Of Nappies and Potties

Two years of exclusive cloth diapering for Ava.

While it has not come to a close yet, I felt the huge change that came with our potty training. From 6-8 diapers a day, we are now down to one. Looking back, using cloth is one of those decision that we are glad we pursued. It may not be a lot, but it's nice to know that in our own little ways, our little fambam is helping the environment. It's definitely a good feeling.

Aside from lessening our carbon footprints, Mr. T and I were computing how much we saved from using cloth diapers alone. And I'm sharing this to you based on our very own experience.

	No. of Days	No. of Diapers/Day	Total No. of Diapers Used	Cost of Diapers/Pc.	Extra Costs	Total Cost
Disposable Diapers	730	8	5,840	Php 10.00		Php 58,400.00
Cloth Diapers			50	Php 300.00	Php 5,000.00	Php 20,000.00
Difference						Php 38,400.00

The extra costs included laundry detergents and other stuff (including hours) used in washing the cloth diapers. Disposables have extra costs too by the way, parking fees, gas, snacks, etc. You need those everytime you run to the groceries to pick up a new pack. And not to mention the diaper rash  that your baby gets usually from disposables but are less likely to happen when you use cloth. You can also get less cloth diapers because the ideal quantity to go exclusive is just around 25 pieces. There are also a lot of different brands to choose from and the price vary. So better check and research for the ones that will suit you best.

These figures may not be exact but pretty close. Now I can say, we really saved a lot! And nowadays, any worth of savings is already a huge deal. And I have not mentioned yet that I am currently destashing most of these pre-loved cloth diapers and selling it at a much lower price which means our real savings will be higher.

You will find a lot of local support groups over at Facebook. The biggest one will be Modern Cloth Nappying Pinays, which happens to have an upcoming event. They are participating in a worldwide event called The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2015 where Mamas and babies simultaneously change their nappies at one time. I think it's a great event if you want to explore your options.

It's a good thing I got excited over the fact that we really saved a lot after all. Because truth is, I just want to justify those impulsive buys from before. Lol. Now we are more than happy to transition from nappies to undies.  Just by googling alone, you'll probably find hundreds of tips and tricks on how to successfully potty train your little tots. And no, I'm not gonna post them all over again, I'm just gonna share which worked for us.

To start with, I was lazy over the whole potty training thing. The most important thing, which I found out later, is the readiness of your child. Because when they are, you and your tot will just wing the whole PT thing.

• Longer "dry" periods
• Predictable times of pee and poop
• Does not like the wet and poop feeling on bum

So these signs, are pretty much the ones that I kept ignoring. I kept pushing it back, not bothering to buy a potty seat, new sets of undies, etc. I didn't even bother to try and ask Ava to sit on the closet for all of us to get a feel of these things. Well, I guess your child's ready when she's ready. Well, Ava sure did tell us, (1) most times now, we get "dry" nappies during morning changes, (2) Ava hated (with passion) wet nappies and poop. She would arch her back everytime we change diapers with poop, yes sometimes we have poop rolling out of the diaper because of this (TMI, I know, but I just had to). We finally decided to get a potty seat - a simple, straightforward type that you just put on top of your water closet. We didn't like the ones with its own seat because that means we still need a space for it and the cleaning up after each session seemed like a lot of work. Did I mention I was lazy with the whole PT thing?

In an effort to make up for my laziness, I also got her a book about PT. It's called A Potty for Me! by Karen Katz, which Ava really loved. If your toddler loves books, I think getting a potty book will also help in the process. Finally, during the Holy Week holiday, we went ahead and started our daytime Potty Training. No fancy shmancy preps, just took Ava out of her nappies the whole day. We told her to let us know if she needs to pee and poop. We were 95% accident-free on our first day, but no pools on the floor, and Ava did not poop until the following day. On Day 2 we were already 100% accident-free. And yes, even the poop was successful. She just couldn't tell yet that it's poop, she would just say "wiwi" and then the next thing we know, it's poop. How many times do I have to say poop?

This went on for four days straight, diaper-free during daytime. Monday came, we instructed our Ate Michelle to continue the whole thing. When we came home, both Ate Michelle and Ava were happy to let us know that they also had a successful PT day.

Almost two weeks of being potty trained during daytime and I feel like it won't be too long until we are completely done using our much-loved cloth diapers.

It's a bittersweet feeling. Looking at Ava without diapers on makes me feel like she's grown so much just over the past week. Surely I'm gonna miss sorting, washing, folding, stuffing and all these other things about cloth diapers. But then again, I'm excited not having to have a diaper pail, lessening our laundry days from every other day down to just once a week and clearing out some closet space. I wanted to keep some but I guess I'm just gonna put everything out for re-sale and just build a new stash when the second baby comes.

For now, we'll just enjoy our remaining days with our nappies. :)