables. I chose a one-size-fits-all pocket diaper, which means the diaper size can be adjusted for baby growth, and the diaper consists of an outer covering that’s waterproof and an inner absorbent liner. We bought twenty diapers for $300. People were shocked – “you’re paying how much per diaper!?” – but we had the last laugh. After figuring how much we would have paid in disposable diapers, our “expensive” cloth diapers paid for themselves by the time our son turned 6 months old. The Velcro and leg elastic on the cloth diapers started to wear a little after a year, but I didn’t even mind, knowing we hadn’t paid for diapers in several months.

When Big Brother got older and was still in cloth diapers, his nighttime wetting became a lot heavier. His diapers did start leaking, and I wasn’t sure what to do. Because parents can stuff pocket diapers with other absorbent layers, I simply started wrapping a normal prefold cloth diaper around his cloth diaper’s microfiber liner. Suddenly, he stayed dry for his ten to twelve hours of sleep each night.

Diapering Big Brother in cloth diapers did end up being beneficial for his health. One day while scrubbing his dirty infant diapers, I noticed something moving in the diaper. Horrified, I realized it was a worm. How in the world did my precious baby get worms? I didn’t know where or how he got them, but I knew that he was infected. The next day I was able to take him to the doctor and start a prescription to treat the creepy crawly buggers. If I had used disposables, I never would’ve had a reason to look at his feces – and who knows how long the worms would’ve been around.

Unfortunately, my cloth diapering experience didn’t work out according to my original plan. Shortly after my son turned 2, his cloth diapers started to leak – when puddles of urine appeared on the floor and I was busy with my infant daughter at the time, I switched to disposables. Even though I hated seeing the dirty diapers pile up in the trash can, at least they didn’t leak. Fortunately, he only used disposables for seven months before he was potty trained. (In theory, cloth diapers can help with earlier potty training, because a child can feel wet or dirty more easily. By 19 months of age, Big Brother told us when he had a wet or dirty diaper.)

We did buy new cloth pocket diapers for our daughter, and they leaked a lot more for her than they did for her brother. I’m not sure if it was a boy vs. girl mechanical issue, or a different type of cloth diaper. Regardless of the problem, we ended up using a combination of disposable diapers and cloth diapers with her – usually cloth diapers during the day and disposables at night. Because we used both varieties, her cloth diapers didn’t wear out as quickly as Big Brothers. (In fact, I haven’t noticed much wear and tear at all.)

As a diapering veteran, I know the benefits of disposables, but would rather strictly stick to cloth diapers. For one reason, they’re so soft. Just imagine how uncomfortable it must feel to wear paper underwear! Underwear is cloth for a reason – it’s just more comfortable. Wouldn’t a baby’s tender bottom also benefit from something so gentle? Cloth diapers also are easy to use and convenient – as long as I’m able to do my laundry, I never have to run to the store at odd hours to pick up diapers because they’re always at home.

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Hilary Kimes Bernstein

Hilary Kimes Bernstein is a Christ follower, wife, mama, and journalist. She writes about making healthy decisions that honor God and happen to help the environment at Accidentally Green. Short and sweet - like her writing - Hilary is the author of several healthy living eBooks.

Lovely comments

  1. We did cloth diapers as well because of cost, healthier for the child, and the amount of trash that the average family has with disposable diapers (which take 50 years to break down.) I LOVED that we were in the green by month 7 of cloth diapering. I also loved that I could resell my stash after I was done! That was glorious.

    I’m sad to say my older son is still having trouble with potty training for good. (He’s 3.5 and still has an “accident” everyday. He also prefers to poop in his pants. Grrr.) So cloth diapering didn’t work on that front. I believe it worked for my younger son. He was in cloth from one year old till he potty trained himself at 26 months!

    We used the G Diapering system and LOVED it.
    Way to go Hilary!

    Anne F.

    Reply

  2. 1) I follow through Google Friend Connect
    2) I’m a FB fan
    3) I follow on Twitter

    and I’d LOVE to win the designer wet bag!

