Sewing for baby: Cloth Diapers
I am a Cloth Diaper Mama. I used cloth diapers for both Elliot and Clementine and found it to be a great experience. However, my babies both came out like long and skinny little birds, so the majority of the cloth diapers I purchased (these and these) were too big for them for the first few weeks. As a result I ended up using other newborn-sized cloth diapers that weren’t as cute (YES. BIG BUMMER THERE). So I drew up a pattern for a newborn diaper in the 6-8 pound range or so and sewed up a few before Clementine was born. This time around I wanted a bunch more. Cuter ones even. So I made a few more. I love the happy colors.
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I mention the appearance of these diapers because while issues like LESS WASTE, LOWER COST, LESS POO ALL OVER (yes really) and FEWER WEIRD CHEMICALS TOUCHING MY BABY definitely played into my decision to use cloth diapers, the thing that really sells me on cloth diapers is that they are FAR CUTER than disposables. Shallow, yes, but I find the Cloth Diaper Debates that always seem to spring up whenever the topic is brought up pretty tiresome. I suppose this is largely because I too used to participate in said conversations to the point where I finally realized, this is not fun anymore, this is actually….annoying. Here. Let me give you some examples:
Typical Cloth Diaper conversation #1:
New mom: I’m thinking of cloth diapering, can anyone tell me what they use?
A BAJILLION CLOTH DIAPER MAMAS: “Me! Me! Let me overload you with so much information you won’t know what hit you!!”
Typical Cloth Diaper Conversation #2:
Mom who chose not to cloth diaper: “I just can’t stand the thought of all that poo in my washing machine. (or the more commonly-used: “my husband can’t stand…”)
Cloth Diaper Mama: “Well actually, you get more poo all over everything with disposables because of how poorly they’re designed, and I use liners to toss the poo before they go in the wash, and there’s this diaper sprayer thingy that hooks up to your toilet…blah blah BLAH BLAH…”
Typical Cloth Diaper Conversation #3:
Mom who tried cloth diapers: “I just couldn’t get my cloth diapers to stop leaking so I gave up!”
Cloth Diaper Mama 1: “Have you tried X?”
Cloth Diaper Mama 2: “Have you tried Y?”
Cloth Diaper Mama 3: “Have you tried “Z?”
Typical Cloth Diaper Conversation #4:
Mom who chose not to use cloth diapers: “Well actually, if you look at the overall energy costs of doing all that extra laundry and manufacturing the cloth diapers in the first place, the energy comparison is kindof a wash…”
Cloth Diaper Mama: *world crumbling around her* “That is simply NOT TRUE!!”
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See what a crotchety old grump I am!?! The truth is, it’s hard for Cloth Diaper Mamas not to feel at least a teensy bit morally superior, and we just wish that we could convert every mom over because in our heart of hearts we know that the only reason NOT to use cloth diapers is sheer ignorance. As a result, those who chose the disposable route can’t help but feel defensive around us. And that’s not cool. So I’d rather just sew sew sew away on my diapers and not be the Poster Child for Cloth Diapering, but then of course if you blog about them, it’s hard not to invite that in.
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So all that to say, I’m no expert on cloth diapering, but it’s worked well for me through two children now, so I’ll be using them again with this baby. And I might even manage to do a follow-up post or two on my cloth diapers and maybe even how I sew my own diapers, we’ll see what I have time for.
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For now, I’ll say this: these are pocket diapers, so they have a waterproof (PUL) outside, a soft microfleece or suedecloth inside layer (I use either), and they have an opening in the back between the two layers so you can stuff in a removable cotton or hemp insert(s) to absorb all the moisture. And yes it is quite a bit of work to make them rather than buy them. I would never encourage someone to sew their entire cloth diaper stash — that is craziness — this is something I do because I enjoy it, not because I want to avoid buying them. The cost you pay for this kind of thing in the store is totally worth the labor and time it takes to sew one, but like I said, I find it to be pretty fun.
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If you want to read more about these little pocket diapers, you can also read this post that I wrote about our cloth diapers four and a half years ago before Clementine was born.
Anyway, they’re CUTE.