A few cloth diapering-related things:

1. Not as hard as everyone seems to think it is.  You’re changing them anyway, just put the little guy in something that surely feels more comfortable.
2. The Snappis are actually kinda sharp.  You won’t stick yourself like you might with a pin.  But watch out for those teeth.
   
3. Doesn’t really make that much more laundry.  Seriously.  Maybe we just have a lot of diapers.  But this really isn’t a concern and I can’t fathom why this is such a sticking point for some people.  Either you’re doing an extra load or two of laundry each week.  Or you’re hauling an extra garbage bag or two to the curb each week.
4. We decided to make our own wipes, as well.  We received some of the wipes as Baby Shower gifts (thanks!) and keep them in the wipes warmer (another gift, thanks!).  Again, it seems like it’s more comfortable for H. to get wiped with one of these than some disposable wipe.
5. While we’re talking about wipes…  “Making our own wipes” really means making the solution that goes over the glorified handkerchiefs in the warmer.  A. found a great recipe that’s 4 cups of water plus 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Smells great, non-toxic, works like a charm.  But I’ll be damned if I don’t feel like I’m marinading the boy every time I change him.

As part of our Sunday, we hit up a cloth diapering workshop at the Burlington Sprout.  We have been considering cloth diapering all along for a variety of reasons but our initial bout of research was stymied because it all seemed so damned complicated.

How could this be true?  They’re just piece of cloth you wrap around your baby’s ass, right?

The first pamphlet we picked up was a furious flurry of unfamiliar phrases: pre-folds, pocket diapers, fitted diapers, snappies, wet bags…

The mind truly reels.

Hence the workshop, which was helpful…  A half hour workshop turned out to be more like an hour and a half but we came away having learned quite a bit, I thought.  (It was also in the middle of the workshop that I got the idea to put this site together.)  Not that we aren’t still feeling a bit overwhelmed — at least, I still am — but at least we are not feeling as totally ignorant as a few weeks ago.

The good news was that it really isn’t as complicated as we feared.  The woman that ran the class (Laura) had a philosophy that we could easily get behind: Don’t let it get complicated.

The bad news was that they don’t appear to offer a package that fits with the lessons we learned there.  We’ll probably roll our own.  The initial cost outlay will probably be pretty significant but the long term savings should make up for it.  Not to mention easing the conscience with respect to environmental concerns.