I decided to cloth diaper my first baby because I am the kind of person that does all the research before choosing anything.

I questioned everything that was normal for everyone. As my love for the baby in my belly grew so did my desire to give him the best. I’m sure every mom has this feeling.

I remember telling my husband about cloth diapers and telling him that I wanted to cloth diaper. His face was priceless but of course he supported whatever I wanted to do. We were a younger couple married a year so we didn’t have much money to shuffle around. We both worked part time at first so we had to really budget and save. After doing some research on cloth diapers and getting a feel of how they worked I began to think that my fear of them was soo ridiculous because my grandmother cloth diapered 7 kids! If could do it then why not me?

What if one day I can’t afford diapers for my baby?

It was such a horrible thought but it was very much possible because only one of us would be working.  A box of disposable diapers was about $40 for 140 diapers. In a month a baby could use about 300   The $80 a month was my estimate and was a scary number because we were really at a low budget, and we had just enough for rent and food. I was really afraid that one week might come where I just didn’t have $40 to spend , not to mention the cost of wipes as well.

That was a scary thought.

Not being able to afford diapers, so I thought if I had cloth diapers… I would always have them.

I could have 10 cloth diapers if it came down to it and just hand wash everyday because maternity leave was going to leave me jobless for a few months and I had not worked enough at the company I was in to receive maternity pay.

That’s what I did.

My son was born at the end of the year and I received a child credit tax refund for the beginning of the next year and I used $200 to buy a pack of 12 cloth diapers.

It was very much a roll on the dice because I felt I was not going to be able to go through with it.

• I feared the wash
• I feared the leaks
• I feared how much washing I was going to have to do.

The first time I used the cloth diapers for a whole day I used all 12.

I thought maybe I had been ripped of because they got heavy fast so I had to change it . My baby is a heavy wetter!!!  Not all babies are heavy wetters. 

I didn’t give up on the diapers.

I washed them the next day at the laundromat and I tried again and again.

I did some research and started to use a double insert so it could hold for longer and that worked.

Yea it was a little bulky but hey in one day I used 6-7 and therefore had enough to hold me the next day until I could wash the diapers agin.

I kid you not i washed almost everyday but this was because I could only afford 12 diapers.

The recommended amount for a beginning stash is 24. It was difficult sometimes and reading blogs with moms that had so many cloth diapers was a bit sad at times but I knew financial struggle came for us again I would still be able to diaper my baby because if i needed to I could hand wash those cute diapers and let them air dry.

You can say that I decided to cloth diaper because of the security it brought to me. Being sure that such a necessity would be fulfilled at all times. The fact that it saved us money was another good reason and being able to say I helped conserve our planet was just a cherry on top.

I eventually went back to work and I save money every month to buy another diaper and one month was a good one so I bought a pack of six.

Before I knew it I had cloth diapered for a year!

And I was still going strong , my stash made it to 30 diapers for my first baby for 3 years . He was fully potty trained at 3 just in time for me to get my diapers ready for my 2nd baby.

About Laura M

My name is Laura and I am a mom of two from San Diego. I have worked in customer service for years and recently my husband has made it possible for me to stay home with my kids so I am enjoying that and beginning to share my experiences in being a mom and fitness enthusiast.  Find her on Instagram here. 

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