My Week with Disposables

When I took my little guy for his six-month check-up, his pediatrician diagnosed his persistent diaper rash as a yeast infection.  This meant ten days of antibiotic cream and ten days with no cloth diapers, to let the infection clear up. Meanwhile, all the cloth diapers and cloth wipes were bleached.  That left us with disposable diapers and wipes for the ten day period.  After almost two and a half years of cloth diapering, it was quite eye opening.

Some things (I have to admit) were nice.  Disposable diapers have the advantage of being more compact.  I wouldn't need as large a diaper bag. Or I could fit even more into my diaper bag--like more wraps.  

On the other hand, I'm going to be really happy to get back into cloth. Here's why.  

1.  When we were out and baby boy pooped, I was unsure what to do with the diaper. Of course it was always at someone else's house. Or at the doctor's office where there is a big "no poopy diaper" sign on the trash can.  So, I ended up bagging it and bringing it back home. Not that different from cloth--except I was just carrying around straight trash.  And it was a lot messier than a cloth poopy diaper.  Which brings me to number 2 (pun intended). 

2.  The clothing changes.  Baby's spare clothes will stay in the diaper bag for weeks at a time--sometimes he even outgrows them without getting to use them.  But we had to change outfits for almost every poopy diaper.  Anyone who says they don't want to cloth diaper because they don't want poop in the washer doesn't know the power of the blowout.  

3. There's more about the poop.  It was harder to clean off with the disposable.  Slimier.  Ick.  I had to use way more wipes. 

4. Stink.  I discovered that I really dislike the combination of the smell of pee and plastic.  

5. I was naively surprised by the amount of trash.  We take our own trash to the landfill (country living), so we are super aware of the amount of trash we generate.  

6. It was inconvenient!  We were running low on disposables and snow was coming. Cue panic and sending of husband to the store, where he then had to text me with lots of questions because we've barely done this before.  Sure, we have to remember to wash diapers, but we always have back-up diapers.  

7. It was expensive.  We spent $20 on diapers for this ten day period. Granted, we have a few left over, but still!  We'd probably spend anywhere between $40 and $60 a month on diapers.  

Luckily, my son didn't react negatively to any of the disposable diapers we tried. My daughter broke out in a rash whenever she wore disposable diapers.  

The seventh reason is what really stands out in my mind.  We're really lucky that we can afford disposable diapers.  One in three families have to cut back on food or utilities to afford diapers.  This is why I have become a Share the Love host.  Share the Love is a cloth diaper donation bank run by Cotton Babies.  Local hosts collect donations and distribute them to families who just need a little bit of extra help.  If you have cloth diapers you are no longer using, I strongly encourage you to email sharethelove@cottonbabies.com