Do you have it? That mentality that you either go all the way or not at all? I see this with
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many cloth diapering moms, including some friends of mine and I will admit I have also experienced it from time to time. The point of my article is not to point out or judge families who take a break from cloth diapering, whether permanently or a week, but rather to get families thinking less black and white.
In a recent article I wrote titled A Week Without Cloth Diapers & Healthier Disposables to Consider I addressed my very own experience where I just took a week off of cloth diapers to help deal with some personal stress unrelated to cloth diapering. There is nothing wrong with taking a break for a day, week or even a month if it will help motivate and energize you to keep at it for the months or years ahead. Every diaper makes a difference in money savings and in keeping additional diapers from sitting in landfills.
But could I have opted to do part time diapering for that week instead? I have an acquaintance who recently switched to disposable diapers because of a new job she took outside the home, and the stress the additional laundry was causing with her limited time at home. I trust that she made what she thought was the best decision for her family to meet their needs and goals, but I wonder if it ever crossed her mind to just cloth diaper part time.
Perhaps some families will realize they can manage switching to cloth on the weekends or cloth diaper full time using all-in-one diapers or prefolds which can save time compared to pocket diapers. Maybe you can cut down to two cloth diapers a day for a spell rather than throwing in the towel completely. I encourage all of us to think less black in white with our own cloth diapering choices and to remember to embrace the cloth diapering efforts of those around us, no matter how big or small.
This writer makes such a good point. There have been times when, for various reasons: stress, lack of enough diapers and no laundry facilities (like on a vacation), etc. we’ve gone with disposables for a week or so, and there are also plenty of times when we’ve chosen to travel with cloth or even continue with cloth at home when it was a hassle (like when we were having a lot of leakage issues because of our crazy hard water). I think there are plenty of ways to reduce the amount of waste we produce (like using rags instead of paper towels or switching to handkerchiefs instead of tissues). It has been my experience that the “all or nothing” mentality does little more for me than give me one more weapon with which to beat myself up as a mom when I’m trying to fall asleep at night. That said, I love the idea of going “halfsies” or even “mosties” with cloth. That is definitely the mentality we have about paper towels in our household. There are times when, for various reasons, I still find myself wanting to use them, but rather than going through a roll a week, we use them sparingly, and usually a roll lasts us a month or longer. It’s probably not the “best” way, but it’s the way that works for us. I definitely think that there are times when partial cloth can be the best way for a family.
“It has been my experience that the “all or nothing” mentality does little more for me than give me one more weapon with which to beat myself up as a mom when I’m trying to fall asleep at night.”
This is exactly what I find myself doing at times, because for whatever reason I was conditioned to think I had to be 100% no matter what. Life happens and we need to remember to adapt and make the best choices for each stage or phase of our lives. I love the points you shared and hope that they inspire other parents to stop beating themselves up!
I’d say my daughter is about 90% cloth diapered. I don’t stress about using the occasional disposable diaper. I’m with you – every cloth diaper counts! It definitely doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
I love this point. I am a hardcore 100% reusable diapers advocate, and I don’t even use disposable inserts while traveling >.< BUT I am a lucky WAHM who can juggle her schedule the way some WOHM cannot. And I can respect/understand the fact that one might not be able to cloth diaper 100% all of the time, especially during a stressful or trying circumstance. I worked part time out of the home temporarily when my baby was about 9 months, and I started buying frozen food more and using the dryer and stopped making homemade bread. I had to cut corners. It was hard to keep up with everyday cleaning around the house. And I was only working part time!
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I really appreciate this post, because as a first-time mom to be, I’m not sure what I’ll do when the baby arrives. I’m happy to try to cloth diaper, but for my cloth diaper fanatic friends, that’s not enough. And who knows, maybe it will go great, and since we’ll start early, we will be 100% cloth diapering. But, that’s not something I know right now.
I don’t sweat the occasional use of disposables. I’m going to have to use them in my baby’s first weeks outside the womb because even though I hate it, I have to schedule a cesarean for her birth. With two cord prolapses (one of which played a part in my younger son’s stillbirth) and a partial placental abruption, I can’t afford to take the chance of going into labor again. I’m not going to be up to doing diaper laundry while caring for a newborn and recovering from surgery. My family is not supportive of me cloth diapering so they certainly won’t be volunteering to wash them either. I will also be doing part time Elimination Communication once I feel up to it. When using EC with my last two children, I learned exactly the point of the above article: all or nothing mentality is not worth the stress. I simply do what I can and move on.
What a great post!! I’ve been a part-time cloth diaper-er pretty much from the beginning because of work…..not so much because of the laundry or anything, but because the daycare will only use disposables. I had gotten in the habit of using them for nighttime and when we would go out but at the moment, I’m enjoying a “cloth only” phase ;^)
It’s really hard to say ‘all or nothing’ because I am a strong advocate for the environmental and money-saving sides of cloth diapering. People nowadays just don’t care about where they throw those disposables, or where their money is going (companies profit off of them and it just ends up putting more toxins into the environment.) So I have more respect for those who do it for the environment, whether just to try it out, as a part-time gig, or a full-time gig.
That said, cloth diapering can be messy if you don’t like poop and laundry. I understand why people use disposables and some days want to just give up and go buy a pack because I’m SO sick of laundry. So I understand both full-time sposie users, and part-time sposie users. I used them when my daughter was too small for her Alva’s and at this point, as long as people are disposable diapering responsibly, I don’t care. I advocate for cloth, but don’t judge and don’t care what people end up doing.