Going Green

I'm selling a bunch of G-Diapers on Ebay. In theory, they seem like a fantastic idea, but in reality, they are a pain in the ass- all Green benefits aside. Now don't let this lead you to believe that I've given up on going cloth. Far from it. In fact, just this week I made the complete cross over to an all cloth diapering system for my Buddy Boy (I had been slowly working up to this point and incorporating them into our daily routine more and more, and using disposables less and less- now not at all). Although I'm nixing the G-Diapers, I just had to find a cloth diaper that worked for me. While pregnant, I did a ton of research and ordered several different brands and styles: from the old school Chinese pre-fold cloth diapers with covers (the kind our grandmothers probably used plus covers), to pocket diapers to All-in-ones to G-Diapers to the ones I've decided to go with...BumGenius 3.0 (they sound fancy, and yes, they are pretty fancy). Some are way more maintenance than others and some are way more expensive than others due to the need to buy up a size as the baby grows. The kind I'm using- BumGenius- is a one-size pocket diaper All-in-One that adjusts to fit as Jude grows to be a bigger and bigger Hambino. They are greeeeeat.

It's funny to me how, before Jude was born, Taylor got a lot of scrutiny and teasing from certain friends and family about their disbelief in my ability to handle cloth diapers...interesting how that scrutiny and teasing was never directed at me- all the smiling faces and nodding and going along with my vocalized plans to use them...all the while half of those people were secretly laughing at my seemingly naive plans to go that extra mile and do my part to save the planet from my share of tons of shitty and urine soaked diapers that will rot the Earth in landfills for the next 500 years....but whatever. It makes me laugh now. At first when I was pregnant, and Taylor shared with me how some people (no names) had ongoing bets to see how long we'd last with them (is this just me, or is that otherwise known as rooting for my failure???? How rude!), I got really pissed off about it. I think that might have just been mostly pregnancy hormones though, because in all honesty, I've learned that when it comes to this motherhood business, it's important not to pay attention to what other people think or feel about your choices and decisions as a parent. They are irrelevant. Besides, I've dealt with people raising their eyebrows at me like that a lot throughout my life, and that kind of "I'll bet she can't do it" or "What is she thinking?" mindset directed at me has always only made me more resilient and determined to do my thing the way I want to do it anyways.

SO- the cloth is working great for us. It has taken some experimenting and getting used to- and an upfront investment financially- but I like it. If you calculate how much money you spend on disposables throughout a child's diaper wearing years (infant to potty training time, so roughly 2-3 years), you actually save several thousands of dollars. I did the math. Taylor has taught me all about investing our money better- since I was once terrible TERRIBLE with budgeting money and he is the Man when it comes to financial know good and making the most of what we have. It seems like a lot at first- several hundreds of dollars and more work than just tossing a throw away out of sight out of mind- but splurging on our baby is something that, like most mothers, I'm happy to do.

I'm not going to lie- I used disposables while Jude was a newborn. Being a first time mom and adjusting to the sheer capacity of newness and work and lack of sleep etc. that goes along with it was not the time to be overwhelming myself with washing crappy diapers (and, I discovered, newborns poop like every time you change them and I just couldn't keep up...I tried!). Every time we would change out that Diaper Genie and would haul that heavy bag of dirty diapers to the trash I felt guilty and disgusted at the same time knowing where they were going. I personally feel better and relieved with my switch to all cloth (now that Jude's digestive system has slowed down to a manageable speed!).

It takes a little bit of extra effort and work, and it definitely is not for everyone, but if you have the time, I think it's a great way to give those corporate diaper companies the finger and say "You are not my only option and I want to do my part to reduce the carbon footprint your products are making on our poor, deteriorating planet."

You can check out the BumGenius 3.0 here:

BumGenius