Forecast: high of 70, low of 39 degrees. Ryan is working in the Adirondacks this week, so it will be me and the babe taking care of the animals and getting after projects this week. Hawkeye is 7 months old today.
My current diapering set up: merino wool pull up covers over flats folded in a modified origami fold for a high rise in front. Cloth wipes and a peri bottle full of water to clean the booty. A couple weeks ago we started potty training him, so we are doing a combination of diapers and a tiny potty. This transition has reduced our diaper use from around 12/day to around 6/day.
Today’s #flatschallenge prompt: why cloth diapers?
We chose to use cloth diaper for a few reasons. 1. They are cheaper than disposable diapers, and we need to save every penny we can. 2. We don’t have to take them to the dump after he soils them. 3. My sister used cloth when she had her first baby almost 15 years ago, and that was the first baby I ever held. 4. I never run out, and he never sits in a dirty diaper, so he rarely gets a rash. 5. It makes potty training easy for us.
Cost. Flats are a cheap diapering option, so that’s what we chose. I didn’t know about them until I was pregnant and googled cloth diapering off grid, since we don’t have a washing machine or running water. Flats are just one price of cloth so they’re easy to hand wash. You can make them out of any clean absorbent baby safe cloth, like a t-shirt, cut into squares. I decided to buy our diaper stash second hand. It included a couple dozen clotheez flats, three 6-12 month old disana wool covers, and three one size pul snap covers all originally purchased from #greenmountaindiapers. It saved me money, and gave the Mamma I bought them from a return on her investment. I was also gifted some cloth flats by family friends at a baby shower.
No landfill. We take our trash to the dump and pay by the bag, so I really wanted to avoid having to add more to our trash.
Familiarity. My sister used cloth, so I knew it was an option.
Supply. I have enough flats that we can keep them clean by either washing by hand or taking them to the laundromat every few days. I also feel good that if I had to I could origami fold a clean tshirt or another piece of cloth rather than have them sit in a dirty diaper. As a result, they don’t get rashes.
Potty training. Because cloth doesn’t wick away moisture in the same way a disposable diaper does, our babe always tells us when they pee or poo. So once the babe was able to reliably sit up on their own at six months old, I decided I’d try early potty training since they so communicative. So far it’s going well and I don‘t regret it. He has a little potty from #tinyundies, and I set it front of a little wooden kids stool with toys. Today they woke up from their nap with a dry diaper, did their business on their potty, then nursed back to sleep. It’s not for everybody, but hand washing and laundry are way faster without poo diapers (even exclusively breastfed poo), and so far since we’ve started potty training we have only had pee diapers, the babe reliably poos on the potty.
Diaper washing status: dirty diapers hanging on the clothesline to dry and sun before a wash in the bucket.
