I was introduced to modern cloth diapering early in my pregnancy. I don’t recall exactly how, but one night I stumbled upon a website with a laundry list of links to online stores who sold the cutest little poop collectors I’d ever seen. Yes, admittedly my love for cloth diapers originally grew from their cuteness factor.

Regardless of what initially drew me to them, I quickly learned all about how easy these modern versions were, how different they were from the cloth origami our parents had to fuss with, how we didn’t have to deal with treacherous diaper pins anymore. I learned how there was no need for a nasty pail full of water and filthy diapers sitting around, and how it wasn’t even necessary to dunk them in the toilet before washing them. All of my preconceived notions about cloth diapers dissipated after one night, a glass of wine, and a long, informative date with Google.

I presented the idea to my husband the next day. Without so much as a catch in his voice, a single moment of hesitation, he swiftly replied, “Sure! Let’s do it.” I have to say, I think what initially drew him to them was the cost factor. Based on very rough calculations I’d done the night before, I figured we could save at least $1,500 with just one kid in cloth diapers, and that was taking into account the cost of purchasing the cute, functional, easy to use cloth diapers I had my eye on.

Not that we needed much more to sell us on the idea, but just thinking of the ecological impact of keeping thousands of disposable diapers out of landfills over the next few years was quite rewarding and exciting.  I was also thrilled to know that my son wouldn’t be sitting in chemicals that research has shown to raise scrotal temperature and possibly “blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis.” (According to the Archives of Disease in Childhood, May 2000)

I wrote, at great length, more about our decision to cloth diaper on my blog in my post “Yes, I Use Cloth Diapers. No, I Don’t Wear Birkenstocks.”

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