And now for something completely different: Diapers!
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here or not, but we use cloth diapers. Mainly prefolds in covers like this.
I’m an addict. I love cloth diapering.
1. I’m cheap. Have you seen the price of Pampers lately? I can’t even fathom how many we would have gone through by now – but rather than pick up a pack a week, I’ve bought diapers once and get to use them over and over again. There’s even a booming market for second (and third, and fourth) hand cloth diapers, so you can recoup cost when you’re done with them.
2. Disposables are wasteful. Yes, believe it or not, I do give a rip about the environment. Dumping disposables into a landfill – where they are estimated to take about 500 years to biodegrade – for the sake of ‘convenience’ is something I just can’t reconcile.
3. I couldn’t get behind the idea of putting chemical-laden junk against a baby’s most sensitive bits.
4. Babies that are in cloth spend less time in wet diapers because you really have to change them promptly. They also tend to be more aware of their elimination patterns because they can feel wetness. Cloth-diapered babies are often easier to potty train. Considering Abigail has one of these and uses it at least 50% of the time – at under six months – I’d say we’re going to do pretty well in that department. (Note: We’ve been doing part-time EC since she was six weeks old, and cloth diapers are the perfect complement.)
One of the coolest products I’ve seen in a long time is the gDiaper. gDiapers are a reusable cloth cover you can put cloth inserts into, or flushable one-time-use inserts. For those who don’t want to worry about keeping track of cloth while out-and-about or traveling, or who would like to minimize their consumption while having at least part of the convenience of disposables, the flushables are really cool. I’ve also seen infant-sized prefolds used as gDiaper inserts (rather than the cloth inserts available from the company) and they work great.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up now: My best friend is a gDiaper devotee, and she mentioned that as part of their gMom program she has a sale code for $30 off the everyday g’s six-pack, which is six of the gPants (covers). You can then choose cloth, flushables, or order inserts elsewhere.
Shipping to my zip is $9.95, which I think is a flat rate. That means you’re getting each cover for about $8.33 shipped – a very good deal for any type of cover, and an especially good deal for covers as versatile as g’s.
It’s time to up-size Abigail into a new set of covers, anyway, so I’m definitely ordering a pack. I’ll probably keep using the infant prefolds we have as our inserts, so the total to upgrade our diapers to something that will fit her for another thirteen pounds is under $50. That’s less than about one month of Pampers.
If you’d like to order a pack, buy some for a baby shower, or just pass along the deal – the code to use at checkout is g1153Gates. Keep in mind it’s only good on the six-pack, so make sure you have this item in your cart to get the $30 discount. Deal expires July 31, 2009.
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