Or in other words, living with cloth diapers…

So, here I am in the middle of a friday, writing a blog post, while kid number 3 is getting into all sorts of mischief.  Am I worried?  Am I stressed?  Nope, nada, nothing.  After kid 1 (a massive stress fiesta), and kid 2 (a sort of I’ve seen this before but this is new WTH do I do now), kid 3 is very manageable.  Now, all the ladies out there are probably wondering, what’s the big deal – but to guys, child care is a big deal.  Women seem to know things about babies without even trying.  Babies seem to know their mama can fix things way better than their papa (hello boobies), so when the kid suddenly realizes that papa is staying at home full time and is responsible for keeping him alive, he looks a little worried.

Button your way to diaper heaven

Now, my wife threw me a curveball with this whole child care thing way back during No.1.  After the grace period of the first couple of months of getting used to the fact that we are now responsible for another human being for the (hopefully) next 18 years (until they move out), she decided to take it up a notch.  I come home one fine day and see that we now use cloth diapers!  Now, when you hear cloth diapers, you think folding white pieces of cotton cloth, and then taking safety pins and trying not to poke the little squirming monkey on the changing table – and this is what is going through my head.  But, no, just like mobiles (cell phones to you yanks), cloth diapers have come a long way – velcro and buttons baby!  Biggest plus? Cloth diapers are one way where you can be somewhat environmentally conscious – NO TRASH!  And, we’re re-using diapers from kid No.1 on kid No. 3, so now it’s working out way cheaper than buying packs of plastic diapers, since I think I must’ve walked into a store to buy disposables only once for No.3, and that was for the plane ride to India.

A cloth diaper ca. 2012

There’s no safety pins or square pieces of cloth – now there’s velcro and buttons and they’re form fitting as well.

Velcro strips are way easier than safety pins

And they come in all sorts of colours and designs – way cooler than those disposables.

No boring white ones here

So, have I made my case yet?  I know, if you’re a guy, probably you’ve not thought of anything else, but what the consequences are if the little bugger were to take a dump in one of these – I mean that was my first thought.  And trust me, it’s the (bleep)storm that you think it is :-).  It’s as stinky and smelly as the disposable, but you learn how to deal with it.  And, by that I mean, you figure out how to clean the diaper, and get it all in the loo and flush it away.  And that’s where the famous ‘bumwasher’ comes into play.  A little handheld sprayer, found in almost every Indian toilet to wash your bum, is perfect for the cloth diaper poop scenario.  So much so, that I’ve now installed one in our bathroom so now just I can just wash away all the poop into the toilet and voila – problem solved.  And no stinky diaper in the wastebasket or in the house or in the trash outside.

The bumwasher

And, believe you me, I honestly think that the whole pooping issue is what keeps people from even giving it a try, and the fact that there’s a lot of laundry to do.  But with washers being fairly energy and water efficient these days, and just letting them hang dry, the amount of trash you save more than makes up for it.  Also, the bathroom where you change diapers and does become a little crowded (the mess is because I’m in charge, the wife had it way neater when she was home), but it’s only temporary.

The diaper changing table

So, I’m not writing this to ask for a medal or anything (my wife is probably laughing at the fact that I actually wrote this), but because as a guy, initially, it’s a totally messed up concept especially when considering disposables. Yes, you change them more often, and there’s some laundry, but there’s no stink in the house, there’s no stinky trash, and you don’t generate tons of landfill waste with the plastic disposable diapers. Of course, when travelling, you go for the disposable convenience, but when at home, there’s really no reason why you wouldn’t. We used cloth diapers in India and it works a charm, as trash removal/disposal is something that is not very well organized back there, so why contribute to the problem.

Also, maybe it’s just me, but because of this whole poo cleaning bit, you pay more attention to your kid, and you can tell when he has to go, and you take him to the toilet. Both kid No.1 and No.2, were pooping in the toilet by the time they were a year and a half, and were out of diapers before they were two. Kid No.3 will poop in the toilet if you hold him over it. I mean, this is how they were doing it before the disposable diaper came into play, so nothing wrong with it now.

Diaper covers.

So, if you have kids in diapers, give those Bum Geniuses a shot and I think your kid will thank you for it. Now, I have to go change his diaper :-).

Don't I look cool?