a man of the cloth

We finally jumped over the edge and did it:





Orion has had a never-ending rash since around six months of age (he's a year next month, can you believe it???). I talking about a come-and-go-but-never-really-gone,-gets-to-open-sores kinda rash. It was so frustrating! I switched diaper brands several times, used every diaper rash cream on the market, and even mixed and matched the combinations of diaper rash cream to diaper brand. I used the hairdryer trick, let him crawl around without a diaper at all (gotta love my carpet cleaning awesome husband!), gave him long soothing baths, changed his diaper every hour... to. no. avail!
We figured he is alergic to the chemicals in the absorbent materials used in disposable diapers.
So, we switched to cloth. And even better, it was free!
My sister Nikki used cloth diapers for her first two (for the same reason. Darn those sensitive McBride hineys!), so she gave me all of her cloth diapers! THANK YOU! They were all in excellent condition, and well, she wasn't using them for anything, so there you go.
Can I just say that I really LOVE cloth diapers? And seriously, I NEVER thought I would hear myself even thinking that statement. I love them for the mere fact that it took only half an hour for little O's rash to be gone. completely. After months and months of endless rashies.
I love that they are much easier than I had origionally anticipated. I'm not going to say they are as easy as disposable, but using them is a far cry from churning your own butter or chopping firewood! Really, it's not like having to trek across the Rockies or something! :)
One of the best parts is that O no longer fights his diaper changes. He now loves to be changed, because I'm sure he can feel the difference between wet and dry. And Lincoln is really into them, too.(we still do disposable for him since he's on the horizon of being out of diapers anyway) He gets to wear a cloth diaper every so often, and he totally digs it, it's SO funny!
You definitely need to have a system, or cloth diapers will not work for you. Better yet, you need to have a system, or having KIDS will not work for you. :) But once you get in your own groove, it's nothing at all. I didn't think I would be able to do it effectively without our own washer/dryer. But I've found that it's really not too much trouble since it's one tiny load twice a week, and they can air dry if need be.
Cloth diapers obviously do need to be changed more often (every 2 hours; you wait 3 and you have have major leakage issues), and that can get a little tricky sometimes. But the key is preparedness. Go Boy Scouts.
We've actually gone a hybrid route, where O wears disposables for nap and bedtime. That seems to work the best for us, so I don't have to worry about leaks, or prolonged exposure to disposables.
So, I think I might do cloth for all our subsequent kids {GASP!}. We'll see. But I am really pleased with how much easier it is than 25-30 years ago when I was wearing them!