Modern Technology

When I was a teenager, I got a babysitting job for one reason: I knew how to change cloth diapers. I probably knew how to do that before I knew how to change a disposable one. Wasn’t that big of a deal when my mom had always used them. The only thing you had to worry about was poking the baby with a pin, which I did do. I don’t think any of my siblings hold that against me today.

Fast forward nearly twenty years. I haven’t seen a cloth diaper since my baby brother was a baby and we thought the Velcro they put on his cloth diapers was cutting edge. (For a few months, anyhow. Then the Velcro wore out through numerous washes and the pins were just harder to get in.) I hadn’t met a woman since that used cloth diapers, until I met Tirzah at camp. I think she went that route because they sorely needed to save money in the long run but if cloth diapers can be a “style” they also kind of suit her colorful, vibrant personality.

What do I mean by that? Well, when my mom used cloth diapers they came in one color: white. And while you could buy different colored pins and even colored plastic pants to cover the diapers (which faded), that was about as far as options went. Now? Do a Google search on “cloth diapers” and pull up images – you’ll see what I mean.

Cloth diapers today, at least for those of us who knew them very well twenty years ago, are a breakthrough of modern science. No more pins. No more plastic pants. Instead, they snap on so (if you purchase the right sort), they grow with your baby. And the outside is waterproof. There are inserts to do the soaking and only these need to be changed if the baby is a light wetter. Plus they come in every color of the rainbow. Not to mention designs of flowers, animals, super heroes, Dr. Suess and Sesame Street characters and just about anything else you can possibly imagine. The only thing I haven’t yet seen is pro-sport teams. But not to worry, they do come in gold and yellow stripes so our baby can be well covered for any season in Pittsburgh.

Because, yes, we’re going to do the cloth diaper thing. It is more work, but it does save money in the end. And I grew up in a home where changing a diaper was hard work. These new-fangled ones will almost seem easy. (And my baby won’t be able to hold a grudge for being poked with diaper pins.) I ordered fifteen last week and my mom is attempting to make a couple (because, amazing as it sounds, you can buy a pattern book and everything you need at JoAnn’s for cloth diapers). Ed is going to rig up a sprayer that will attach to the toilet (another improvement in the cloth diaper world we certainly didn’t have growing up), I’ll get a pail, invest in more inserts for the diapers and in April we will be ready.

One more new adventure into this world of modern technology.