This post is written for the Real Diaper Week Carnival with the theme “Real Simple. Real Diapers.” We aim to educate and advocate the use of cloth diapers in the Philippines. Please scroll below to read the other carnival posts about cloth diaper styles, how to’s or must haves.
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"Ang mahal naman niyan!"
Ask any cloth diapering mom, and I'm sure someone has said pretty much the same thing about cloth diapers at one point. Usually, this phrase comes after "Ang cute naman niyan!".
Well, it's true that it can be a little expensive at first. You would need to shell out a little to be able to build a decent stash of cloth diapers. Believe me, Hubby's facial expression said it all when I first told him that I want to build a cloth diaper stash for Nathan. This was after he saw Next9's website which I 'accidentally' left open on his browser. Believe me, the look on his face was just like telling me, "Are you out of your mind?! 1k for 3 diapers?!"
The thing is, I wasn't researching about cloth diapers just because it's cute. (Okay, I admit that was ONE reason). But at that time, Nathan was having really bad rashes because of his diapers. We tried brand after brand, we changed every after 2 hrs but we got the same results.
So, to give him a 'preview' without having to spend that much, I asked that we try Chino Pino's first. It's pretty much the old school lampin but it's pre folded already and it has velcro closures that made it a lot easier to put on Nathan. In just a week of switching to Chino Pino's, the rashes were gone. Yay!
But eventually, we outgrew the chino pino. Nathan's thigh -- well, people call it "Pata" for a reason eventually became too big for the chino pino. Hubby said maybe it's time to try out the modern ones. I swear I did a happy dance when he said that. :)
Ang-mahal-naman-nyan-rebuttal number 1: If you do the math, you'll see it's not expensive at all.
Cloth diapers are reusable. Which means, if you stick to it, you'd probably never buy another disposable diaper again EVER. I always say din, since Nathan is our first child, the probability of our second (maybe even third) child to use the same CD's are high! Investment ang tawag dun. :P
If you change disposable diapers 12 times a day and keep doing that for a year, this is what it will cost you:
Drypers: PhP7/pc = PhP30,576/year
EQ Dry: PhP6/pc = PhP26,208/year
Huggies PhP9/pc = PhP39,312/year
Kimbies: Dry PhP6/pc = PhP26,208/year
Pampers Comfort: PhP7/pc = PhP30,576/year
Pampers Baby Dry: PhP8.25/pc = PhP36,036/year
ProKids: PhP6/pc = PhP26,208/year
EQ Dry: PhP6/pc = PhP26,208/year
Huggies PhP9/pc = PhP39,312/year
Kimbies: Dry PhP6/pc = PhP26,208/year
Pampers Comfort: PhP7/pc = PhP30,576/year
Pampers Baby Dry: PhP8.25/pc = PhP36,036/year
ProKids: PhP6/pc = PhP26,208/year
Confession: I didn't do the math. Next9 did.
Ang-mahal-naman-nyan-rebuttal number 2: It's really good for the environment.
When I was trying to convince hubby to switch to cloth diapers, I asked him to guess just how many years it would take to decompose a single disposable diaper. He guessed 50 years, and based on my research, 50 years -- even when it sounds soooo long already, is just a quarter of disposable diaper's life. It takes 200 years, some data I've read said it takes 500. 200 or 500, maski nga 50 lang e, that's still a very long time! That means by the time Nathan has his own grand grand kids, the diaper we used on him would still be sitting on a landfill somewhere!
It actually felt good when we started using cloth diapers. It was nice not seeing disposable diapers on the trash can. I know it's just a small contribution, but still it's something, diba? At least Mother Earth has one less disposable diaper to worry about because of us. Pwede na yun!
Ang-mahal-naman-nyan-rebuttal-tip number 3: Ang cute kaya!
Kasama talaga to sa reasons why we like cloth diapers. Haha! Because of cloth diapers, Nathan is ready for a photoshoot anytime! :P When we were using cloth diapers na, I realized how
uglydifferent it looked like when Nathan was just wearing disposables. Sure, disposables have prints too but it just looked... well, different.
Cloth diapers now come in different colors, in different prints. Some were even customizable, and if you're really crafty, I'm sure you could do loads with plain cloth diapers. Can I add, sobrang nakakagigil yung butt ni baby pag naka cloth diaper, ang tambok! :)
[caption id="attachment_129066" align="alignnone" width="423" caption="Nathan says "OK"."][/caption]
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So there, that's just three of the many reasons why we chose real diapers. It took a little explaining of course to convince hubby, but I'm happy to say that he's my number 1 supporter now when it comes to full-time CDing. Yes, we do full time! We use cloth diapers 24/7. Yay!
He now knows the benefit of cloth diapers and would even answer back for me whenever someone says "Ang mahal naman nyan!". Minsan may iba pang statements like, "Mukhang mahirap i-maintain, or magastos sa laba" pero with a little explanation, nagegets din naman. :) Proud moment ko lang is when he explained it to our friend, akala ko di siya nakikinig sa explanations ko e!
If you haven't yet, I suggest you give it a try din. The secret is to just buy just a few first and then decide which system works best for you. Oh yes, cloth diapers are so modern now and we have different systems pa! I suggest you look into it first. We're really far from the oldschool lampin na. Another yay for that!
