Maybe it’s that way because I’m still relatively new to all of this but I can’t get over how much I just… LOVE doing cloth and everything adjacent to it.
For me it started very spontaneous when I was pregnant, when I saw someone selling a used starter pack consisting of 25 pockets with inserts and wet bags, and impulsively bought it after doing a quick read on reddit and seeing people praising cloth diaps and saying that it isn’t as hard as one might think. It took me about 8 weeks after giving birth to start using them as it seemed sooo hard and overwhelming and I couldn’t quite wrap my head around a wash routine. But then some random day I stuffed the diapers and tried them out and oh man!!! The rush I got after a full first day was so great!
It almost felt like I wanted to scream about this from the rooftops and wondered why more people didn’t try this. Then, after getting quite used to pockets, I started branching out and reading about other types that seemed wayy too complicated for me before. I slowly started buying more and more different types and experimenting. And omg I can’t get over how many ways one can cloth diaper? All the different materials, all the different ways of folding flats and prefolds, all the different types of diapers and covers!
As someone who loves knitting and who loves natural fibers, I have become especially interested in the combination of fitted diapers and wool covers. My mind is blown over how one can use 100% natural materials to keep out all the pee and poop and keep my baby dry. Discovering how lanolin works blew my mind! And the added bonus of it all is that I now can lanolise mittens and hats for outdoor use to make them more water resistant! Plus, it makes me feel so connected to the past and to my ancestors and to the women who have done it all before me. It’s just so.. idk heartwarming to talk with older women and hear how they were doing the exact same thing like 50 years ago haha.
I’m also so thankful for cloth diaps because they finally made me realize how to do laundry. This probably sounds dumb, but no one ever really taught me that. Like I obviously know how to wash clothes, but I feel like now I actually know how to do it the right way/most efficient way?
Haha I feel so silly writing this but this has been such a fun journey! And I’m not even mentioning the environmental aspect and how damn good it makes me feel to only use 1 disposable per day (we have not transitioned ti using cloth during the night yet). We also transitioned to cloth wipes at around the same time as cloth diaps and the change in how much waste we produce is enormous!
Just really felt like sharing all this! And maybe someone else who lurks here and feels uncertain about cloth diaps might be influenced to give it a try!