The Trapps

We are still putting Isaac in cloth diapers today. People are often a bit shocked and skeptical when we mention this fact, but this is a decision that I am very happy we made.

Like the floor bed, we took a fair amount of flack for the decision to use cloth diapers. Everyone I spoke to thought I was nuts for even considering it. I'll have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when Crystal first mentioned using cloth diapers. I remember dirty diapers in toilets as a child and was less than enthusiastic about the thought of being up to my elbows scrubbing a nasty diaper. However, once Crystal explained all of the advantages, it sounded very much worth the extra effort for all of the benefits. Reduced cost ($700 vs $2000, on average), reduced diaper rash, easier potty training, avoidance of the chemicals used in disposable diapers, and, of course, a huge reduction in waste (each child in disposables adds a minimum of 6500 disposable diapers, 30% of which is non biodegradable, to landfills) were a few of the benefits. Diaper Safari, the store where we purchased our first set of diapers, goes into a bit more detail.

Of course, many of those benefits wouldn't have convinced me but for the fact that washing diapers is not much more difficult than washing your clothes (it just takes an extra couple of rinse cycles prior to washing) and using cloth diapers is only slightly more difficult than using disposable diapers. Most of the diapers we have used utilized snaps or velcro, and every modern diaper we've seen has eliminated safety pins.

Just wanted to throw that out there. I certainly understand that cloth diapers don't necessarily work for everyone, but I do think that every new parent should at least look into them. I'm glad we did.