A Dad's First cloth Experience- Contrary to current published reports :)

This letter was received by me from Jon Rhein a first time dad who emailed me a short while ago about converting to cloth. He ordered a mix of diapers to try to see what they liked and embraced cloth wholeheartedly. His little princess has issues with disposables and rashes much like my son so its not surprising she is so much happier in cloth.

Thanks Jon for taking the time to email this to me and for letting me post this.


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Hi Brandy,

Ok, maybe you can ask the manufacturer if she has 8 available....

Ha, the wife's comfort level with laundry? The prewash, wash, and dry
is me - she is the stuffing and folding! lol.

Truthfully, we are both finding it *way* easier to use cloth than
disposable. I am really quite surprised. Basically, Leela has gone
from crying to be changed every time she pees a little bit (sometimes
every 20 minutes, and naturally we'd always oblige!) to, at times,
going upwards of 5 hours with the BGs! It might seem unbelievable,
but I can honestly tell she is happier in them - she has always been a
happy girl, but now she seems untroubled, and her bum shows no trace
of rash. I've been using the Northern Essence at every change, to be
sure.

Basically, any additional labor involved (which is marginal - a load
of laundry every day or two) is more than offset by doing only about
10 changes a day vs. I have no idea how many! I don't see ever going
back, and I think that most people with a washer and dryer in their
home would feel the same way, if only they knew!

I think our precepts cause us to prejudge and make often incorrect
assumptions, and as open-minded as I pride myself on being, I just
assumed CD would be a huge challenge, even once I'd decided to have a
try. What a pleasant surprise the experience has turned out to be!

Of course, I tend to be more of a child-centered parent than some
might approve of, so I don't find washing poop out of a diaper
problematic any more than I do having my girl fall asleep in my arms
for 3 hours straight. :-)

My still-novice ratings of the diapers is that the BGs are probably
the best over all, since with that extra infant insert, you
effectively have a free extra soaker with every 3.0, which works
amazingly well for overnights/long afternoon naps. The Just Ducky is
great because of the snap out soaker, though, and I think is nearly as
absorbent as the BGs are with a single soaker. The Baby Kanga, not
sure yet, every time we put her in it, she lets off big time, lol.
Hasn't gotten a proper audition yet. My only negative experience has
been the two HH diapers - in that one, unlike any of the others, Leela
seems to instantly feel wet, and needs to be changed, just like with
disposables.

Well, sorry for the long ramble -I do tend to go on!

Best,

Jon





CC: Parents Magazine.