Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Cloth Diapering: It Begins!

When Mr. T and I found out we were preggo, we began having conversations sporadically about things like co-sleeping, pacifiers, and cloth diapering. Oddly enough, because I'd never fully committed to having kids, I'd never really considered all of the options out there for how and when and where and why to raise a child.

Mr. T was very anti-pacifier (pro thumb), in favor of co-sleeping, and most definitely down with cloth diapering. I'm a big believer that you can get rid of a pacifier, but a thumb is forever, and in Israel there are a lot of kids pushing 10 years old that are still sucking their thumbs, so I made my opinions on this clear from the start. Co-sleeping scared the daylights out of me because I'm a pretty messy and aggressive sleeper because I simply don't sleep well. Covers on, covers off, covers on the floor, pillows here, there, and everywhere ... the thought of having a baby in bed with me just horrified me. But cloth diapers, that was something we could agree on.

(Note: Since the baby was born, of course, everything has gone out the window. Ash is trying to suck his thumb and we're waiting with breath bated for him to figure it out, because he won't take a pacifier. I've been co-sleeping since our first night in the baby hotel because he won't sleep alone, and so far he's still alive and well.)

Having lived in Colorado, I became a bit of a hippie, what with my then-vegan diet and frequenting farmers markets for the best in organic groceries. Cloth diapers just made sense to me, what with saving the planet and saving bucket-loads of money.

I began researching and researching and, overwhelmed with the dozens of different types of cloth diapers, I decided to think about it later, and then later became, oh man the baby is coming in a few weeks. In the meantime while trying to not think about cloth diapers, I got in touch with a few diaper companies like Charlie Banana and Bubi (review forthcoming) to see about trying their products out, as well as a local gemach to borrow some different cloth diaper brands to try out.

The kind folks at Charlie Banana sent me two sizes: One Size and XS. 

Of the few that we've tried out so far (mostly because what we have don't fit the wee one just yet), we're loving Charlie Banana, which are known as pocket snap diapers in the lingo, because they have a pocket in which you put an absorbent pad and the diaper closes with snaps. The nice thing about these is that you can add in more than one pad at a time in case you have quite the pisher and the snaps can be adjusted to accommodate the size of the baby. We've also noticed, in a short time using this brand, that they get clean much better than other brands that hold quite colorful stains. And, come on now, the designs are unbelievably creative and unique, and who doesn't want their baby to have a bit of fashion around the bum, eh?

Although a lot of people advise against purchasing newborn or XS diapers because your baby might grow out of them and/or it's a bit easier to use disposables in the first few months because of how frequently your baby is going to go through diapers, there's been something nice about at least having the one XS Charlie Banana that fits Ash like a glove. Mr. T is quite fond of Charlie Banana, and I'm guessing there will be a larger purchase of the cute nappies once we're stateside.

Are you cloth diapering? Do you have brands that you love or would recommend?