Cloth diapers, breastfeeding and twins
May 23 '00
I urge all new parents, especially those breastfeeding, to consider cloth diapers for the first month. And if there is a diaper service in your area, by all means use it in the beginning.
I had twins last July and was dedicated to breastfeeding. We left the hospital with newborn Pampers, since our diaper service wasn't going to start until the next week. I worried for 5 days because I couldn't tell if my babies had "8 wet diapers a day" due to the great absorbancy of disposables. This was the general guideline the hospital gave us to tell if they were getting enough milk. However, once we started with the cloth diapers, I could easily tell wet from dry diapers and felt MUCH better about their breastmilk intake.
We chose cloth (diaper service) over disposable because it worked out to be a few dollars cheaper per week in our area. We based this cost on 140 cloth diapers/week (for twins) vs. 140 disposable. Even though we didn't always use this many diapers on bottoms, they made GREAT spit rags (and we never had enough of our own). Even my husband loves the cloth diapers. We didn't have any bottom rashes until my boys started solids. And although we do use disposables for longer trips (shopping, traveling, etc.) or where it will be an inconvenience to carry bulky cloth diapers, I usually just bring along extra diapers and covers and plastic bags for the dirty ones.
I read a great book called "Diaper Changes" when I was considering buying my own cloth diapers. Obviously, after the initial investment, this would be the cheapest route. This book offers a ton of information on the pros and cons of both types of diapers and provides a huge list of resources. I think the biggest thing to consider when trying to decide on cloth vs disposable is where you live. Are you in the northeast, where the water supply is abundant and landfill space is scarce (choose cloth) or in the southwest, where landfill space is everywhere but double washing cloth diapers would use up valuable water.
Personally, I think disposables are easy, convenient and make for a tidy looking outfit, but for now we also have found cloth to be just as easy to use. (Besides, I've heard through the rumor mill that boys in cloth diapers learn to be potty trained faster. Who knows?)
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