Mr. Crafty Nest vs. Cloth Diapers
by: Mr. Crafty Nest
Mr. Crafty Nest is dad to Logan (10 months old) and husband to Vanessa of The Crafty Nest. A computer geek, video game-aholic and first time cloth diapering dad.
Like I said in my Home Birth story, when I first heard about cloth diapering, I wasn’t so sure about it. I mean come on, sounds gross right? Visions of poopy, smelly diapers rumbling around in my washer ensued. However, I listened to my wife about what modern day cloth diapering was all about, and I’m glad I did.
When Logan first arrived on the scene, we used disposables for the first day or two to avoid messing up our new cloth diapers with meconium poop – you know, the sticky, tarry mess that makes a guy think his child is an alien with an oil leak. I’m telling you, I had an easier time putting on the cloth diaper than the tiny newborn disposables. I tended to make the disposables too loose, and that would cause leaks and blowouts. The velcro or snaps on the cloth diapers are just tougher and feel more solid compared to the cheap sticky stuff on disposables, too.
First of all, let me tell all the guys out there what they want to hear: cloth diapering will save you MONEY…green…moolah…the cheddar. It’s a bit of an investment up front, but if you compare cloth to the long term costs of disposables you’ll find that you’re saving some seriously good money here. If you have more kids further down the line, they can inherit the existing diapers, too, skyrocketing your savings! (Mr. Crafty Nest has a degree in Accounting)
Second, cloth is better for the environment. Disposables don’t break down very well in the land fills (if at all). Sure, we’re going to be using tons of hot water and Crunchy Clean, as well as electricity for the washer and dryer, but I feel that we’re doing much less damage to Mother Nature with cloth.
Third, cloth is fashionable! You can get awesome prints on these things, like race cars, construction vehicles, heck I even saw a Space Invaders print! Good thing I’ve stopped starting new collections or my son would have WAY too many cloth diapers just because his Dad had to have a certain print.
The Cons are few: yes poop and pee are gross, and for extra messy diapers I have to break out the special sprayer I installed by our toilet bowl – which is kinda fun to use admittedly, the thing has power! Also, we have to wash diapers every other day, and each wash has multiple phases: an initial rinse; then a wash with diaper detergent; then 2 more cold rinses; and finally the high heat setting on the dryer. This can eat up some time, but we’ve been doing this for almost 9 months and have it down to a science. We’re able to multi-task pretty well by now.
My favorite type of cloth diaper is what Vanessa tells me is called an “All In Two”. They are built with guys in mind. It’s super simple! A water proof outer cover with snap buttons, and replaceable inner liners that are easily placed in the middle of the cover…no stuffing these things in place. The most complicated part is setting it up for the baby’s current size, but I let Vanessa do that, heh!
Overall, I can’t recommend modern cloth diapering enough. If you care about your wallet and/or the environment, you MUST give this method some serious thought.