I am a mother to two daughters. Baby A is 3 years old and she was diapered in disposables from day one until she was fully potty trained. Baby B is now 21 months old. She was diapered with disposables until she was 14 months old and since then has been cloth diapered exclusively. When some parents switch to cloth, the switch is because they need a way to save money. For others, they learn about the chemicals inside of disposable diapers and for some, it’s an environmental thing.

Whenever I think about our switch to cloth diapers, it’s kind of hard for me. Not because it’s something I didn’t want to do, but it was almost forced. To me, it was in perfect timing and I feel like it truly was some kind of a calling. We’re a single income family as I’m a stay-at-home mom. Sometimes bills get tight and budgets get tighter. When B was 14 months old, we had found that we only had a small amount of diapers to last us until my husband’s next pay day. All the bills were paid for, we had food in our fridge, and gas in our car so my husband could get to and from work- we were just out of diapers. Luckily, my sister-in-law had started cloth diapering her new baby and had given us 3 diapers and inserts to try if we had wanted to or to use them as swim diapers. I decided to read up on it and give it a go. My daughter would have diapers that week if I’d just keep washing them. After a day of using them and running my washing machine multiple times to get them clean, I told my sister in law we were giving them a try and she immediately came over with a few more. She taught me some tricks with using an Econobum cover and tri-folding a receiving blanket- a method we used for weeks. Once my husband got paid and we could afford the $40 to spend on diapers, I immediately got online and ordered cloth instead. Our diapering days would be changed forever.

 In the beginning, my husband and I had decided to cloth diaper part time. Our plan was to use cloth during the day but we would use disposables for when we weren’t home and throughout the night. That quickly changed!! Before I knew it, we had a good stash built up and we were cloth diapering full time. There were disposables in the closet, but they hadn’t been touched in weeks. I decided to keep researching and reading more about cloth diapers and found the amount of chemicals in disposable diapers appalling. I was no longer cloth diapering because of my financial situation but I was doing it because it was just better for my baby! Shortly after, I created a blog and Facebook page to help educate my friends and family. Cloth diapering was no longer just a hobby or something used to catch my child’s poop, it literally became my life.

It is my belief that everything happens for a reason. You live through struggles to get you to where you are supposed to be. My only regrets in switching to cloth, is that I didn’t do it sooner. The financial burden that disposables put on our family monthly was overwhelming. We now save money, put fewer chemicals on our babies, and help educate our close friends and family about the options in diapering their babies.

Were you a former disposable diapering mama? What made you make the switch?

If you or someone you know needs access to cloth diapers, please click here for more information.