There's a group called Modern Cloth Nappying Pinays (every cloth diaper addict mom is in that group) and you can ask them questions and for sure you'll get really good answers. I joined the group when there was just around 80 members, now it's around 700+ na! Galing! If not sa group, just google and research lang, you'll be surprised at how many moms are doing it already. (I used to watch videos on youtube on how to strip diapers! Haha)
Anyway, ang haba na nito. Just think of this as me saying na, real diapers can be intimidating at first, but still, it's something worth trying. :)
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Please check out other entries for the blog carnival:
Next9 Baby's The CD Revolution
Tickled Mom Clarice's Stuff you need for an easier CD-ing life
Buntis' Milo's stash of real diapers
Happy Tots Studio's Matteo's Diaper Story
Hoo Goes Where's Real Diapers Our CD Journey
MrsBry's Z loves: Next9 Cloth Diapers
This Mom's Life's Transitioning to Cloth Diapers
ms. Masungit's Cloth Diapers? Where?
The Odyssey of Dinna's nurturing rafael: the cloth diaper chronicles
The Articulate Pen's Making the Switch to Cloth Diapers
The Common Mom's Surviving the Holidays with Cloth Diapers
Tickled Mom Abie's Cloth Diapers. A Quick Review of the Different Systems
Swept Away's What We Love About Cloth Diapers
Chronicles of a Nursing Mom's Going out of Town with Cloth Diapers
Organized Junk's Out and About with Cloth Diapers
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ReplyDeleteYup, it's an investment, financially and to the environment! Haha, we had the same situation with the Chino Pino! Ang mga pata!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info about the group :) Will be joining!
Haha, oo nga -- Pata talaga. Nagagamit pa rin namin yung chino pinos niya ngayon - as inserts! :) Si Hubby kasi minsan di niya makita yung inserts, so tinupi niya yung chino pino then yun ang naka stuff sa loob. Effective din naman in fairness. :)
ReplyDeleteSee you sa group! :)
amazing! Chino Pino was already around when my (now) 11 year old was born, and that was what we used as well! We eventually moved to flat folds though, as I felt that the ones we bought (gerber brand) were more absorbent (pure cotton kasi).
ReplyDeletei love your post! really ready with the rebuttals! (parang breastfeeding post no? hehehe!)
Ready talaga for rebuttals! Hehe! And always ready for 'salestalk'. Nakakatuwa din naman when people ask about Nathan's cloth diaper. Usually after naman sabihin na 'mahal pala', narerealize din nila yung value. May ilang 'converts' narin kami to cloth! Hehe!
ReplyDeleteAnd Ms. Jen! Thank you for Next9! It made cloth diapering a lot easier talaga and I swear by Tushy Wushy. Love talaga namin!
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ReplyDeleteyay for happy dance! haha
ReplyDeleteI can only happy dance in my head, baka obvious na tuwang tuwa ako masyado
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ReplyDeleteI have chino pinos too! Used that with my firstborn for a while, then switched to disposables. With my second baby, I'm now committed to cloth nappying full time! I'm so happy that I discovered one size diapers!
ReplyDeleteHubby's still in the fence though - he even gives me back our baby when it's time for nappy change. :-P I still need to brainwash him more, hehe.
this is so hilarious! :)) but i can so relate.. lahat tayo in one way or another have come across the idea na intimidating ang CD.
ReplyDeletemember ka din pala ng MCNP? natawa ako don -- na addict ang mga members non. haha.. so we're both addicts, i guess? ;) pero true nga, grabe, ang dami dami dami nilang alam!!! don lang din ako natututo at nagtatanong pag may confusions ako. but then, my pocket system is just simple and fuss-free, so i have not that many issues (except the poopstains lang talaga).
i laughed out loud when I read that you did a happy dance! Oh well, CDs really make us happy so dance away! :)
ReplyDeleteKonting brainwash and 'training' nalang yan sis! :P Natatawa pa ko nung first time pinalitan ni hubby ng diaper si Nathan, paling-paling yung snaps! Haha! Pero nakasanayan na niya, wala siyang choice e. Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteYes! Member ako ng MCNP pero pasilip silip lang ako kasi ayokong matempt sa group buys! Hehehe! Pero suuuuuper laking tulong ng group talaga nung nagstart palang ako. I remember the first time we used CD on our out of town trip, sa group ako nagreport agad. Haha! Parang achievement award lang. :p
ReplyDeleteOh yes, pampasaya talaga ang CD's. I remember nung naguumpisa palang ako sa stash so every week ata may dumadating na package. Tuwang tuwa naman ako, may line pa na "It's so fluffy!!" Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteThat was also my initial reaction when I decided to use cloth diapers, but when you think about it, it really pays off in the long run. Especially if you decide to have more than one child.
ReplyDeleteSee you at MCNP!
Ang mahal nyan! That's what my husband used to say too! =)
ReplyDeleteHaha! I loved your comment about how nakakagigil our babies' butts are when they're in cloth diapers. Even his grandmother loves watching him walk around kasi the diaper makes his butt look so cute and wiggly. Another advantage of cloth diapers, earth-friendly and economical, tapos super cute pa!
ReplyDeletei think everyone has chino pinos!! i had them too. sayang they didn't make them in a bigger size! they would have made good inserts for use with diaper covers! we used to use them with enfant covers.
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