(Let me tell you, CottonBabies REALLY stands behind their product, and they have a life long customer for it! Well..."life long" being as long as I have a child in diapers!) These are the new "Flip" diapers. They are awesome.
Anyway, it also gave me a good excuse to (once again) extol the virtues of cloth diapering!
I have always stated that my main reason for cloth diapering (or cd-ing) is the cost savings. It really does save you a ridiculous amount of money. A. LOT. Regardless if you have to pay for utilities, such as water. You. Will. Save. Money. Period. The fact that they- in my honest opinion - work better than disposables (FAR fewer poopy explosions with cloth) and are environmentally friendly was just a bonus. Until I saw this segment on Good Morning America. One of the stats they provide is that more than 50 MILLION disposable diapers are dumped in to landfills in the US EVERY DAY. That's almost TWICE the population of Canada in diapers. EVERYDAY. 18 BILLION diapers a year. Now, I knew it was a lot, but I had no idea it was that much. And that's JUST the US.
I also knew it took longer for disposables to break down, but couldn't quote you a number...now I can. FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. That's right 5-0-0. Our babies diapers will still be breaking down for 16 generations. That's our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren. O.M.G.
Now, I feel I should fess up...Eric has not been exclusively cloth diapered. He was in disposables for about the first 4 weeks, and then after that, in disposables for night time and outings. Then around 9 months, we started exclusively cd'ing, even at night. Turns out, the overnight contact with the ammonia gives him diaper rash, so we are back to a disposable at night. But, by comparison - we are contributing about 365 diapers a year to a landfill...as opposed to the average families 1875. I think THAT is something to be proud of. (Not to mention that's a savings of about $580 a year!)
I rave about my cloth diapers to my girlfriends (or anyone who will listen) every chance I get. I really DO love it. We recently had to use disposables for about 3 weeks straight, while my dipes were being replaced, and I HATED it. They leaked, there were stinky garbages everywhere...ick. They are far grosser to me than cloth.
Anyway, on to the BEST part! A great store in Heslper (Cambridge) is offering a cloth diaper trial! Eaton Family EcoBabies is offering a Cloth Diaper Trial that includes several of the most popular brands/types of cloth diapers! Check it out here. Kristin Eaton is WONDERFUL, and always available to answer any questions you have.
So I put the challenge to all of you - but ESPECIALLY my girlfriends who still have kids in diapers, or who are expecting (first OR second OR third - it's NEVER too late to start.)
PLEASE - TRY IT! YOU'LL LIKE IT!
And if you decide not to, that's ok too...but be prepared to answer me this: Give me ONE good reason why not.
