Day 7 - Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge

I participated in the Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. For seven days, I used only flat cloth diapers and hand washed and line dried them. You can learn more about the rules and why this challenge was started by visiting the announcement post.

Reflections of the past week.

Using flats and hand washing was fun.  I was determined to do it, and I did.  I love it when I accomplish a goal. 

Would I feel differently if this were my life...if I had to hand wash every day because there were no other options?  Probably.  It would be tedious.  Every time I looked at my stack of flat diapers and saw the clean stack diminishing, I would feel dread knowing I HAD to find the time to wash them asap if my baby were going to have clean diapers.  Would I do it, anyway, or would I resort to disposables?  Without a doubt, I would unequivocally keep hand washing. 

Cloth diapers are a huge part of my life, as weird as that sounds.  I started using cloth because my oldest was plagued by diaper rash caused by the chemicals in disposables.  Disposables scare me.  They contain  sodium polyacrylate.  A similar substance was removed from tampons in the 80's because it caused toxic shock syndrome.  Then there's the carcinogenic Dioxin and the toxic pollutant Tributyl-tin.  No, thank you.  I'll pass on that for my baby.  And now that I have a boy, I'm concerned about the scrotal temperature in disposable diapers.  The Archives of Disease in Childhood published research showing that using disposable diapers over time can affect the cooling mechanism that helps boys have normal sperm development.  With the increase in infertility issues with my generation and those younger, it makes a girl wonder...  The Huggies and Pampers commercials with the smiling babies don't tell you that.  Yes, I would continue to hand wash cloth.  Even if I had to do it for years, I would do it, because it is what's best for my babies. 

Did I heave a sigh of relief this morning when I put my cushy organic cotton all-in-one on Asher?  Yes, I did.  Will I rejoice when I wash the first load of cloth in my machine this week?  Yes, I will.  I appreciate all that I have and the comforts I can afford.  But later this week we are going on vacation, and I will be packing my stash of flats.  I can't think of an easier or better diaper to travel with.

To see the flat folds I used this week, visit our YouTube channel.  http://www.youtube.com/user/TheChangingTable?feature=mhee