Plus there are all the awful chemicals in the diapers. I am planning on only feeding my baby organic food and using a chemical free bottle…but I am going to put dangerous chemicals against my baby’s skin? It just didn’t fit with my beliefs.

I always go on and on about the ridiculous stuff filling our landfills, so I felt like I would personally be a hypocrite if we didn’t do cloth.

I will admit it grosses me out. I am not looking forward to it. But, I know we have to do it. And I think in the long run I will be happy I put the effort in.

You will learn as you go and you really won’t know what works for you until you do it. If you research or not you will learn what things are best for you as you use them.

We will see how funny the wipe warmer is when your baby cries everytime you put a cold wipe on them when you change their diaper especially during the cold winter months! It really is inexspensive and a place that keeps the wipes moist as well. To me it’s the simple things that make diaper changing more comfortable for Lucas. But like you said everyone has different ideas about doing things and you will learn what works best for you as you go. I am learning something new each day. It is an endless journey!! A journey you will LOVE:)

So onto something actually practical, lol. I wasn’t able to breastfeed my first, my son, who was a preemie. However, in retrospect I think it could have been done. My advice would be to have a lactation consultant contact available. Some hospitals have one available to you, you can go through LLL, etc. So so helpful. Luckily my second time was super easy (in fact took until 15 months to get her completely weaned!) so there’s no way to know how it will go. But, the more info you have going in, the better your chances. Oh and check out kellymom.com. Best resource ever, and I can tell you I’m far from what’s considered a crunchy type mom (not knocking, just wanting you to know no matter where you stand, this is the resource!)
I have never cloth diapered, but really out of the lack of desire. Some swear by it but it wasn’t for me.

Whatever happens, try to remember that you are doing the best you can. I have friends who ask for advice and I always say to research and have a plan for what you want to do but be prepared that all might not go according to plan- and that’s ok too. No one ever has it all figured out.

You will be an amazing mom, that is clear from your posts! I figure any mom or mom to be that spends her time frantic over all the details (not that I did that.. ahem..) already cares and loves that baby so much. All else will fall into place!

Good luck and happy planning!! Its so much fun now that we know what we are having right??

I do have to change the baby more often because sposies hold more liquid but there goes yet another reason why I cd- I do not want my baby sitting in urine for longer than he has to. Also I am the one doing most of the caring of the baby in terms of diapering because Matt will not deal with cloth diapers. Though in the grand scheme of things he wasnt really changing all that many diapers anyway.

Leah was using the potty by 16 months and I credit cding (they feel wet sooner and learn to know when they have to go faster) and ECing (elimination communication) with her early potty training. Though honestly there wasn’t much training involved. She knew when she had to go, we were comfortable with bodily fluids and dealing with them so it wasn’t a strange introduction mixed with anxiety once she started to use the toilet.

Re: Energy Costs
I checked our electric and water bills for the past 6 months (Matt had the same concerns about energy costs). I see no big difference in terms of what we use. I guess I wash so much clothing to begin with that the added loads haven’t made much difference. Or maybe having a baby means shorter showers! haha

We have a HE washer and even with the extra two cycles (prewash, wash & extra rinse-which I do only cause we have allergy issues) there isn’t much difference in how much energy we use.

Where I did run into problems is with the dryer. Some AIOs (All In One) diapers take forever to dry so I just through them in there for one cycle and hang dry on a rack. I think if I dried them completely all the time I would see a change in the electric bill. My daytime, old school method with prefolds with snappi & fitted diapers dry without any problems and the covers are a cinch.

Re: Cost

The upfront costs can be a lot-especially if you choose to do AIOs for all changes. I don’t so I didn’t have that much of an upfront cost.

One of the reasons I love cding so much is cause the cloth diapers are so darn cute. With a boy it isn’t so easy to accessorize as it was with a girl. I find that it is easy to buy more than is needed because of the cuteness factor so I try to only get what we need. I have to curb spending or else I’d end up with way more diapers than I need for the baby.

My rule of thumb for parents who show an interest in cloth diapering is simple- “You never know until you give it a try.”

Before becoming a parent I would never have thought that I would the type of parent I am today. I swore my kids would sleep in their own cribs from day one, in their own rooms. I would’t be super attached (for some reason I thought I’d have a scheduled baby!), had zero issues with formula and disposable diapers. Since having Leah and now Louis I find myself caring more about things I only slightly cared about before. Like the environment and nutrition, and how chemicals like BPAs affect us. Adding two children to the world, to share and use up more of the world’s resources has made me more conscious of the choices we make as a family.

I don’t know how I got to where I am but I know part of getting there was ignoring what everyone else had to say about my choices. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could ever have more in common with a Crunchy Mama than a Modern Mainstream Mom.

Now I am starting on a path to start my own cloth diapering, babywearing, breastfeeding, AP business. Insanity

My point is trust YOUR instincts. Do what you (and of course hubby) feel is best. Research and planning are a good way to start but in the end trust your gut. There is that Yiddish proverb that I always remember when I think about parenting “Mann traoch, Gott lauch” -”We plan, God laughs”.

As for cribs we have a great local store that we are considering. I hope it pans out.

I have heard most is unnecessary. I am hoping to week through it all and figure it out!

I understand the benefits of cloth diapers..I’m just not sure it’s for me. I wanted it to be…but now I’m just not sure. I guess we’ll see what happens.