No More Cloth Diapers


I think I may have just washed my last cloth diaper.

No, nobody potty trained.  This post is actually an act of crunchy heresy.  I have switched to disposables.

I was never a die-hard cloth diaper woman.  I can admit it- I wasn't motivated by chemicals or environmental impact.  I did cloth because I couldn't afford not to.  

Then one day we had a bunch of throw-out diapers and my husband kept putting them on the baby and I finally asked- "Are we not doing cloth anymore?"  And he said- "No."

I had a bin full of grody cloth diapers and I just looked at them.  They taunted me.  "Wash me," they said. 

I finally washed them today.  And  I think they will be rags. 

I guess I can't be sure.  I might go back to cloth one day.  Maybe all my readers will leave vile messages about how only devil worshipers use bleached disposables from Costco.  Maybe somebody will get a horrid rash or never potty train.  (My last cloth baby still likes to pee whenever so I don't buy that reason for cloth anymore.  I finally just started letting her pee in the panties.)  Do you know that people act like genitals simply explode if exposed to disposable diapers?  They do.  (Not the exploding part- the part about people saying that.)

You know what I can admit though?

I have had four kids and changed thousands of diapers and I can now admit that I simply don't enjoy it that much.  I don't really love poop.  I don't really love wiping up poop.  Mine or yours.  I think part of the reason we HAVE the birth high and the hormone oxytocin is so that we will actually be willing to deal with poop for the rest of our lives.  I don't think it ever goes away. 

I don't like poop in any kind of diaper.  It is however slightly more repugnant when I have to take the poopy diaper and swish it in the toilet, then throw it in the bin, then dump the bin into the washing machine, then wash it.  It just ends up being a lot of poop.  And I am just so OVER IT.  And the small amount of superiority I might have felt by using cloth diapers really doesn't make up for it.  (I'm just kidding.  I never felt superior because I did cloth diapers.  I know we are all created equally.  Except for those of us who try harder.)

I know some of you are thinking, "She hates poop- she should do EC.  If only she knew about elimination communication she would be poop free and her little children would dump in the toilet!  I will leave a comment on how she should start practicing elimination communication." 

But if you were thinking that then you are sure to have forgotten that this is not my first rodeo.  I am not NEW to the whole "natural living" thing.  Oh no- I am as crunchy as they come and I actually did the whole "EC" THING with my second child.  She never crapped in her pants until she was like one or something and we went on vacation and then moved and then my life fell apart and that stopped working. 

The truth is that EC is pretty great but incredibly hard if you have four young children and there is a serious amount of PARENT TRAINING involved and frankly- I don't train easy.  The last time I had a baby over the toilet some toddler was rolling in a mud puddle in a white dress and that just makes me want to freak out.  (I'm just kidding about the white dress/baby pooping in the toilet thing.  That never happened but it COULD have happened and it WOULD have happened if I had tried to communicate about eliminating with my third or fourth child.  I swear it.)

I think I am done.  Not just with cloth diapers but also (good news for you) with this most awful of blog posts. 

Don't be afraid of leaving a comment.  Unless it is about elimination communication- in that case, just come back later and tell me how much you hate epidurals. 

Peace out. 

Comments

Sam said…
I do EC and I'm so freaking lazy that I'd rather clean up after the baby than wash the cloth diapers. I use disposables, too. I use all three. Some days, my baby--omg, she's a toddler now--runs around nekkid with her sisters yelling at me every time she pees (or giggling madly), some days I keep up on cloth and some days I just stick her in disposies.

I'm not a 'all or nothing' kind of person. I'm an 'all over the place' kind, LOL. As in, my brains are scrambled from wall to wall with the kids toys and this reply and I DO NOT JUDGE YOU ONE TEENY SMUDGE.

Also, my epidural saved my VBAC (my first birth was a Doula-assisted natural birth turned unnecessarean when I didn't hit transition until an hour after I made it to a 10 and I refused to do the coached pushing anymore that I kept telling them I didn't want to do in the first place) and then I got to spend the next 10 months not killing myself from the PPD. Was it worth it? Sure. Would I do it again? FUCK NO.

Uh, I should be in bed... Still, just wanted to say: I feel you.
Sarah F said…
I love your writing style, you're hilarious. I know many women can definitely relate to what you're going through. I thought it would be easier when my kids got potty trained but both of my kids pee every 2.5 seconds (okay, not really, but they do pee a LOT) and I have to take them to the bathroom constantly. I can't wait until my youngest can get up on the toilet herself!! Ahh, that will be a glorious day. ;)

Sarah
hustlababy09.blogspot.com
Alanna said…
I think an important part of being a mother is knowing your limits. Which is why I've never even bothered trying cloth diapers-- I know that I'm doing the best I can, and I'm fairly certain that those would push me over the edge. And, I tend to potty train late (because I realized that I would MUCH rather change a diaper than clean up a mess all over the floor), so my kids are in diapers for a LONG TIME. I love them a lot more knowing I can just toss out the stinkiness.

