Because I’m cheap and lazy
I breastfeed and cloth diaper because I’m cheap and lazy. There, I said it. The other benefits are just gravy.
I read somewhere that the average parent will spend $3000 on disposable diapers by the time their baby is potty-trained. And that’s for each baby. I’ve spent just about $600 on diapers in the past 6 months (happy half-birthday, Pickle!) and expect to come in at well under $1000 when we’re through. The premium-sized prefolds we use now will fit him until he’s a toddler, so all I have to buy from here on out are covers. And probably a few pockets or AIOs here and there to round out the stash - one does need a few grandparent-and-babysitter-friendly diapers around, after all. Hmm, maybe the real reason I cloth diaper is so I can have a virtuous excuse to shop online…
As for breastfeeding, have you seen the cost of formula??? We’ve recently started supplementing (pumping can only keep up one’s supply for so long), and OH MY GOD. It’s unbelievable how much they charge for this stuff. Plus it’s one less thing I have to remember to pack when we leave the house. If the Pickle gets hungry, I’ve got his lunch already made.
I also make most of the Pickle’s solid baby food from scratch. And by “from scratch,” I mean I put an avocado in the blender once a week. On days when I’m feeling really adventurous, I’ll mix in a banana and call it a “bananacado smoothie.” Sometimes he gets leftover butternut squash. The common denominator is: he eats whatever I already have on hand that can go in a blender. Which, as it turns out, is most things! (We do avoid eggs, wheat, and dairy, and introduce one new food at a time because of a family history of food allergies, but beyond that I’m pretty lax.) It saves me from having to remember to buy baby food and I don’t have to find a place in my pantry to store all those teeny little jars.
(Truthfully, when Pickle was first born I was very into the idea of baby-led self feeding, but as it turns out, feeding babies is seriously fun. So we’ve adopted a hybrid approach where I let him hold his own spoon now. His aim’s getting much better - he’ll usually end up painting his cheek before the spoon makes it to his mouth, but he at least knows where he should be pointing it. See previous post, re: SUPER GENIUS BABY. He can hold a spoon. Aw, yeah.)
December 14th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Your parenting outlook is eerily familiar. I always tell people that I started out with cloth diapers and breastfeeding because, dude, it’s so much cheaper! And easier!
Oh, and I totally cannot believe that he is eating solid food already. I mean, I realize time has passed, but it just seems like he should be newborn!
December 15th, 2007 at 8:33 am
We’re using disposables on our trip this weekend because I don’t know if the hotel will have laundry, and I feel like a newbie all over again. With cloth, I have a system and a routine. With these paper things, I have no idea what I’m doing.
December 15th, 2007 at 9:12 am
See, I use paper diapers because I am lazy. I cannot imagine keeping up with the laundry of cloth. (Also I have post-cloth-diaper-trauma from my own childhood; I am the oldest and remember the fetid bucket of bleach in the bathroom, and I know technology has changed in the diaper arena but I was scarred I tell you!)
Jarred baby food can be very useful for on-the-go, because you don’t need to carry an ice pack (lazy alert!). Otherwise, it’s amazing how soon they can eat almost anything you do, with a little mashing. I would, however, avoid rice in a restaurant setting. It gets EVERYWHERE.
December 20th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
As far as I can tell from reading cloth diapering forums, there are only 3 or 4 women left who still use a wet pail. We have a machine-washable PUL laundry bag in a lidded trashcan and twice a week the whole thing gets chucked in the washing machine. The diapers shake out of the bag in the wash. Easy peasy.
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