Fran and I made one decision pretty early on in the pregnancy game — we wanted to use cloth diapers on our baby. Between cost and environmental reasons, I think it will be worth it.

We may not seem like crunchy granola types, but Fran and I are actually kind of psycho about recycling. I am not sure why — I mean, we love the earth and all that, but I think in the end it may come down to both of us having type A personalities. If, for whatever reason, I throw something away that I think might be recyclable, I can't stop thinking about it until I retrieve it from the trash. It's a curse. But I don't want to go to that same mental place every time I think of my baby's disposable diapers piling up in a landfill.

So, when we were in LA, we stocked up on the only type of cloth diaper available at Babys 'R Us. gDiapers actually aren't 100% cloth, they're sort of a hybrid system. As you may have heard, cloth diapers have come a long way. I know this in part because when I mention to ladies from another generation that we are going to use cloth, most of them look pretty horrified. But times have changed!

             

gDiapers consist of two elements: a super cute, colored outside cover (with plastic liner), which keeps everything together and (hopefully) contained, and an inside part which can be cloth OR disposable. We plan to use cloth, but we did buy some of the disposable inserts just to see how that goes. The disposable inserts are biodegradeable and flushable, although considering a lot of Mexican toilets can't even handle toilet paper, I am thinking flushing them may not be a great idea. They're also compostable, but since all we have growing in our place right now is a ficus, I don't think that is an option. Cloth it is!

I have heard out there that newborns can go through 12-14 diapers per day (THE HORROR!), and that's why it's recommended you have 24-36 cloth diapers, to launder every couple of days. I wasn't sure how this translated into gDiapers, so we bought 24 liners and 6 or so covers in the smallest size. We also bought liners (fewer) and covers in a larger size, so we're really counting on these things to work!

The expense was pretty high up-front — a package of 2 covers is like $25, and a package of 6 cloth liners costs around the same. But, last week when I went to a diaper-themed baby shower for some other girls, this up-front spending was put into perspective. Two packages of 36 Pampers Swaddlers set me back more than 500 pesos (40 dollars). And according to this 12-14 diaper per day scenario, that will not even last a week!

The other factor, of course, is washing the cloth diapers. If there are any diaper services in Mexico City, I'm not aware of them. I'm pretty much 100% sure there aren't, because 1. cloth diapers are not too popular here and 2. people would rather just have the maid wash these things instead of shipping them out. Honestly, I'm not too grossed out by the prospect of dealing with the dirty diapers. First of all, I have a pet, and therefore have cleaned pee and poop off far too many different surfaces. I'm over it. Secondly, from what I've read, modern washing machines can handle these things with an extra pre-rinse, even if you don't spray the diapers off the second they get dirty.

Oh, also, my husband does our laundry

So for now we're optimistic about this whole CD thing. I will be sure to write after the baby comes and let you know how things are going!