6,280

6,280.  That is approximately how may diapers I have washed, stuffed, and reused on Willow over the past 3 years.  Using cloth diapers has saved us about $2200!  Willow was in diapers for 3 years and 1 week, which is 157 weeks.  I usually washed about 20 diapers per load and I pretty much washed them twice a week, so about 40 diapers a week.  157 x 40 = 6,280 diapers over the last 3 years.  If I would of bought nothing but large boxes of diapers at Sam's club, they have about 200 diapers in them.  So, 6,280/200 = 32 boxes of diapers.  At about $40 a box, that's $1280.  Now,  chances are I would not have always made it to Sam's club to get the huge box and would of had to buy some at a grocery store, so most likely that number would be higher.  If you check other web stats on how much it costs to diaper a child they are closer to the $3000 range.  We also primarily used cloth wipes, only buying disposable wipes to take in diaper bags, which made it easier to throw out the wipes when we flushed the poo down the toilet. (poo in the toilet where it belongs, not in the landfill)  This saved us about $1000 over the past 3 years.  So, $1280 in diapers and $1000 in wipes = $2280.  Our diapers in the very beginning when we bought them (I used Bum Genius 3.0 One Size diapers), cost us about $300 and our wipes we got a few free with our diapers and the rest my mom made for us out of a flannel sheet we found at Goodwill.

Besides money, the environment was also part of my reasoning to use cloth.  Disposable diapers take around 500 years to decompose.  That means that Willow's disposable diapers would have still been around for her great-great-great-grandchild, perhaps even the generation after that.  And the diapers would have left behind all the toxins that are inside the diaper and put them right into the ground, helping to destroy our earth and poison our water.

I also feel like I have limited exposing Willow to all the horrible chemicals that are in a diaper, on her most sensitive areas.  Disposable diapers are full of dioxins (unless you are using chlorine free ones), created from treating wood pulp with chlorine, that has been shown to cause cancer.  They also have petrolatum in them, a bi-product of turning oil into gasoline, which is on the known carcinogen list. And the perfumes and dyes and other chemicals within them have been linked to an increase in asthma in small children.  Not to mention, the diapers can dry out and cause skin irritation, and I know a handful of people whose children break out in rashes as soon as they put a disposable diaper on.  I just don't feel like disposables are a safe alternative, at all.

All that said, after using cloth diapers for the past 3 years (I used g-diapers with Jayden once I started growing a conscious about how horrible disposable diapers are), I really believe anybody can do it.   And I think everybody owes it to their kids to look into it, because there are so many options out there.   We did use a few packages of disposables over the past few years (so it's not like I am perfect) when we traveled, or when there was a really nasty stomach bug running through the house, or when I just couldn't get the diapers cleaned and dried on time. 

Cloth diapers are easy to clean, easy to use, better for your babies, better for the earth, and better on your bank account.

Anywhoooo, I'll get off my soap box now.....:)
Potty training in my house is not an easy thing, and I even hesitate to post this for fear that it will cause some major regression on Willow's part and I'll have to eat my words.  I am INSANELY jealous of my sister Kaylee, whose children pretty much potty train themselves at 2 years and 2 months old, both day and at night.  It just does not happen like that for me.   Everyone told me because I clothed diapered, she was going to potty train so fast and easy because they don't feel as dry and they don't like that.  Well, not my kid.  I really tried hard to not pressure her.  The days she wanted to wear undies, I let her.  The days she wanted to wear diapers, I let her.  I let her choose all the time, oftentimes changing throughout the day.  Eventually it led to the same conundrum that we were in with Jayden.  A child who will go potty in the toilet, but refuses to poop in the toilet.  Willow thought it was hilarious to poop in a diaper and terrifying to poop in the toilet.  She would run around with her diaper on laughing and taunting us, "I have a diaper!  I have a diaper!  I poop in my diaper!"  There was no question she knew when she had to go because she never pooped when she had undies on, she always asked for a diaper.  So, we told her once she turned 3, her diapers were going to go away and she was going to have to use the toilet.  After her 3rd birthday, we waited for our family to leave and for her to go through the clean stack of diapers on her shelf, then I didn't wash her dirty diapers, so she knew she didn't have any left, and the poop strike began.  Jayden lasted a week without pooping until he finally couldn't hold it any longer and we managed to get him to the toilet on time.  I really didn't think Willow would last that long, she is by far a more frequent pooper than Jayden was.  Willow made it 3 days.  3 longs days of lots of cuddling a girl whose stomach hurt and what felt like a million emergency runs to the bathroom only to have her jump off the toilet in a panic determined to hold it longer.  Until finally, there was just no holding it in anymore and luckily she was sitting on the toilet.  I wish I would of had a camera to take a picture of her face when it happened.  It was a combination of panic and shock and holy cow did you see that?  She was so excited when it happened and talked about it for a really long time.  And you know you are with a good group of friends when Willow comes running out of the bathroom and the entire room erupts in applause for her. :)  Over the next couple of days, there was still a bit of panic when she had to go, but she has managed to go in the toilet, and today she marched herself off to the bathroom without me knowing and came out declaring she had just pooped!  Yay Willow!

 
And even though I have been looking forward to not dealing with dirty diapers for quite some time (5 years has felt like forever!), now that I've finally washed my last load of diapers and it's sitting on my bed waiting for me to stuff and fold them, it makes me a little sad.  My double stroller gone AND done with my diapers in the same month....sad....my kids are getting bigger...