Revisiting Cloth Diapering

one of the home-made diapers before they started leaking

I admit: I totally fell off the cloth diapering train. But it’s hard. Not because the cloth diapers are hard to use. Or because they’re hard to wash. Or because of anything to do with the cloth diapers themselves. It’s hard because I’m the only one who will use them on Max. Hubby won’t. My parents won’t. His daycare provider and her helpers have good intentions, but in reality don’t.

On top of that, all of the cloth diapers that I had lovingly crafted for my little boy started leaking (ALWAYS use the good PUL – the PUL I originally got lost its waterproofing in less than 6 months). I got the supplies together to make more… and he started crawling and made sewing impossible for a few months. I didn’t want to purchase any new diapers since I had all of the materials to make them.

So I used disposable diapers for… around six months. It wasn’t horrible, and it was convenient. But. It did cost more. And there’s a lot more trash. And, well, I just prefer cloth diapering I suppose.

So I sucked it up, admitted that I wasn’t going to be sewing any new cloth diapers any time soon, and went on Ebay and found a great deal on 10 new cloth diapers. Which still haven’t arrived (it’s coming from China and apparently can take up to a month to deliver).

In the meantime I got a great windfall from my cousin – a whole bunch of cloth diapers that had lost their waterproofing that I re-waterproofed. (the ones I made were not good candidates for re-waterproofing) So I’ve been using those and I’m back on the cloth diapering train!

It’s actually been nice, I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed cloth diapering or how much I really do prefer it. As an added bonus – since Max can now feel the wet, he’s been inspired to start using the potty! Woo! He figured out how to take diapers off by himself a few weeks ago (cloth or disposable), and since then I’ve been using a Snappi to help hold the cloth ones on. He’s unimpressed with my innovation, but it works. As young as he is (less than 15 months) he’s showing definite signs of wanting to actively potty train, and that works for me!

Especially once I get the new diapers in (and confirm that they fit correctly and won’t leak), I’m hoping that I can get at least Max’s daycare provider back on board with the cloth diapering. By the time we do round two (we plan on having another baby at some point) maybe I can convince others as well. If not, well, at least I’ll be on board the cloth diapering train.

Have you fallen off the cloth diapering train? Have you gotten back on? Have you managed to stay on track the whole time?