Miss Gioia

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Cloth Diaper Covers

We have decided to try cloth diapers when Miss G arrives. When I say "we", however, I really mean the imperial "We" because Chris is still very wary of the whole idea. It does seem to make sense, though, for the following reasons.

1) It will be much more comfortable for her. Which would you rather have strapped to your butt all day long - plastic and gross chemicals or super soft, naturally anti-bacterial hemp fleece?

2) The debate on whether disposable or cloth is better for the environment still rages. Even though we will be using more water, we will not be embalming her poop for thousands of years in a landfill somewhere. Also, these puppies will be laundered at home (see #3 below), so we will not be incurring all of the additional environmental costs of a diaper service (e.g., carting the diaper to and from our home each week).

3) Since we already have a full-time ayi (maid) and will be hiring another one when Miss G comes home, odds are that we will not be doing much diaper washing ourselves anyway.

Of course some would argue that cloth diapers are cheaper than disposables, which is another plus. However, we will likely have to replace our crappy Italian washing machine in the rental house with a newer one, so it may not work out to be much of a savings. Then again, if the current machine shocks the ayi one more time, we may need to replace it anyway.



One of the neatest parts of the whole cloth diapering path is the opportunity to make cute covers and accessories. Now, if you start researching cloth diapers, you will learn two main things. First, these diapers are not your mama's diapers. Technology has changed, and things like pointy safety pins are a thing of the past. Second, there are loads of options to choose from, and it seems everyone has an opinion on what works best.

It is hard to say before you actually have a kiddo what will work for your family, but we have decided to try a system which involves a folded hemp fleece diaper in combination with a diaper cover. Diaper covers can be knit from wool or made from a water-proof fabric, such as PUL or waterproof fleece. Here is a picture of some diaper covers I made over the holiday from the Very Baby Snug Wrap pattern. It only took a day and an evening to make about 10 covers. They were super easy once I got the hang of the fold-over elastic and very cute.

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