Diapering

It has taken me until being pregnant with my third child to actually consider and take action on the idea of diapering differently. I have memories (sorry, Ben) of cloth diapering my little brother and trying my darnedest not to stick him with the huge safety pins (I was 11 years old). When we were pregnant with Sam, I considered cloth diapers, but being nervous about being a first-time mom, I decided my tactic would be to start with disposables and then switch over to cloth later.

How did that go? Go ahead. Ask me.

Well, it didn't. Disposables were easy. And, while I did think about cloth diapers now and again while diapering Sam and, then, Sadie, I always chalked the extra water used for washing those cloth diapers as the reason I wasn't going to switch.

Then, a few weeks ago, while my sister was here, she told me that she had been looking into some different diapering systems and that I should too. She said there are so many choices out there now, I should look again. I listen to my sister.

And, look I did. For a couple days, I became obsessed with the diapering decision. I looked at websites, watched videos of diapers decomposing and not decomposing in landfills over time. My sister and I had several conversations about the pros and cons and logistics of the different systems. Jamey even got on line, to get educated himself and throw his opinion into the ring.

Here is what we decided we'd try: gdiaper covers (pictured below) with bumGenius washable liners. It appears that the gdiaper covers themselves have less chance of becoming soiled because they have another built in liner-of-sorts to add an additional line of defense (which Bumgenius covers don't have). This will help avoid additional laundry. gdiapers are made to hold disposable liners (large, glorified maxi pad looking things) that can be flushed (if you don't have a septic system like we do), composted (if it has just gotten wet) or thrown in the trash since they are biogegradable. Both my sister and I are going to put the bumGenius washable liners into the gdipaer covers and keep our extra use of water to a minimum since these liners are small compared to cloth diapers.

Then, to make things even more complicated, I am going to try Nature babycares as well (maybe for outings, etc). These look and work just like regular disposables, but are biodegradbale. Now, as my intelligent sister pointed out and my intelligent husband confirmed, if they or the gdiaper disposable liners end up under a big pile of trash at the landfill, out of the sun and wind and rain, they will not decompose as quickly as they would under more optimal conditions (even though they are biodegradable). This is why we are going to use the washable liners and as few Nature Babycares as possible.

Are you following me? Pat yourself on the back if you're not confused.

I hope to have the new supplies in about a month and switch Sadie over. She's stopped napping, but still uses one diaper each night (and seems to be nowhere close to being able to keep it dry). This will give us a little taste of what we have coming with the new baby. I've read that often newborns need disposables initially because the other systems don't have sizes small enough.

Through swapping different diaper cover sizes with my sister, neither of us will have to buy all the sizes (covers are the most expensive part). In the long run, this will save us money and it will have less of an impact on the size of our landfills. I don't even want to think about how many diapers I have already sent there. So sorry, world.

Any advice or thoughts will be much appreciated. Just be nice. As I've been reading I've found that mommies can be very particular about their diapering preferences:-). I'll keep you posted on our progress in a very non-particular sort of way (I hope). Pin It