Cloth diapers (part I)

***Warning: this is the first of an unusually boring series of posts***

As many of you already know, we have made the brave decision to try and use cloth diapers for the little one. We have used only disposables for the first month - thinking that it would be unwise to create more work for ourselves at that point - but now we have gradually shifted to using almost exclusively cloth.

My mother initially was very doubtful when I told her about my plans, but it is widely accepted in my family that my brain does not function in the usual way, so she didn't put too much effort into trying to make me see reason. I had similar reactions from other people and I confess that I avoided mentioning it to some of my friends because by then I was feeling a slight sense of embarassement.

Here in India it is different, because lots of people use disposable diapers only when they are away from home. In fact more than once we have been gently reproached by people - including the lady who cleans the house and a few complete strangers - when we have been caught using disposables. On the other hand, when we do use cloth diapers, we sometimes meet a little bit of diffidence nevertheless, because those that we use don't always look like the good old-fashioned nappies that everybody knows and loves. More about this later.

(As an aside, one of S.'s collegues has commented when we mentioned we that we needed to change Rajiv's cloth nappie: "Why do you need nappies at all? This is India!". Now if anybody can explain this to me I will be grateful... )

At the same time, our struggle to find the right diapering strategy to preserve our sanity has gone on without rest. So since it is such a central issue in our life with the little one, it seems to be worth writing about it. Also, recently somebody has asked us to share some of the information we have collected about modern cloth diapers, so I have decided that for lack of anything better to post at the moment (camera still giving troubles, so no cute pictures available...) I will dedicate a few posts to cloth diapers and our experience with them so far.

TO BE CONTINUED...