What surprised me the most was that using wool in the diapering process is a recent revelation. We talk about how our grandmothers and great grandmothers used flat diapers (about a three foot square single layer of absorbent cotton) with all the negative things people associate with cloth diapering - pins, plastic pull on pants, etc. I had it in my mind that before then, women - especially those in areas where sheep herding and wool usage was commonplace - used wool in some form for their diapers.
How times have changed - but not really! the article mentions how when sposie dipes first came out they were considered a luxury item that most could not afford. May I suggest that the same is true today? Think about the cost of college - it's increasing six to eight percent a year! At that rate, we'll all wish we banked the difference every time we re-used the cloth dipes and passed by the diaper aisle at Wegmans! How about "affording" the long term consequences of all these diapers that have been disposed of?
It surprises me (and it shouldn't) that there are still so many negative stereotypes abounding in relation to cloth diapering (pins - ouch!, plastic pants - eww!, diaper rashes - actually are more frequent with disposibles). A simple Google picture search for "cloth diaper" reveals so many cute pictures of modern cloth diapers! Cute prints, velcro tabs, pocket diaper illustrations, adorable modern babies in cloth. Only one picture of a baby in a prefold with pins. Don't people Google everything nowadays? Goodness - we've made Google into a verb it's so popular!
Modern cloth diapers have really just come about in the past ten years - I'm excited to see what is next! Let's marry the natural elements with experience and technological advances and come up with the super cloth dipe!
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