Potty training can be green, too.

John and I switched Braden to cloth diapers way back in February (Bum Genius 3.0) and our only regret was that we didn’t do it from day one. We are already planning on bringing up our next child in them from the very start. If you click the above link and read, you’ll see that cloth diapering is good for the earth and your wallet. The initial cost is nothing compared to the huge amount you’ll save in the long run.

But does the good stuff have to end during potty training? Must you run out a buy disposable potty training pants to get by?

Heck no. There are cloth training pants out there, people! And I can give you a personal recommendation because we’ve already tried some of them. Braden played around with potty training earlier this year and was doing very well for some time. He has since regressed and decided he’s not interested in full time potty-training anymore, so he’s back in diapers to take the stress off of all of us. We check in with him from time to time, and we know he’ll be ready eventually.


HOWEVER! We ordered “Dri Days Training Pants” from OneStepAhead.com. I was a bit nervous, not sure of what was going to show up or how I’d feel about them, but they are excellent. I was never worried that Braden would be standing in a puddle at any time while he was wearing these – they are incredibly absorbent for little underpants!  At the same time, the absorbent pad is directly in contact with the child’s body, so the child can feel the wetness and learn to respond.  Braden always seemed very comfortable while wearing them.


I was so pleased to find something that we could wash and use over and over again, rather than adding disposable training pants to the landfills out there. They are $9.95 a piece, so not cheap, but if you buy a handful and use them over and over again, you’ll end up spending less than on package after package of the disposable training pants (and use them over with more than one child!) and you can feel good that you’re doing the right thing, which is invaluable, truly.


The linky below is open to anyone who wants to link in any type of “green” post they have written within the past month, or in the next couple of weeks.  Please link in anything you’ve written that’s applicable, and thank you in advance!

His Butt is Toxic, and Yet, Eco-Friendly!

We did a handful of things differently this month to be kind to Mother Earth, but this month’s big “Green” effort was really exciting for us: we decided to take the Cloth Diapering Plunge!






Braden’s gone “Clean And Green.”

Disposable are NASTY.

One child produces large amounts of them, daily – It is estimated that children using disposables create almost 6,000 during their diaper-wearing years. And those will sit in a landfill for an estimated 250-500 years.  That is DISGUSTING.  And have you seen the icky, jelly crap inside them?  I’ve had them bust open on us (not often, but it happens) and it’s really pukish when I think about how that Yuckification in there was always up against my kiddo’s little, soft hiney.  I’m sure it contributed to his rashiness.

Ever since last month’s PSBN post and all the excellent advice from you guys, I dove in and did some hard-core research online about cloth diapers.  This site is a great resourse (but you can find lots out there).  I didn’t really want to spend the big bucks, but I knew I HAD to find something that John and I would stick with.  Let’s be realistic here: If you can’t hack it, you’ll give up on it.  We didn’t want to give up on it!  I tried really hard to want to use the cheapest option: prefolds.  But.  Just.  No.  (Forgive me, I know so many of you have done/do this, but it just isn’t for us.) 

All the “fitted” diapers seemed so great, but buying new sizes constantly would really get expensive!  Yeah, Braden is on the last leg of his “Diaper Journey” but we wanted to invest in something that we can use again with additional kiddos we have (imagine that, we want this to be an Earth Saving AND Money Saving venture!)…

Enter the 3.0 Bum Genius One Size Cloth Diaper.

*big sigh*

Yes.  They are expensive.  You look at the price of a single diaper and you go OHHOLYCRAPANDCRACKERSTHAT’SWHATIPAYFORAWHOLEBOXOFDISPOSABLESEEEEEK!

BUT.

Work out how much you spend on them for your child’s entire “Diaper Journey,” and you’ll see that you’re just hemorrhaging the cash slowly instead of all at once, and the disposables will end up costing you WAY more in the long run than even the expensive cloth diapers, yo!

UPDATED:

Maybe this will help you see why you’re NOT spending more when you use even the “expensive” cloth diapers:

If your kid wears disposables until age 2 (and most wear them longer, FYI) that will produce an estimated 5800-6000 diapers.  This is going to cost you approximately $1000 – $1600 (depending on brand).  Yup.  And I didn’t even include the price of wipes or butt rash cream – that’s extra, my friends!  And if the kiddo goes past age 2, you can just keep adding to that price.  For about $400 you can purchase 24 (more than enough at any age!) of the “expensive” Bum Genius 3.0 One Size (the newest one available) and you can use them on an endless number of children.

