And back again.

I stood in the store this afternoon gazing at the diaper shelves. I whole heartedly debated the difference between one more pack of Seventh Generation diapers and the cost of washing an extra load of prefolds, which I can bleach again to be sure the impetigo is completely eradicated. My mind scrunched up and my heart was pulled...I just couldn't justify purchasing another package of these diapers, despite the convenience of disposable material.

My husband, the head buyer for this particular store, walked up to me and smirked. I told him my thoughts and he just said, "it's been a long time since I used a prefold, I'm not sure I remember." I told him I'd take care of it until Sunday, when the medication will come to it's end. Then we can use the pocket diapers he's come to know so well. "Whatever you think!" he said.

I walked out without a new pack of 'sposies. As soon as we walked in the door to our house I happily changed T into a prefold with the Flip cover that I love so much. He exclaimed, "poo poo!" with enthusiasm, as he loves to do while walking around with a diaper in hand. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the Seventh Gen diapers we've been using for the last few days. He never picked one up & told me it was a diaper, the way he does with any of the ones in our stash. But the moment that cloth hit his bum...he knew. And he smiled as big as me.

Disposable Diapers

I am not a fan. Let me emphasize that. I am NOT a fan.

That said, of course, I am a cloth diaper enthusiast. I have been cloth diapering my son since he was a week old, starting with a diaper service and moving on to washing our own by the time he was 3 months. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but so does parenting. It has pretty much always been a part of my routine as a mom. I love my son with a fluffy butt - how else would his skinny little bottom hold up his pants?

A couple of weeks ago, he managed to get a terrible rash. Ever since solid foods were introduced, his bowel movements have been detrimental to his delicate skin, unless it's removed promptly from his behind. I wasn't able to get to him fast enough this one time (he was in child care as I taught a class), and that spurred a whole chain of ick leading to impetigo. Not fun. Poor guy couldn't even sit down in the bath. I didn't know that was what had happened, but once we took him to the doctor, it was evident he'd need a prescription to heal it up.

That was Friday - and since cloth really shouldn't have any kind of creams on it, and impetigo happens to be highly contagious and can get into the cloth itself - well, we decided to get a pack of Seventh Generation diapers to use instead. Lesser of the evils in my opinion!

I can say this: disposable diapers take up a lot less space in the diaper bag. I don't have to carry them home again, either. Plus, my husband actually said to me, "Disposables are a lot easier, huh?" Which meant to me that snaps are harder to change than sticky tabs. Since T learned how to open aplix, I converted all of our cloth over to snaps.

Here's negative number one for me: I can't stand the smell of a disposable filled with urine. At all. It hits me as soon as a child walks past me with a gel soaked urine filled sposie. It is truly gross!!! I can normally (partially) ignore it, since these disposable wearing children I speak of are not my own, but when it's T who is sporting such diapers, I cringe and hold my nose as I catch him to change him.

So, we are going through a lot of these things - because of my distaste for the smell but also because he shouldn't be sitting in the same dipe for too long with the impetigo. And I feel guilty at the sheer number of diapers we're throwing away in such a short time! It's no wonder so many disposables go to the dump every day.

Thankfully, once his 10 day antibiotic usage is over, I'll be getting him back into cloth. But these next 7 days can't go by fast enough!

Cloth Diaper Maker?

I have a new obsession - I've been wanting to apply my sewing skills to diaper making for a while now, but just couldn't get past the researching stage. I searched & googled and looked at all kinds of fabrics and notions and just couldn't get myself to make a purchase...until a local friend who is due with #2 in a week told me she wanted to cloth her second, but just couldn't afford the start up costs. I put myself to work and made the first diaper out of recycled materials...and I'm hooked! I have been cutting patterns for the last two days while I wait for my newly ordered PUL lining to arrive. I can see how much fun this will be, and I hope to keep it fun!

Here's a pic of #1 -

I can see this blog quickly turning over to a mommy blog....but hey, who will notice at this stage of the game? :)