Worth It For One

When I had my first baby, I wasn't ready. She had threatened to come early from 29 weeks on, keeping me off my feet for six weeks, and finally came at 35 weeks. She was healthy, and home in four days, but what every normal mom does in the final weeks of pregnancy was lost to me. No nursery prep, no washing clothes, no begging for the pregnancy to be over.

I was so glad she was healthy, but I had been so afraid of her arrival that I didn't feel ready for her to be here. But she was. And as any mom of a preemie knows - - heck, EVERY mom knows - - those new babies are demanding. And your first, doubly so, because you are pretty much in shock of the lifestyle change. Pretty much, you do what works. In short, cloth diapers never even entered my mind.

When I saw Pam's cloth diapering demo at a local mom's group, I was impressed with the diapers, but I wasn't ready to take on anything new. I had just gotten a grasp of our new family routine, baby was over six months old, and I just didn't have any brain space to make the switch to cloth diapers.

Two years later, when Baby 2.0 was on her way, I knew that I wanted to try cloth diapering. I had seen the amount of diapers and plastic and packaging and wipes traipsing out to the garbage via my household and I knew I didn't want to contribute another child's worth of garbage to the environment. Also, we knew that I was likely not returning to work for some time after the new baby, so cost was certainly a factor. When you look at the numbers, there is no comparison!

We waited until our new baby girl was 10 lbs (around 6 or 8 weeks) and then we dove in and bought our diaper set, the one-size AMP pocket duos. We opted for the microfibre inserts, intending to lay them 'on top' of the cover (as opposed to actually inserting them into the pocket), so as to make use of each cover twice, decreasing on washing. We also use the Applecheeks disposable liners.

Baby Alice in her AMP Diaper

And I love the lifestyle change. I love not carrying poop-smeared garbage bags to my bin twice a week. I don't mind rinsing a poopy diaper here and there - really, it's NOT that bad. And my peace of mind more than makes up for it.

Plus, baby seems happy. And her bottom is SO cute. 

A couple of people have asked us, since we are openly thinking that this will be our last baby, 'Why spend the money and take on the hassle of cloth diapering for only one child?' Well, aside from knowing I'm doing a good deed for the environment, did I mention I'm going to make at least half of my money back when I sell them after I'm done with them? I'm saving over $2000! 

And if you'll excuse me, I'm off to contemplate what to spend it on...

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Thanks for sharing your cloth diapering journey with us Sara! Every cloth-diapered bottom makes a difference to the environment!

Sara is a work-from-home mom who does PR and graphic design while caring for a three-year-old and seven-month-old. Between spending time with her sword-collecting addictions-counselling husband and generally trying to keep the house from falling apart, she enjoys running a community group for young moms, furniture refinishing, cooking, and sitting down for coffee as often as possible.