Cloth Diapering in our Home

"I want to use cloth diapers on my baby", I said while I was pregnant with I. and most of the people I told this plan to just laughed at me. I was five years old when my younger sister was born. I vividly recall how my mom has used lampin on her. In fact, I have stored somewhere in my memory bank broken details of that day when my sister was born. I found the whole cloth-diapering process really pleasant then, as if so much love and care are involved in every fold, twist, and pin of the lampin.

And then it was my turn to be a mother. When I. was born, we were more than aware of the many options we have in catching those pees and poos. Unfortunately for our generation, cloth diapers have become exorbitantly priced. Luckily though, aside from the stash that we were able to afford, we have been gifted with not one but six custom-made and adjustable cloth diapers, shortly after I. was born. I was more than happy, although I wasn't sure if husband felt the same way. As I was recovering from my CS operation and our housemaid then was completely unreliable (thankfully, she left after a few months and was replaced with a fairly competent one), my husband had his share of washing the soiled nappies. He related, it was fun during the first few days, but became really taxing when he had to return from his paternity leave. After about two weeks of cloth diapering, we had to stop. Inigo was hospitalized for five days due to infection from an unknown cause and so we poured all our energy into his recovery. In the midst of all the worries, we had to forgo cloth diapers and use disposables instead. It was much easier then, and it saved us a lot of sanity. Thankfully, his fever went down and we were sent home after sleepless nights and a tearful experience in the NICU under the bilirubin lights.

Since then, we have become mixed diaper users. On mornings before his bath and weekends when we are not out of the house, we use cloth. His physical development has not been that abrupt and we are still able to use almost all of the cloth diapers we originally owned, save for a few that were given on his first birthday. Even after many uses, the custom-made diapers remained really sturdy. The snaps were still well-secured and the garters around did not loosen. The colors and designs were not as bright but did not fade much, after 21 months of usage. He has not shown any signs of preference between cloth and disposables and has been very cooperative when it's time for a nappy change. It's true what they say about cloth diapers, they're much better to use especially now that we should all do our part in reducing non-biodegradable wastes. I cringe every time I put a used diaper in the trash and imagine the tons of garbage that it will be joining. But it is also my choice to use these disposables, especially since this is my nanny's preference (she's also unstoppable with wipes and I don't want to get started on this!). This mixed-diaper set-up is what works for us at the moment, and it's what makes us all happy right now.



I. in his custom-made cloth diapers



I. in his Charlie Banana cloth diaper