    I like the convenience of disposables and the honesty of moms who admit it :) I also like cloth diapers, both the old-fashioned kind like I used and the new waterproof systems with disposable liners. Using a combination seems to make good common sense. I have been trying in vain to find the old fashioned “training pants” which are very thick cotton underpants for toddlers-in-training. Anybody know where they can be found or is this a permanent thing of the past?

    Reply

  4. I am following you via GFC! We are CDing our 9 week old with a varied stash and it has been great! We use disposables here and there, but love our cloth way too much:)

    Reply

  20. I also started cloth diapering to cut down on costs…and fell in love! We started with the “origami” thing, but now we’re slowly adding to the stash. :)

    I follow your blog via GFC.

    GFC username: Jeniffer Smith
    email: elwingarwen [at] yahoo [dot] com

    Reply

  21. will like on fb as soon as fb quits acting up :)

    im a cd mom, for my last 2 kiddos, i used only disposables for the first 2 and truely wish id tried cds then! i need a new wet bag :)

    jennmcnary@yahoo.com

    Reply

  35. your accidentally green sounds exactly like our decision….. following your blog AND on FB. looking forward to reading your posts. blessings.

    a. candee
    acandee @ comcast . net

    Reply

  39. Liked you on FB
    Following through google
    Following on twitter

    We are CDing our 10 month old and it was the best choice we made. After using sposies with our son, I can’t even understand how we afforded it or dealt with all the blowouts!

    Reply

  55. 1) I follow through GFC
    2) I’ve liked the page on FB (hschweich)
    3) I follow you on Twitter (@2sleepingbabies)

    Can’t wait to read more of your posts!

    Reply

  61. Hi! I follow you through google friend connect and like you on facebook!
    Thanks so much for the giveaway!!! I am just starting out with cloth diapering and very excited about it!

    thanks,
    Dagmar
    sirentattoo at hotmail dot com

    Reply

  69. I followed blog and will follow on fb. We are just getting started cloth diapering our 5 month old and in transition between sposies and cloth. jenisunder at gmail dot com

    Reply

  70. I follow via GFC as Hillary W (enrich)

    hillbills95 at yahoo dot com

    (how horrific about the worm, but it’s true about not looking closely in a ‘sposie..!!)

    Reply

  79. We’ve been using cloth/disposable combo for the past 16 months. It’s been great for our little daughter and for us. Glad to hear that we’re not the only ones who need to use disposables at night.
    Now following you via Google follow.

    Reply

  88. We CD and LOVE it. So far we’ve found solutions to any new problem – I hope that continues!

    I follow via GFC – Elisha

    Reply

  91. I follow your blog and am a fan on facebook(sarah regenold) I’ve cloth diapered for many years and so glad that I have! I’d love a new wetbag too!

    Reply

  94. I follow you on Twitter as Crazy 4 Fluff
    crazy4fluff@yahoo(DOT)com

    — I am saddened that Cloth Diapering didn’t work out for you. I would love to be able to do some trouble shooting about WHY you had such problems with leaking! Feel free to email me!!

    Reply

  98. I just came across your page and I love it it makes me not feel bad for using disposables at night. We just started and are getting used to the cloth today was actually our first full day of cloth diapers!!! Yay for us. You make me not feel so bad about sometimes using disposables thanks. I am now going to start following on FB and your blog!!

    Reply

  104. I follow through Google Friend Connect, I’m a FB fan
    and I follow on you Twitter. :)

    I am pregnant with my first child and due May 25th. I came across your page because I am planning on cloth diapering our daughter.

    Reply

  108. and following on twitter as amb843.

    btw that link doesn’t seem to work for me, I had to search for you.

    Reply

  115. Following you on GFC! ftmalways at gmail dot com

    You should check out a post I did on my blog about how we re-waterproofed our CDs.

    Reply

  116. I started using cloth diapers after my 9 month old son needed a stool sample done and I was told to make sure I don’t take it from the diaper because it will come back positive for rotovirus from the chemicals in the diaper. That made me so nervous and I feel like I was poisoning my baby.

    Reply

  117. Hilary, I finally figured out how to “follow” your blog…lol;) Of course I follow you on facebook! :) And love it!

    Reply

  122. I’m also a facebook fan!
    Shelley Garrett

    a.k.a.
    Wifeygarrett@gmail
    (loving this blog, too!)

    Reply

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