Converting the Husband to Cloth Diaper, or Not [#CTWW]

I have made it such a long way toward living green, yet I have so much longer to go. Is this not always the case? Between trying to change a husband that might not understand some of my motives behind living green to raising a toddler to expect green living as the standard practice, I feel both challenged and empowered. When I thought of a big green living obstacle that I have overcome, there were many, but one stood out in my mind - cloth diapering!

This week's challenge:

This week share environmental good news. Unlike the challenge we did in November (see it HERE), which asked that we talk about all good news, let's focus on our personal triumphs. For example, if you were able to overcome a green-living obstacle (recycling, composting, etc.), we'd like to share in your good news. Perhaps you are preparing to plant a garden this year or have upgraded appliances to energy-efficient models ... let us celebrate with you. Maybe you've realized successes like turning off the water while brushing your teeth or turning off lights when you leave the room ... we want to be inspired by your achievement. The idea, this week, is to share all the good, green stuff in our lives.

I knew I wanted to cloth diaper even before I became pregnant. The concept of cloth diapering was foreign to my husband, though he himself was cloth diapered. I spent the whole pregnancy trying to convince him of the benefits. I even had a "show and tell" with the cloth diapers that I had acquired. He was firmly against it. Maybe it was the foreignness of the idea or maybe it was the horror stories he had heard about cloth diapering, he said, "no!" It was his hard limit. 

A lot of persistence on both of our parts resulted in a decision - we will use both cloth and disposable diapers during a trial period. If the cloth diapers did not work out during the trial period, we would use the most non-toxic disposable diapers that were available to us.

During my maternity leave, we make the decision that I was going to leave the corporate world and stay at home with the baby. After this decision was made, I knew that I could make my goal of cloth diapering happen. We never really talked about whether to cloth diaper or not again. We evolved into cloth diapering during the day (by me) and a disposable diaper at night (by my husband) and whenever my husband would change the baby on the weekend. We also use disposables on any trips away from home for more than 1 day. 

My husband is still weirded out by cloth diapers. He will gladly take off a cloth diaper and put a disposable on. However, In times of disposable diapers being "code red" (on our last diaper), he will accept putting on a cloth diaper. 

I realized my task is not to convert other people, but to do the best that I can do. Staying at home full time with the baby has allowed me to cloth diaper. I am grateful to be able to reduce our impact on our the environment and put a few more dollars in our wallet. 

>> What are your thoughts about cloth diapers?? Would you try them??
  

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