So all I'm saying is, you've got a reader in me who is definitely NOT judging you!!!
Nicole said…
I'm a mom of 6 and have been using cloth on all of my kids. Our house has been hit hard with the stomach bug since Thanksgiving Day. When the diarrhea hit I told my husband that I am buying a box of disposable diapers. I couldn't take the poop any longer. I was constantly washing blankets, towels, and diapers (with 2 in diapers I was running out). I do cloth because I don't like spending $20 on a box, but there comes a time when you've had enough and a box of disposables is a nice reprieve.
Jess Smith said…
Wow. Your diaper routine is way complicated. I just throw mine in the wash, and rinse out the diaper beforehand if there is a lot of poo. That said, I also wash with like two cups of vinegar. And I wash them with my clothes. Maybe I just have a fabulous washer (not). I swear, my clothes don't stink and nothing sticks around. If I had to do your routine I would have given up long ago!!
Linda Peterson said…
i consider myself pretty crunchy, but i have never, ever been able to convince myself that cloth diapers would be worth it. i have tried to guilt-trip myself into doing it, but it's just never stuck. especially since an eco-friendly disposable and cloth supposedly come out the same in terms of environmental impact, disposables are one modern convenience that i am SO willing to take advantage of. welcome to the bright side. :O)
trish said…
I stopped using cloth diapers when my son was blowing out of every single diaper. Granted, he wasn't blowing out onto his pants or shirt, it was just the cover, but I was having to rinse the cover all the time. And I realized that I hated solid food poop. Even from my own kid. So we switched. I'll do it again when we have this next baby, but will probably stop the cloth diapering at a year again.
Unknown said…
I'm SOOOOOO in your boat!
JuliPickle said…
Shame on you. Officially NOT reading your blog anymore... hanging my head it disappointment (and also completely joking unless someone didn't pick up on that).

I'm cloth diapering for the first time (3rd child) and when we started him on solids I feared the toilet swishes event that was bound to happen. (We do have a diaper sprayer). To be honest with you, and this really surprised me, it grosses me out way less to rinse off poop in the toilet then to have poop hanging out in my garbage can until trash day... even the outside trash. I live in AZ, poop plus heat do not mix!
Living Lavallee said…
There's no shame in disposies :) I cloth diapered our first (at home, when he wasn't at the sitter while I worked the first year). It stank. Haven't done it since. A friend cloth diapered her third and finally had to stop because her baby had a terrible, constant rash from the cloth diapers. A neighbor researched for a long time and decided on Bum Genius for theirs, and supposedly never had them explode with the newborn stuff up the back. That would almost be reason enough to do it the first few months. Yeah, no one tells you that your life is going to revolve around poo after you have kids. Not loving it here either, and our 3yo who has been potty trained for over a year still gets the trots occasionally and piles it up on the bathroom floor, or in his pants. Ugh.
Unknown said…
Poop from disposables should be emptied into a toilet too. All the diaper companies will tell you that. Wii either way, cloth or sposies, you are still dealing with poop.
Carrie said…
I did start with cloth for environmental and health reasons... and still use disposables sometimes. after nighttime diapering with baby 1 I gave up on that, and use 'sposies at night. and when traveling. and when I need one less thing to do: remembering to wash diapers. I don't feel guilty. My eldest totally defied all the cloth diaper lore - she got rashes in cloth. she didn't potty train until 3+ years, and only with lots of bribery. The whole cloth vs. disposables is just one more battlefield in the mommy wars, and I'm not playing. So. Feel free to use whatever works in your family, and fits your priorities!
Unknown said…
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL...POOP be gone! You are...dare I say it....human! Loved the confession!
AmandaRuth said…
This is great lol. We cloth diaper and its definately not all roses and rainbows for sure.

Yeah, you can pick out pretty colors and prints or get fancy new styles, but at the end of the day they are sitting in a diaper pail full of pee and poop.

We choose to cloth diaper because of the chemicals in disposibles...but I dont blame you one bit for this honest post!!
Unknown said…
I say, GOOD FOR YOU!! It's so easy to get caught up in what we think we SHOULD be doing, that we lose track of what's good for our family at this moment in time. I cloth diaper most of the time, but it doesn't take much of an excuse for me to use disposables! If I'm going to be away from home for an extended period of time, sposies, are just SO much easier, and I have the peace of mind that I don't have to worry about changing a diaper every 2 minutes (my girl pees a LOT) while I'm out shopping.
Unknown said…
Thats it, you're kicked out of the club! lol
Birthkeeper said…
Oh dear Rizzo, do you honestly scrape those part breastmilk/part solid food, mushy, sticky poops out of disposable diapers into your toilet like you're supposed to do?! That's damn motivated of you. I give you a purple-gloved salute.
Paala said…
I hear you!! Poop is yucky and cloth can just be the straw that breaks my back. Plus, you have double the kids that I have so eff those extra few thousand changes and diaper loads. The only thing that eases my terrible mom-guilt about using single-use diapers is that there is a fantastic compostable diaper service in my area that is cheap, cheap, cheap, and the diapers actually work for my kid. Have you tried compostable diapers with a service yet? Check out Nature Baby Care.
Joy@WDDCH said…
I cloth diaper, you don't. I still like you and hope you still like me! LOL! It'd be silly for grown women (and men) to get upset about what people put on their babies' butts. Do what works for ya, Mama!
Unknown said…
I just love this post awesome writing style. I've been using cloth diapering since my daughter was born six months ago. I'm glad we've been doing it so we can save money so I can be home with her.
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