So, this means:

Have 3 kids?  Disposables until 2: $3000 – $4800 (depending on brand).  BG One Size: $400 (plus laundry costs).

And don’t forget to add wipes, creams, and anything past age 2 to that disposables price.

Do you still think it costs too much?

So I did a little of my own math.  I figured out how much we’d spend from now until Braden turns 2 on the disposables we were currently using (Walmart brand, so they are cheap).  And I decided that if I can spend that much or less, it would be economically logical as well as YAY for Mother Earth. 

And guess what?  I spent exactly that much on 9 Bum Genius One Size diapers/inserts (will fit from newborn up to a 37 pounder),

 2 Hemp Babies inserts (extra absorbency for nights)

and a Mini-Shower (if you cloth diaper, you want this, seriously – thanks for the tip, Heather!) to spray out The Dook. 

Which means that in the $ department, IF Braden would be Potty Trained by 2 (which I think is a nice, hopeful assumption) then we break even.  If it takes him longer, we save!  Hurrah! 

Now, if you consider the fact that we can use these with the next child(ren), that’s where we REALLY save $$.  We’ll need to purchase extras to handle the excessive Poopification during the beginning of life, but we’ll still save boatloads over using disposables.  And we’ll never contribute another 500 Year JellyPissShitSack Diaper to the landfills!

*Does an insanely happy dance of JOY!*

“But Lotus, you are totally spending more in laundry!”  Yes, yes, I am, My Kind, Loving Reader.  But check it:  We’re cutting water usage elsewhere to help with that a bit.

Here’s how:

We took Sandy’s really great tip, and we bought a bucket to collect the cold water that we used to waste at the beginning of the shower.  (You know, when you’re waiting for it to warm up?) 

Now we use that water for other things like refilling our aquariums and putting into Braden’s humidifier when he’s got a cold.  It can also be used to water plants and the garden, mop floors, clean appliances, etc.  How cool!

Next:

“If it’s yellow, let it mellow.  If it’s brown, flush it down.”

Yup.  We’ve severely reduced the number of flushes in our home.

I’ll spare you the photo evidence on this one. And that’s really unlike me, you know, to pass up the chance to flash something excretory at you. (If that’s not a word, it is now.)

Things we’ve already done in the past that help: no water running while teeth brushing or hand washing, use hand sanitizier in place of washing if your hands aren’t grimy, but just need disinfecting, and restrict the length of showers and the size of baths.

A few “technical” notes about using Bum Genius One Size:

Care Instructions (click it) You will want to follow these to make sure the diaper never leaks.  The material is really great – the fleece lining truly wicks the moisture away and into the absorbent liner inside. 

It’s freakin’ amazing.  But you have to treat it nice so it keeps performing!  We already used Purex Free and Clear for laundry, and that’s approved.  You should read all the care instructions before you buy – if you’re not willing to follow them, you should probably go with something else.

They’ll “Grow With Kiddo.”  They come with newborn size diaper doubler and regular insert, and have cool snaps to change the size as your lil’ one grows.  I am so excited to use them exclusively on our next baby.

There will be a learning curve when changing from disposables, but it really hasn’t been bad!  You have to get used to how to insert the liners without bunching them, but you’ll get into the groove of it after some practice. 

We got the Hemp Babies inserts for nighttime because Braden needs extra absorbency overnight. 

I did my research and they were highly recommended.  They did not disappoint.  We just add one in at night on top of the regular insert.  He has only leaked out at night once so far, which is excellent!

And, did you notice… They are freakin’ adorable!

It has been a really exciting month for us with this change!  And we have lots of other things up our sleeves – some that we’ve already started doing, and some that we are planning for the future.  But this is it for this month’s installment.  Stay tuned for next month, my pretties!  We have so much more in store.



Next post is scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2008.

Now link up with your monthly posts, and visit other participants!  I can’t wait to read what you’ve got for us.



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