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Research Mode: On (cloth diapers)
I am kind of interested in using cloth diapers with Ducky. Maybe. Well, I am thinking that it's our best option, but I'm still not sure that it's the right one for us. I don't know if I* would like it, or if I could stay with it, or if the dirty diaper laundry would drive me crazy. My own reasons for considering it, if anyone is curious, has to do with the amount of money that you literally throw away, the amount of waste (both diaper and human waste) that ends up in landfills and the health benefits. Honestly, the original factor was that disposable diapers have *possibly* been linked to male infertility. That's when M and I started wondering about the ethics of us, as an infertile couple, using a product that we are aware might lead to the same problem in our kid. (By the way, please don't take this wrong. I really have no opinion about how someone else diapers their kids. It's not something we feel strongly about, just something that we have discussed upon occasion and committed to researching more before deciding. I don't have stats handy about what sort of link it is, or how accurate it is--that's part of what I plan to research. It is entirely likely that we will end up using disposables with any and all of our kids, regardless of what said research finds. But, have you met me? I WORRY. And then I Google.)
Anyway, the world of cloth diapering is big and complicated, and I began delving into the researching tonight. There are all these abbreviations and a variety of types and methods and there are a blue million moms selling their own diaper supplies on their websites. It's a completely foreign language to me, but I'm gradually picking up on it. I think Google is pretty adequately prepared with resources to help me decide whether or not I should give it a whirl and how to get started, and I've bookmarked the LJ community, etc. It's the more personal side I was curious about.
1. Have any of you done the cloth diaper thing? Considered it? Tried it? Known people who did it successfully? Decided against it for a practical reason that I'm not thinking about? Had no interest in it?
2. Will you make fun of me if I use cloth diapers?
3. Will you make fun of me if I decide, before actually having a baby, to use cloth diapers and then give it up because it's driving me crazy?
4. Am I too concerned with what people think about the whole diaper deal, as judging from these last three questions? I think I may be worried about the reaction from my family, who I suspect will be ready to see an insult that isn't intended. I love them but I know how they are.
5. Am I just thinking about this because I am contrary and weird and like to make things difficult for myself?
6. How much self-reflection is actually involved in a decision like this, anyway? I think I should have skipped that pop psychology class in college.
*M is also involved in this decision, but he is of the opinion that I am the one who does laundry, and so I get to make the final decision. I think he's generally in the pro-cloth camp, but from a theoretical standpoint rather than a practical one. On a secondary note, this will also probably be a joint cloth/disposable household even if we go that route, because I think that disposables are what daycares require. (Not positive there, but that's my impression.)
There are an embarrassing number of disclaimers in this post. I need to work on that--and I did edit out half of them. You all should know that I think you're good parents, or I wouldn't ask for your opinions, but there are nasty places on the internet called "mommy blogs" where trolls lurk and say mean things about the way one raises their kids, and I have spent too much time in those scary places.
Anyway, the world of cloth diapering is big and complicated, and I began delving into the researching tonight. There are all these abbreviations and a variety of types and methods and there are a blue million moms selling their own diaper supplies on their websites. It's a completely foreign language to me, but I'm gradually picking up on it. I think Google is pretty adequately prepared with resources to help me decide whether or not I should give it a whirl and how to get started, and I've bookmarked the LJ community, etc. It's the more personal side I was curious about.
1. Have any of you done the cloth diaper thing? Considered it? Tried it? Known people who did it successfully? Decided against it for a practical reason that I'm not thinking about? Had no interest in it?
2. Will you make fun of me if I use cloth diapers?
3. Will you make fun of me if I decide, before actually having a baby, to use cloth diapers and then give it up because it's driving me crazy?
4. Am I too concerned with what people think about the whole diaper deal, as judging from these last three questions? I think I may be worried about the reaction from my family, who I suspect will be ready to see an insult that isn't intended. I love them but I know how they are.
5. Am I just thinking about this because I am contrary and weird and like to make things difficult for myself?
6. How much self-reflection is actually involved in a decision like this, anyway? I think I should have skipped that pop psychology class in college.
*M is also involved in this decision, but he is of the opinion that I am the one who does laundry, and so I get to make the final decision. I think he's generally in the pro-cloth camp, but from a theoretical standpoint rather than a practical one. On a secondary note, this will also probably be a joint cloth/disposable household even if we go that route, because I think that disposables are what daycares require. (Not positive there, but that's my impression.)
There are an embarrassing number of disclaimers in this post. I need to work on that--and I did edit out half of them. You all should know that I think you're good parents, or I wouldn't ask for your opinions, but there are nasty places on the internet called "mommy blogs" where trolls lurk and say mean things about the way one raises their kids, and I have spent too much time in those scary places.
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I never considered it because I don't have the time to be doing any extra laundry - we barely can keep on top of the laundry we already have - and when Ingrid was born our laundry set up was far from ideal (dryer in the basement which could only be reached by going outside and down 200 year old stone steps, in winter, in the dark, etc.). I do know people who have done it, and I guess, therefore, they've been successful, but I never asked them a lot of questions about it.
2. Will you make fun of me if I use cloth diapers?
Never!
3. Will you make fun of me if I decide, before actually having a baby, to use cloth diapers and then give it up because it's driving me crazy?
Never!
4. Am I too concerned with what people think about the whole diaper deal, as judging from these last three questions? I think I may be worried about the reaction from my family, who I suspect will be ready to see an insult that isn't intended. I love them but I know how they are.
Yes, you are too concerned but that is you and you are 100% spot on about your family but what else is new? Don't tell them you are thinking about it and then just cross that bridge when you come to it.
5. Am I just thinking about this because I am contrary and weird and like to make things difficult for myself?
No, you are thinking about it because this is what people expecting their first baby do. I did a lot of this kind of searching out information, trying to decide what was good and what was right for us, when I was pregnant with Ingrid. By the time I was pregnant with Anders most of those questions had already been answered or I didn't have the time to care enough to do something other than the familiar. If I'd had this journal back with my first pregnancy, it would have looked a lot like yours does with these concerns.
6. How much self-reflection is actually involved in a decision like this, anyway? I think I should have skipped that pop psychology class in college.
Self-reflection is good. Just don't get stuck there and you'll be fine.
Here's some assvice for you. Look for diaper services. The daycare we had the children at as babies would do cloth diapering and even offered to set up an account with a diaper service if there were enough interested parties, but there were not. I contemplated switching because I so liked the idea of a diaper service (which was how my mother survived lo those many years with those many children in diapers) but we lived too far away from the service for them to do our home as well and I so didn't like the idea of hauling stinky diapers around in my car to drop them off with the service.
no subject