Cloth habits: A father's reflection on cloth diapers

Guest blog written by Philip Jude Cole-Regis (a.k.a. PJ)

Cloth Habits: A father’s reflection on cloth diapers.

Sure – let’s go green with cloth diapers… wait, does that mean we have to wash and deal with baby poop?

These were the first thoughts that went through my head when my wife confided in me her ambitions of using only cloth diapers. I was very proud of my wife for dedicating to the movement of an eco-friendly means of diapers – though I had reservations about being involved in such an endeavor. I had to quickly dismiss the idea of leaving such domestic responsibilities to her as we had made the contemporary pact of equal ownership for our daughter’s upbringing.

We’re going with a diaper service right?

The thought of dealing with soiled diapers was an immediate turn off, and really it still is. You’ll find today that I am one of the fastest diaper changers in the west, especially when poop is involved. I still get a hard time for using too many (cloth) wipes on such messy episodes, I’m just not willing to fold or turn to the other side of the wipe and risking my fingers getting smeared with poop.

So I was more than ecstatic when we began our journey with a diaper service. Every Tuesday someone would pick up the quarantined pile of cloth inserts that resided on our patio – simple and clean.

I could get use to this.

But my wife wouldn’t let me. After 3 months we had switched completely to doing diapers ourselves, my wife making the tri-weekly rounds of washing and drying our plethora of diapers – diapers as varied in design as they were in print patterns. Needless to say I was overwhelmed with the cornucopia of choices and procedures, we tried everything. But as time passed we began to filter out those we didn’t like and expand our inventory of those we did – and soon I was trained and my diaper changing skills returned to some semblance of competency.

Wow, this isn’t so bad.

And it really isn’t. I love my daughter more than life itself and I’m willing to do a thorough job at every change to get it right so that she feels clean and happy – though I’ve still a reluctant inclination to wash them myself (but I do help fold – sometimes).

My advice to dads out there? Suck it up – the sacrifices we make are nothing compared to the trials of our significant others during their pregnancy and birth. With an undeniable paradigm shift in the role of contemporary fathers with regard to child rearing, you would be the jewel of every mother’s eyes for your participation in your baby’s diaper upkeep. I’ve read somewhere that it takes 30 days to develop a habit, get to it.

Additionally, the front investment of cloth is dwarfed by the long-term monetary cost of disposables, especially with empirical literary data supporting toilet-training by cloth-babies reaching upwards to 6-months earlier in juxtaposition to their disposable-diaper peers.  And saving a load of money is something every father can get behind.