Breastfeeding 101 and Newfangled Cloth Diapers

Being an advocate of all things organic, natural, earth-friendly, non-toxic, etc. has lead me to choose to breastfeed and use cloth diapers. Since starting to live green, I have associated all of my lifestyle choices with being a fringe or alternative way to live. This is apparently NOT the case with breastfeeding, but it still IS the case with cloth diapering. Let me expand. Breastfeeding. Wow, the benefits of breastfeeding are widely known. I think most people are now aware, in fact, I recently attended a main-stream hospital class about breastfeeding, and there I learned that most, if not all, doctors now not only RECOMMEND breastfeeding but they insist that it is THE best thing to do for any baby, especially in the first 7 months of life. Almost every person for our childbirth class also attended the breastfeeding class. Apparently around 60% of women breastfeed when they are in the hospital, and around 30% breastfeed for the first 6 months or so. That's impressive! Considering the fact that doctors (not just midwives and nurse-midwives) are advocating for breastfed babies is a good sign that these percentages will keep going up. It is amazing to see the medical community support a practice that does not involve pharmaceutical companies and, even more corrupt, the food industry that promotes infant formula as necessary and (historically) as the better option to feed infants. Way to go medical community! I see a correlation with the ever-increasing demand for organic food, which, I think, is mostly due to the fact that people are looking for a way to be healthier. There are many other reasons to buy organic that aren't as popular as the health benefits, reducing pollution and supporting sustainable systems being two of those, and that is reflected in the lack of parents who use cloth diapers but instead fill the landfills with disposable diapers. I don't know of many people who use cloth diapers. It became real evident that it is a great minority of parents when I failed to find modernized cloth diapers, diaper pins, or even a diaper pail for non-disposables in any of the major baby retailers like Target and Babies R Us. There are differences between breastfeeding and cloth diapering. Breastfeeding is easier, safer, and much cheaper than formula feeding. Pair these things with the health benefits of colostrum and mother's milk and you have an obvious winning choice. Cloth diapering is not as convenient as disposables and the really cool cloth diapers are a bit of investment. Of course, disposables add up to crazy amounts of money spent over the 2-3 years that little humans poop there pants, but he idea of spending $10-$20 per diaper sounds crazy. Plus, it's gross. I can see why you would want to toss those dirty poopy diapers in the garbage. Peter replied to this idea with the quick quip, "It's a lot grosser when you notice the extinction of entire species because our landfills, which are full of diapers, leach toxic materials, and take over natural habitats." Well, he said something along those lines. He's a bit of a radical, but, he's right. I have researched the cloth diapers available online and have accumulated some really great options. We're going to try the bumGenius diapers, the one size (fits 7-35 lb. babies) with removable fleece and microfiber inserts. Check them out at cottonbabies.com. Very cool. We are also trying the G Diaper, a cloth cover with a plastic liner that you can put either a cloth insert or a flushable/biodegradable liner in, and hopefully reuse the cover a few times before needing a wash, some of the standard prefold flat diapers, and the Seventh Generation biodegradable disposable diapers. We'll have to announce how each performs. It's easy to be on a soap box now before I've even changed one diaper! Ahhh...having time to do endless research on baby things...paradise while hugely pregnant...