A year of cloth

The holiday season is a time when we begin to reflect on the past year.  The ups & downs, new adventures, loves, losses, and how we have grown.  This has been quiet a year for me & my family, especially with the birth of our first child, Landon.  Today I am reflecting on a year of cloth diapering.

I knew very early on that I wanted to cloth diaper my (future) children.  I mean like 'before I was pregnant' early.  Once I was pregnant, I researched daily.  If you have ever looked into cloth diapering you know the more you try to narrow down your choices the more information you find and the harder your choices become.  It can be overwhelming!  I remember often taking negative comments from people with a smile and a nod.  Cloth isn't for everyone and that is okay, but if I want to take on the challenge, a little encouragement or at the very least sealed lips isn't too much to ask, right?  With that said, diving into cloth diapering IS very scary; Even when you have 100% committed to it and secretly want to succeed just to prove the naysayers wrong.  The husband and I took the plunge when our little guy was about 1 week old.  I had originally wanted to begin earlier, but I underestimated post-pregnancy recovery and well, general lack of sleep as a new mom.  Chris was the one who said, 'Let's start today!'  And so we did.

We began using prefolds and covers and after day one we felt pretty confident about cloth.  No blowouts or major leaking so all was well.  After the first night - I panicked!  The prefold was completely soaked.  Is this normal?  How long did he have this totally soaked diaper against his skin.  Will it cause a rash or some other issue?  It turns out this is how cloth works - It absorbs the moisture!  At this point I was feeling like a real genius.(insert sarcasm here)  Just as every other aspect of parenting, you learn as you go.  Seemingly logical ideas and concepts are suddenly met with panic for the survival of your child, followed by a silly/delirious laugh and a slow descent back down to reality and logic. 

Very quickly we got the hang of cloth and fell in love with the cuteness factor!  In a few short weeks we will have been using cloth diapers for one year and I honestly can't imagine it any other way.  Before I misrepresent myself - I do use disposables on occasion.  Some daycare's don't allow cloth (yet), emergency trips home, flying, etc.  Disposable diapers serve their purpose in my life, absolutely.  The use of them, however, typically results in a friendly debate with my husband who insists we keep Landon in cloth.  He might just love cloth more than me!  Among the many lessons I have learned and the many reasons I love cloth, my favorite is that I am passing on a tradition of cloth from my Mother to me, and now on to my son.