Parenting Episode 55: Switching to Cloth Diapers with April Duffy

Welcome to the Growing Our Family Podcast – Parenting Edition, where we discuss parenting topics starting from delivery. I’m your host, Brittany, and I’m a new mom to a beautiful baby boy. Parenting is hard. And I do hours of research on everything that comes my way. Join me on a weekly chat where I’ll share my knowledge and personal experiences with all of you.

This week on the Growing Our Family Parenting Podcast

Guest: April Duffy

April Duffy is the owner of Cloth Diapers for Beginners. Cloth Diapers for Beginners is dedicated to providing a positive and understanding place where parents and guardians, who want to know how to do the cloth diaper thing, can get information, help, and support. To do that, Cloth Diapers for Beginners has a website, a Facebook group community, a YouTube channel, and now a wash and care handbook. 

April started it all with just a simple blog in 2015 after the birth of her daughter. She wanted to cloth diaper her daughter, but like so many moms who choose cloth, she knew no one who cloth-diapered and even got plenty of criticism and negativity thrown at her by family and friends when she shared her decision to cloth diaper. Turning to her computer, April found she couldn’t get a straight answer to her simple questions online either. The answers she could get didn’t seem well thought out or researched well. 

As a trained journalist and publisher, April saw the lack of reliable information online not as a roadblock, but as an opportunity and got to work researching. Today, over 17,000 parents and caregivers have joined with April and helped create one of the more positive and open-minded cloth diaper communities available online right now. 

Intro/summary

In today’s podcast, April Duffy talks with us about all things cloth diaper and answers all of your burning questions such as:

* Are cloth diapers cheaper than disposable diapers?* How to clean cloth diapers* Common issues with cloth diapers* How to choose the right cloth diaper* Formula for determining how many diapers you need and steps for keeping them clean* Resources for help and support on your cloth diaper journey* And so much more

April’s advice for parents thinking about cloth diapers, but feel overwhelmed:

“Don’t sweat it too much. I know I’ve been talking about water hardeners, and fabric softeners, and your detergents, and how big your washing machine is. It all sounds really intimidating. But I like to say that it’s kind of like swimming in a lake. If you’re standing on the edge, and you kind of dip a toe in, it’s so cold and scary, and it’s going to freak you out. But if you just get in, you’re going to realize it’s not so bad after all, and you can do it, and it’s going to be okay. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had the same questions. We’ve all been freaked out by it. It’s perfectly normal.”

In this episode

Benefits of cloth diapers vs disposable diapers (6:25)

Are cloth diapers cheaper than disposable diapers? (8:10)

Is it too late to switch to cloth diapers? (9:50)

How to clean cloth diapers (11:00)

“Part of the problem is not understanding your water, not understanding how large your washing machine is, not understanding how how many diapers you’re washing affects it, and how all of these pieces kind of fit together.”