The Not-So Earth Friendly Baby :(

I remember being pregnant and telling people that I was planning on using cloth diapers. I had gotten a recommendation that they are much more modern and easy to use--you just have to make the investment and pay the $15 a diaper price tag. After doing a little research, I found that you will change approximately eight thousand diapers per child; so, even though, the initial investment is steep, you end up saving money in the long run. Plus, I thought it was only fair that I go the extra mile in laundry for mother earth.
Neighbors, friends and relatives all asked me to let them know how long it was before Liam was in disposables. The answer is one day! It is not because Steve and I were lazy and didn't like the messiness or extra laundry--unfortunately, they haven't worked yet. I figured laundering his diaper, his clothes, my clothes, and the couch upholstery was worse for the environment than one disposable diaper. I haven't given up on them yet. I am still hoping that he will grow and they will stop leaking.


In honor of earth day, I wanted to show everyone these cute disposable diapers that Melissa, Kitty and my sister were all kind enough to invest in for us. They really are stylish and come in great colors. So, even if they are not as earth friendly as Al Gore would have liked, they might be in for Heidi Klum.

A "Typical" Day (up to this point)

Although many people told me stories of their experiences and usually warned that I would get very little sleep, I wasn't quite sure of what that would mean. Of course, each child is different, but I thought I'd share the schedule of a fairly typical day/night for Liam in his first 11 days. We'll start with midnight (0) and go through 11pm that day (23) where N is for nursing, D is for diaper change, S is for sleep and A is for activity:
00: S
01: N, D
02: S
03: S
04: N, D
05: S
06: S / N
07: N
08: S
09: N, D
10: D
11: N, D
12: D
13: N, D, A
14: S
15: N, D
16: S
17: S
18: N
19: N, D
20: N, D, A
21: S
22: N
23: S

In those 24 hours, there are 10 involving sleep. There is no stretch longer than 2 hours without a nursing or diaper change or both. And keep in mind that nursing and changing a diaper are not trivial operations. They both start with crying, involve movement / repositioning of Liam, usually both of us waking up if not already, and then getting him back to sleep. Diaper changes also often involve a clothing change since even the disposable diapers aren't completely water tight. So that 1 am N, D usually takes the entire hour. Our hats are off to all parents who've already been through this - especially parents of multiples and or colicky babies... how did you do it?

Now, I'm sure every baby deviates from this, and so does Liam, but this gives a little glimpse into what our days and nights have been like. So far, his longest continuous nap has been about 4 hours, which was really nice. Of course, the best times are those rare "A"s where Liam is awake and content and we tell him stories, read him a book, give him a tour of the room, or just make funny noises with him.

All in all, Liam has been great though. Despite frequently getting up at night to take care of him, we're still pretty awake during the day and are always happy to be able to ease his pain (of hunger, or gas, or whatever) even if it means less sleep for us.

A Lesson Learned

Lesson Learned: the re-usable diapers are too big for Liam right now. Although they looked a bit too large, it took a wet swaddle blanket (Liam's) and shirt (mine) to confirm :) We'll try them again when he gets a little bigger.