| Cloth diapers. The very words send fear through | | | | * They are hard to wash! It takes me about 6 minutes, |
| many a parents' heart - but a lot of what you think you | | | | three times a week, to dump a load of diapers into the |
| know about cloth diapers is probably not true. | | | | wash and run a cold rinse. I then run a hot wash and a |
| Old-fashioned rubber pants, fiddling with diaper pins and | | | | cold rinse again. Ta da! Clean diapers. I never even |
| leaky rectangles of cloth are usually what people have | | | | have to touch them between the diaper pail and time |
| in mind when they think about cloth diapers. Oh, how | | | | to put them in the dryer. Thanks to the cool, |
| the world of diapering has changed! | | | | new-fangled invention of the washing machine, |
| Of course, many of these myths about about cloth | | | | washing diapers is a cinch! |
| are perpetuated by the disposable diaper industry - | | | | * All that water, electricity and soap will cost as much |
| after all, protecting their share of this billion dollar | | | | as disposables! Seriously, this argument is weak at |
| market is important to them. According to the Real | | | | best. I use a special biodegradable, additive free |
| Diaper Association, 18 billion disposable diapers are | | | | detergent and it STILL only costs me 10 cents per |
| used in the US every year. At an average cost of 25 | | | | load. Running three wash and dry cycles a week just |
| cents each, that is a lot of money and a lot of landfill | | | | does not make a noticable dent in our electric bill. If you |
| space. | | | | are really worried about it, try using a high efficiency |
| Here are some common myths about using "real | | | | machine and line drying your diapers. |
| diapers:" | | | | * You can't use them away from home. I use a simple |
| * They leak! Any diaper that is not changed often | | | | zippered wet bag to keep used cloth diapers in our |
| enough will leak. However, modern diaper covers and | | | | diaper bag until we get home. It's like camping, you |
| pocket diapers (a diaper that holds an absorbent insert | | | | simply pack out what you pack in. Now that my baby |
| in a special pocket opening) make leaks a rare | | | | is on solids most of the time, I use a flushable liner |
| occurrence. In fact, most moms tell me that after | | | | when we go out. With a flushable liner, I can dump any |
| switching to cloth they see far fewer leaks and | | | | mess in the toilet and I only have to deal with wet |
| "blowouts" than with disposables. Elastic is a good | | | | dipes when we get home. |
| thing! | | | | See, cloth diapers are so much easier than you have |
| * They are hard to clean! Well, I spend about 30 | | | | probably been lead to believe! You can get started |
| seconds cleaning a dirty diaper since I use either a | | | | with cloth for a small investment to see if you like |
| flushable diaper liner or a diaper sprayer attached to | | | | them and start saving your family money every week. |
| the toilet to rinse off any mess. Wet diapers go | | | | I'll warn you though, a lot of parents are soon addicted |
| straight in the diaper pail until wash day. Modern fabrics | | | | to finding the cutest diapers for their babies! |
| are much easier to clean than the rubber pants of old! | | | | |