When the old man found out that I was going to be using
cloth, he fixed me with a measured stare to see if I was serious. I wordlessly turned the computer screen towards him and started pointing out all of the different options. I was just entering my 2nd trimester, and in the thick of my research.
“C'mon, who is gonna clean those? And isn't that kind of nasty?”
He breathed a sigh of relief when I promised him that I would do all the laundry but he still thought they were nasty. This opinion began to change when he saw how clean they were but cloth won him over when the 'sposies had blowouts and a pocket completely owned one of the gnarliest poops we've ever seen (it was so bad and then the baby started kicking his legs and flicking poop everywhere before putting his tiny little feet right in the middle of it -but that's another story). Last time I ordered diapers, we were debating the merits of snaps vs. aplix. He tells everyone about how we use
cloth diapers and last night, he even did the diaper laundry! My very first convert!
I will never forget the day when my mom, cuddling my 4 week old, asked me how the
cloth diapers were going. I proudly answered “good, good, he's got one on now”. She was holding him against her chest, rocking him but the minute I uttered those words she looked at me with horror and her jaw dropped to her chest “Does this mean I'm going to get peed on!?” I started laughing (and didn't stop for a good 30 seconds). She had tried to
cloth diaper me but had not known to use a
cover over diaper! I quickly showed her how easy laying a
prefold was into a
Thirsties Duo Wrap. She was impressed but admitted that she was uncomfortable with changing him. The next time, I brought
pockets over and showed her how easy cloth diapering really is! She isn't fully convinced of their ease but she can't deny the cute factor. One mountain at time, I like to say!
She's not the only one that I've surprised with how easy AND addicting
cloth can be. My sister and I are pretty close and she thought they were great from the moment I brought them up. At first, she found them hard to secure (I did too!) but as a friend pointed out “you weren't that quick with disposables your first time, either!” Now, she's does it easily. We were even co-stalking when I ordered the
bumGenius Freetime in Albert! She has told me that when she has her first baby, she can't wait to get her own stash going. Convert #2!
The hardest person to convince so far is my grandmother. She comes from a time when
cloth diapers were some giant, disgusting burden that disposables rescued all of us parents from. She has been the most vocal about how much she “knows” that I'll eventually realize how much I don't like it when I have to wash them and there is a poopy diaper. At first, all I could do was grit my teeth because the truth was, I didn't know if I was going to like cloth diapering, I was deadset on doing it but what if she was right and I gave up? I didn't. We started using cloth when he was 6 days old and I knew she was absolutely wrong. I love using
cloth and I'll never go back to using disposables! She still insists that eventually, I'll get the mightiest of all poops and quickly give them up. I figure that eventually, I'll pull her over to the dark side, too. She'll have a hard time resisting my new
Happy Heinys in 'puppy' because it is that cute!
Everyone we meet, family and non-family alike, always comments on the fluffy cuteness that is my son's diaper clad booty! They are always amazed that they:
A. Do not leak onto unsuspecting people.
B. Do not require poopy fingers to clean.
C. Actually come clean after having poop and pee all over them.
There are a lot of misconceptions about
cloth and I've noticed that the more that people see how easy (and did I mention cute?)
cloth really is, the more they want to come over to the dark side, too, because let's face it...we have fluff and cute babies!
Ambrosia: 25 years old, the 'June' to her 'Johnny' and mom to two amazing boys, ages 5 years and 10 weeks. Her family has been cloth diapering for 9 weeks and they love it!
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