Cloth Diapering: Our First Steps Toward Less Waste

Paula Ibieta

— 5 min read
Cloth Diapering: Our First Steps Toward Less Waste

Need a litmus test to see how open-minded your partner is about sustainable-minded practices? I’ve got one: ask them how they feel about washing poopy diapers.

I first broached the subject of cloth diapers to my husband when I was four months pregnant and starting to build our registry. I had never actually seen anybody use them, but had seen many people online happily and actively cloth-diapering their kids. So why couldn’t we? 

My husband reacted pretty much how I expected he would. To his credit, he didn’t say no, but I know he imagined a bunch of wet, smelly diapers making our house stink and clogging our washing machine. I tried not to push the issue; I figured I had enough time to make my case, so I left it alone as we continued planning for baby’s arrival.

Luckily, about two months later, we ran into a mutual friend who told us about her extremely positive experience cloth-diapering her two kids. She told us that cloth diapers were better at preventing blowouts, saved money, and weren’t difficult to wash when you had the right system. She gave us excellent laundry tips, as well as what we should put on our registry, and that was all it took for my ever-adaptable husband to be convinced. 

Before Baby: The Research Phase

There are a few big reasons I wanted to use cloth diapers: 

I definitely heard comments from family and others when they saw we were going to use cloth diapers. I had multiple people tell me they didn’t think they would be able to handle changing a reusable diapers. (Though, as my mother pointed out, many of those people were probably raised in cloth diapers themselves.)

Internally, I wondered why the idea of washing diapers such a big deal (no matter what, you're handling bodily fluids), and dealt with it outwardly the way I dealt with all the unsolicited comments that my giant pregnant belly elicited. I nodded and smiled, then filed them away to be revisited or ignored.

Implementation and Execution

Once our daughter arrived, we both quickly became proficient in fitting her in tiny newborn cloth diapers that we changed constantly at the beginning, and less often as she grew. As he does with any new thing he tries (especially dad tasks), my husband became intensely interested in optimizing the process – soaking, washing and drying, and then folding and prepping for the next use. Maybe it was because we used cloth right from the beginning, but it didn’t feel overwhelming. Everything else about having a newborn exhausting enough. (We were already doing so much new laundry anyway; an extra load every couple of days was another drop in the bucket.)

Since then, we’ve had six months to get to the right quantity of diapers, buy a few other items that have simplified the process (e.g., the right size wet bag for storing dirty diapers), and get into a rhythm with our laundry routine. Everyone who has watched our daughter has changed the diapers with no problem, even those who didn't think they’d be able to handle it.

One thing that shocked me was when, during a home visit I had when my daughter was about a month old, the nurse – whose entire job was visiting babies all day, every day – told me this was the first time she had ever seen a cloth diaper.

Becoming Routine

The diapering system has now faded into the background of our normal routine, so much so that when it comes up in conversation somehow, I’m surprised when people comment on how much work it must be. I always reply that really, it’s not – though I’ve come to realize there are some features of my life that make it easier. I work from home, and we have in-unit laundry – these are not always things I’ve had in my adult life and they make every aspect of keeping my home clean easier. We also received most of our diapers at our baby shower, which covered a lot of our costs. (I know the boxes of disposables we'd otherwise be buying would be a hit to our budget.)

We did use disposables for about a week during the newborn period, just going through what we were gifted, and I will say – I completely acknowledge the ease and convenience. I totally get it. It is much easier to throw dirty diaper away than to put it in a bag or a bucket and know you’re going to have to come back to it in a day or two. Especially when you’re overwhelmed, depressed, on the verge of your breaking point, or something else, making one task in your life easier can sometimes feel like what's standing in between you getting through the day with your dignity intact or crumbling into a pile on your kitchen floor and cutting your own bangs.

The Verdict: How Feasible Are Cloth Diapers? 

If you're interested in cloth diapering and have in-unit laundry (or would use diaper laundry service), I would highly recommend it. For us, the benefits of cloth easily outweigh the minimal effort that cloth diapers require.

But they may not be right for everyone. And cloth diapers aren't a magic bullet for sustainability, either, considering they still require environmental resources and may or may not be that much more sustainable than disposables at this point in time, depending on how you handle them. (Plus, there are organizations and companies finding ways to make disposable diapers better for babies and the environment.)

If you're thinking about sustainability as a concept that takes your needs into account – you are a part of the world, after all – it follows that cloth versus disposable diapers is one of those situations where you must factor your family's needs and preferences, including convenience, into your choice. (And don't forget – you can always use a combination of the two.) It's not my place, nor is it my not my desire, to tell anyone what they should do or what's right for anyone's life. I simply want to share my experience of cloth diapering as an extremely positive one. I'm glad I can do this one thing to make the amount of trash I’m sending to the landfill smaller. It motivates me to explore other ways of reducing waste that might be less difficult than they seem.

Perhaps the only advice I would give to anyone, interested in cloth diapering or not, is to do whatever you possibly can to make sure you ARE okay, and not living on the edge of your breaking point. (Which, these days, is more challenging than ever.) Look for a better paying job, talk to a therapist, take a nap, get takeout for dinner, and care of your child in the way that suits you and your family.

Read more