Confessions of a Cloth Diaper Heretic

I cloth diaper which gets me some odd looks when another mom at the park realizes this. They think I'm one of the granola crunching, hippie mommies of the island. But I harbor a dark secret. I am a cloth diaper heretic. Ask a person why they cloth diaper and generally what you hear is how much better it is for the environment and how much more natural it is for their baby's skin. But that's not why I do it. I cloth diaper because of how much money it saves me. To date with two kids I've probably saved almost $3000. That's a big hunk of change when one parent doesn't work.

Cloth diaper advocates say it's not disgusting. It is. But diapering in general is disgusting. Have a kid and whether you use cloth or disposables you are still dealing with urine and feces. Much like a zookeeper. So it's not much more disgusting and when you remember how much money you're saving that negates the nastiness. Mostly.

And yes, cloth diapering take more time. Not to diaper the kid but to wash the diapers and dry the diapers and then (in my case) to stuff the diapers. Have two kids in cloth diapers and you'll begin to fantasize about taking a sledge hammer to your washing machine. But with time, I've streamlined the process and accepted it is extra work.

As for the environmental aspect, I truly believe cloth diapering is less destructive to our ecosystem but it's still not perfect. The waterproof material used in many diapers (PUL) requires harsh chemicals to produce. Diaper washing uses a fair amount of water. But disposables use more chemicals and require more water than one cloth diaper that if properly maintained will last a long time. My kids are proof.

So despite being a heretic, I will continue to cloth diaper my brood. I don't sing it's praises from the highest mountain but I do like to tell people how much money I've saved.