Why I Love Disposable Diapers But Why I’m Also Considering The Switch

Here’s the thing.  If there is one part of parenting I don’t enjoy- it’s poop. And pee. And let’s just add throw-up in there too. Not baby spit-up, like real deal, vomit inducing, kid throw up caused by coughing or illness. I’ve been covered in all three more times than any Mom would really care to be regardless of how cute your kids are.  Disposable diapers pretty much handle two of those three issues. There is no help for the last one.

*I feel like I have to mention that Brandon is really the one who handles most messy issues in our house.  His gag reflex must not be working because he handles/washes all bodily fluid like a champ. Thank God we are married. 

Now I’m no tree hugging, granola munching, up on my pedestal Save-The-Earth-Do-Gooder, but lately I have been thinking more about the choices we are ALL making in regards to the planet.  Call me paranoid but I saw To The Arctic Omnimax show with Brandon and Lilly at the Science Center and now I’m scared that there will be no polar bears left on Earth if I don’t do something to change our families carbon footprint. Be the change, right?

So I did a little research on cloth diapers.  Posted the cloth diaper question to my Mommy friends on FB. Read some reviews etc. etc.  I was actually pretty shocked to read all of the statistics about the waste created by disposable diapers.  Yuck- for real.  I read that disposable diapers MIGHT biodegrade in 500 years but no one is sure. And I read that parents are supposed to dispose of solids in the toilet and then throw the diaper away. My Mom does this.  I do this now too.  But I didn’t for so long and chances are many of you didn’t either.  Now all I can think about is a mountain of full diapers leeching disgusting-ness into the ground on the Earth we live in. Double Yuck.

Then the skies opened up and I saw Charlie Banana’s line of cloth diapers available at Target. They are a hybrid diaper which means you can kind of pick and choose when you want to go partially disposable and when you want fully reusable cloth. Cool! Sounded like my kind of commitment.  Yes cloth diapers- kind of, sometimes, maybe occassionally… so really no full commitment at all, haha. Definitely sounds like me.

The skies opened up again when Charlie Banana kindly sent me two free diapers to try (and review here for you!) with 4 reusable inserts.  Then we got a pack of disposable inserts, and a pack of flushable liners to complete the cloth diaper test kit.

First impression- these are the softest damn things I have ever felt. They’d make a pretty fantastic waterproof picnic blanket.

Second impression- a little bit bulky.  Will the extra fabric bother my kids?

Third impression- seems like there are endless ways to snap the sides to help them fit my children in the best way possible.

Fourth impression- so freaking cute!

And here they all are, packaged up sweetly in cute little color families in the aisles of my favorite Target baby section.  I love that you can actually see them, feel them, test out the snaps etc. before committing to buying. Awesome! 

Fifth impression- I’m actually scared to try them.  What if we have accidents? Leaks? Discomfort?

Here is how I am approaching this experiment: We are going to simply give it a try. No strings. If it’s not for us, no great loss.

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Fast forward to us actually trying them:

In lieu of a pull-up, Lilly slept in Charlie Banana pants as we’re calling them, for the first time a few nights ago.  Shockingly she was dry in the morning.  She woke up and declared, “I didn’t pee my banana pants, Mom!” Sweet. We’ll see how long that lasts. She’s fully daytime potty trained and only needs a pull up at nap time and night time.  Maybe this will scoot her along to conquer those other two times as well.

We’ve since been using a Charlie Banana at her nap and bed times and so far so good. She loves the colors, thinks they are oh so soft, and wakes up dry most of the time.  When she is “wet” the reusable, washable liners slide right out (so easily!) and aren’t sopping wet and messy like I thought they’d be.  I toss them in a bucket of fresh water and wash them every other day. Lilly never has any crazy red marks from the elastic waistband or anything like that and she hasn’t had a single complaint. I may end up buying a few more reusable diapers just so I never have to buy pull-ups again!

Next up was experiment number two with Gracie.  She’s extremely petit so I was curious to see how these fit her.  The verdict?  They snap comfortably at the waist and seem not to bother her at all. On the contrary- she seems pretty comfortable in them.  These diapers on their tightest possible snap fit Grace at 14 months old and 14 pounds.  Unlike Lilly, she of course still poops in her diapers.  I use a flushable liner on top of the reusable insert to catch any solids that need to be disposed of in the toilet.  The flushable liner is thin and soft and feels kind of like a dry baby wipe. Love that!

Gracie and I spent the day in the hospital this week and I dared to venture out with ONLY cloth diapers.  Granted I used the disposable liners, but still- we did great! After a diaper change, I trashed the liner, then bagged up the diaper neatly in the wet pack and stashed it in my diaper bag. When I got home all I had to do was toss the diaper into the water bucket to wash the next morning.

Now that it’s warming up, I’ll be happy to pop a dress on Grace and let that cute little CB diaper bum peak out.

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So here’s the real deal from a disposable diaper loving Mother-

Cloth diapers are no longer scary to me. They aren’t ridiculously messy or disgusting, and these particular Charlie Banana diapers are so freaking cute I can’t stand to put pants on Grace.  We may go back and forth for awhile. But there is huge huge savings here even if I only go so far as to never buy another pull-up again. We’ll definitely be getting a few more diapers for this collection and use them when it’s practical for our family.

We can drastically reduce the amount of disposable diapers we use and look cute doing it.

Thanks CB!