there are many things for my little family to be thankful for. health, food, clothing, love. november has become a month of reflection of all we are thankful for, and to start off on a light note, im thankful for our decision to cloth diaper. or actually my decision since i was told babe would no longer change diapers if i switched. i was the main diaper changer anyway so it didnt matter, and after a few months he came around. there are many reasons to be thankful for cloth, and here are my top ten...
1. the cuteness
i am thankful for the cuteness of my cloth diapers. this is why i started cloth diapering. there are other reasons (some listed below) but the main reason was the cuteness of designs. sposies are pretty boring. theyre white and flat. the tabs are there. my cloth are fluffy, fun, festive, unique, and can even have fun snaps if i choose.
2. the environment
i am thankful to be doing a little to lesson my carbon footprint by using cloth. i may forget to throw all little pieces of paper in the recycling instead of the trash, but cloth diapers are the ultimate in recycling...they get used again and again and again, baby after baby (more on that in a bit). instead of helping fill a landfill every time toddler2.0 feels the call of nature, we get to lesson the garbage.
3. the cost
im thankful for cloth diapers saving me money. theoretically i could have spent under $200 and been set for life with china cheapies (less if i chose prefolds and covers). that $200 would have bought about 33 diapers which is a nice sized stash. not only wouldnt have had to buy more the entire time toddler2.0 is in cloth, but with belly3.o coming i still dont need more diapers...i can continue using the ones i already have. of course im a sucker for cute (see #1) so i have spent over that on diapers, but i didnt have to, i chose to. sposies by comparison cost about $800 a year. if you potty train at 2 thats $1600, and next baby you get to do it all over again.
4. the resale
im thankful for cloth diapers having a good resale value. when sposies are used they are trash, and that money is gone. once im finished having babies i can sell the diapers at close to what i paid for them, as long as they are still in great condition. even in bad condition i can regain some of the cost by reselling to someone who is a fixer. save money and get some refunded.
5. no middle of the night runs to the store
im thankful for cloth because i will never run out in the middle of the night and need to make an emergency walmart trip. im pretty bad when it comes to noticing im low on something disposable. if we used sposies i know i would inevitably reach for a clean diaper and find none. scary people are at walmart in the middle of the night. i dont want to go through that. as long as i do diaper wash every other day or every few days we are golden.
6. no diaper rash
im thankful for cloth diapers lessening our diaper rash. toddler2.0 has had 3 rashes in 17 months, and one was more of a reaction to a new detergent. cloth diapers are made from more natural and breathable materials, so the chance of diaper rash is reduced. my niece is in sposies and i cannot tell you the last time she didnt have some degree of diaper rash.
7. supporting small business
im thankful that buying the majority of my cloth diapers helped small businesses. a lot of them are from work at home moms, so i know my money went to support a family, not into the belly of a giant and faceless corporation like sposies. even the "bigger" cloth companies were mostly started by moms and grew. its also nice to buy USA made products, although i do have a few imports.
8. easier potty training
im thankful that cloth diapers help potty training. i dont speak from personal experience, but friends have confirmed this. when a toddler is in sposies, the wetness is wicked away so they cannot tell they are wet as easily as when in a cloth diaper. we potty trained child1.0 by putting him in undies, and it took one wet sock for him to realize he did not want to feel wet. once toddler2.0 is ready, he will be able to easier recognize and avoid wetness!
9. less toxins on the baby
im thankful that cloth diapers lessen the amount of toxins my babies come in contact with. there are toxins everywhere so unless i build bubbles they arent totally safe, but i do all i can to limit the amount around/in them. while cloth diapers are made from natural fibers, sposies are full of chemichals i cannot pronounce like sodium polyacrylare. what is that?
10. friendships
im thankful that cloth diapers have led me to be introduced to some great friends. through meetings and online, we not only share a love of fluff but friendship. i cannot name one person i bonded with over sposies when we used them on child1.0!
Contributed by: Miranda
No comments:
Post a Comment