There's heavy wetting and then there's Corwin

If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would have a child I would have told them they were delusional. If that same person also told me that I'd also be using cloth diapers with that child, I would have told them not only were they delusional but also in need of psychological help.

It turns out they were right. We didn't start off using cloth diapers, as friends who do told us in the beginning not to bother. We'd have enough on our hands adapting to a newborn without the gazillions loads of laundry that would accompany cloth diapers. We were happily using disposables, and especially since Corwin was born in the late fall, we were regularly throwing out the diapers into a garbage bin outside so the smell wasn't so noticeable.

Then summer came... well at least some warm weather. The trip to the garbage pail outside was getting more intolerable. The waft of urine and feces escaping out of the bin, combined with the copious amounts of flies, congregating at the garbage, was enough to make me start considering the idea of cloth diapers.

PB and I had discussed them while I was still pregnant and in fact, we may have even had a discussion about them while we were still debating on whether or not to have children. It is supposed to be better for babies - less chemical exposure (there has been some studies linking the use of disposable diapers and infertility and testicular cancer), less diaper rashes, better comfort (soft fleece lining vs. whatever it is that they use in disposables) and easier to potty train (I'm all for this!). This was on top of the environmental factors and PB and I are fairly green so this was also important to us.

The cloth diapers that they have available today have come a long way from the cloth ones that PB wore. There are so many different options now - prefolds, fitted cloth and pocket diapers. We opted for the pocket diapers as they are the easiest to use and are closest to the convenience of a disposable diaper. Among the pocket diapers there are also many manufacturers, but I decided to go with a Canadian made diaper that also has the widest "pocket" for the liner (so man hands can tuck in the liner) and the liner also does not need to be pulled out manually, it tumbles out during the wash. Sounds easy right?

Then there are the liners themselves. Made out of a combination of hemp and cotton or bamboo and cotton, they are either two liners sewn together or three. These get folded into thirds and then tucked into the diaper cover making the absorbing layers now 6 or 9. There are also booster layers that can be tucked into the front or the middle (depending on if it's a boy or girl and where they wet the most) that provide an extra bit of absorbency.

I knew that Corwin was a fairly heavy wetter in disposables. His diaper would be very full in the mornings after being in it for 12 hours, but it amazed us that he never leaked through. The first night we tried the cloth, he needed changing after the first 4-5 hours, soaking through 9 layers. I added an additional liner folded in half to make it less bulky than it would be in thirds, so now he had 13 layers. He leaked by the morning. I folded the liner in thirds making it now 15 layers and still he was soaking it through and leaking. I bought a booster and put that in adding an additional 2 layers, now being at 17 and still we were getting some leakage. I folded the booster in half and put it in the front, giving his front section 19 layers of absorbency. His diaper is so full of fabric that the poor kid can't put his legs together and yet he doesn't complain and lets mommy fiddle around and figure out some combination that will result in dry pajamas and bedsheets in the morning. Finally at 19 layers we were having some success. The smell however was not pleasant. Stale urine packed in a diaper is like rubbing your face into a public toilet or urinal that has never been cleaned, or at least that's what I can imagine. It's a lovely way to wake up. All this for the sake of the environment, I can potty train him sooner, so he won't get testicular cancer and that he'll have good swimmers.

I discovered this evening that he did actually leak out of his diaper last night, as his pajamas now smelled like the public toilet. I'm at a loss and beginning to think that our only other option is to go with a disposable at night, which means that I'll have to load him up on foods rich in antioxidants, put him in boxer shorts as soon as he's potty trained, be resigned that he won't be potty trained until he's 4 and screw the environment.