Diapers

The expense. The stench. The sheer number of times I've stood at the changing table, trying to fasten a diaper around a squirming Jett.

We've been living a diaper soap opera over here the last eleven months, with mysterious rashes needing identification, with the guilt of a thousand landfills, and the grossness of dunking cloth in the toilet and then wringing it out.

So I thought I'd tell you all about it.

Before Jett was born I decided that with everything else I had to learn, I wasn't going to overwhelm myself with trying to learn about cloth diapers when I already knew all about the disposable kind. I mean, my head was already swimming with a million details, I just couldn't cram one more bit of information - like how to wash a cloth diaper without contaminating my washing machine, how to fold a cloth diaper, and how to rinse the poop out before I washed it. I mean, gross. And like I said, I had enough non-gross stuff to think about, so forget about cloth diapers.

Then I talked to a friend who's very ecologically-minded. Rides her bike all over the place. Collects rainwater for her garden or something. She doesn't have a baby, but her friend does, and you know, she told me how easy cloth diapering is. She said a little poo in the washing machine wasn't going to kill me. And she's a doctor and all, so it got me thinking.

But then. Then my sister told me about the gdiaper. The flushable diaper. The diaper I wouldn't have to dunk in the toilet. The diaper that comes in many colors and is oh so stylish. Ahead of the times really, because they had just come to the U.S. I could be a trend-setter. Jett would be the most stylish baby on the block. And I'd be saving the planet, which is my second-highest priority, after making sure that Jett looks good in his diaper.

So I ordered the starter kit. They seemed to work, so I ordered a bunch more. In bulk. To save money. And he leaked through every single one. It seems he just didn't have the belly for them. Seriously, they were all baggy in the belly. And flushing them is hardly less gross than dunking them in the toilet anyway, because you still have to carry them to the bathroom and then rip them down the center before you toss them in the toilet, which pretty much means your hands are all over them. But still, what a disappointment. They were so cute. And now they're taking up valuable space in my closet. And I was going to save the planet.

Then another friend said she was going to put her baby in cloth diapers. And I am a follower and easily persuaded so I went over to her house before her baby was born and we tried all of her clean sparkling diapers on Jett. She showed me how to fold them and fasten them, and who knew there were so many different styles of diapers? Fleece and wool, cotton, and hemp. So many colors! So many different types of fasteners - velcro, snaps, little grippy things. They were actually cute. Oh so cute. I thought maybe I would give it a try. Because you know, I want to save the planet and stop global warming and reduce the landfills.

So I bought five, in three different styles. They work great. Once I figured out what size he was and started putting him in the right size, they rarely leaked. They looked cute. I felt like a good citizen of the earth. It's just that I kept forgetting to wash them. Or I just simply didn't have time to wash them. And that, my friends, is gross. Stinky. And exasperates Charlie.

And that's the thing. How is a person supposed to get everything they need to get done in a day and fit in a load of wash? It sounds easy, but it's not. Especially when you aren't home half the week. I don't care what anyone says. Disposable diapers are easier. And that is the secret to life at the moment - making it easy.

So I struck a compromise with my fashionable side, my practical side, and my ecological side and have been using the cloth diapers on the weekends. Most weekends. Well, many weekends at least. The rest of the week we use disposables. But I started recycling to make up for that. (I know, I know, it doesn't really make up for it).

Actually, having a kid is pretty inspiring. It makes you look to the future and all that. Makes you want to give your kid a clean and healthy planet.

So every few months I drag the gdiapers out of the closet and try them on Jett again. Last weekend he wore three in a row and didn't leak at all, so I think we'll try them again this weekend. And then maybe I'll start using them during the week a bit - since I shouldn't have to wash them. I guess I can put up with the mess of carrying them to the bathroom and all. They're just so cute. I mean, I want to save the earth.