Preparing for Baby - Part 2

Now that we have our list of essentials, I've started doing some research and making some choices...there are SO many choices! It's a little crazy.

First on the list was diapers. My husband and I are both pretty earth conscious. I'm definitely not outrageous about my efforts or opinions, but I like to do my part to preserve and protect the planet as much as I am able. That said, I have always been curious about cloth diapers, but whenever I've asked friends they either tell me "good luck' and leave it at that or say they tried but just couldn't make it work. I completely understand the convenience of disposable diapers and I'm definitely of the mind set that everyone has to find what works for them and do it. It's all a process and I know there will most likely be times when we slap on a disposable because it's the best option at the time. However, it concerns me to think about my baby's most delicate parts being in touch with all those chemicals everyday for 2-3 years! With all that in mind, I started my research to see if cloth diapers might work for our family.

Here's what I learned:
There are lots of people using cloth diapers who love them and with the internet there are many places to get great tips on using them effectively. There are a variety of cloth diaper choices out there, not to mention the more environmentally friendly disposable choices too. Over 18 billion diapers go into the landfill every year, just in the U.S. and each diaper takes more than 500 years to decompose - yikes!

Here's what I realized:
For our family, I think cloth diapers would work best when we're close to home, but for camping or vacation or other overnight outtings disposable probably makes more sense. What I really need is a hybrid of some kind...enter gDiapers.

To me, these little bundles of cuteness seem like the best of both worlds. They consist of an outter cloth cover, a waterproof liner and a cloth or biodegradable (compostable if it's just pee) insert. So we will be able to use cloth when it makes sense, but have the convenience (and guilt free use) of the disposable/compostable insert when we're out and about. You can learn more about gDiapers here.

I just ordered the new baby bundle and the tiny g's are SO cute I can barely stand it! It's hard to believe we're going to have a tiny little person in our house soon who will actually fit into those itty bitty diapers. For us gDiapers just seem like the best option. They aren't necessarily the least expensive (another great reason to use cloth diapers), but I think overall they make the most sense. Stay tuned once we have our baby and I will let you know if they are as great in the real world as I'm hoping...

Here are a couple resources I came across during my research that I found to be helpful:
"The Diaper Dilemma" in the May/June 2010 issue. Unfortunately they don't have a link to the article on their website, but they do have this section with video resources related to cloth diapering. here

This site has a bunch of great information on using cloth diapers.

I would love to hear about your thoughts/research on diaper choices along with any good links you come across!