I love using cloth diapers. I first started using them when Tobiah was eight months old, and I did it to help my family save money. Since then, I have fallen in love with them, despite many challenges, for so many reasons beyond that big reason that got me started.
Since falling in love with my diapers, I have learned a lot about the harmful chemicals found in disposable diapers, and have slowly, more and more, learned to really hate them. Then yesterday, I read a story that broke my heart, and has filled me with a new resolve to never put those nasty things on my children again.
A cloth using family was using disposables while they stripped their diapers. They had left a clean, unused diaper on their nightstand for that midnight diaper change, and their perfectly healthy dog got a hold of it and ripped it apart. Long story short, they had to have their dog put down after the diaper swelled in it's gut and intestines, and caused internal bleeding as well as blockage. The dog who had been perfectly healthy just a day early was no longer strong enough to survive surgery.
That scares me. I love my dog. I can't imagine loosing him while he is young and healthy. Furthermore, I love my children, and if those diapers are dangerous enough to cause internal bleeding in that poor dog, why on earth would I want to put them on the most sensitive part of my child's body?
We recently realized that Ruth reacts to every disposable diaper we have tried (OK, that is three brands, but good enough for me), so we already have been given no choice but to use cloth on her. Naomi is a little bit harder. We cannot use our normal diapers on her over night, as she gets rashes. It might be the fact that they have microfiber, it might be that they are not breathable, either way, she cannot be in them that long without problems. So, while we finally found something that works for her at night (fitted diapers with a wool cover), we only have two of those diapers. We never seem to get them washed quickly enough, so we always have at least every third night with her in a disposable. The next couple of weeks will be interesting as we wake her up in the middle of the night on those third nights to ensure we can keep her in cloth until our tax return gets here and we can buy a few more, but it is a small price to pay to know my children (and my dog) will be safe from those nasty, horrible disposable diapers.
Here is to officially taking the plunge into no more disposables!
