I'll tell you what's nasty...

One of my Facebook amigos recently commented that she was interested in trying cloth diapers on her sweet four month old daughter, but she wasn't sure where to begin.  She was immediately inundated with comments that really surprised me:

"I were you I would stick with just Huggies and call it a day.  easier, safer, and you don't have to worry about all the germs."

"I never tried the cloth diaper route, too icky for me."

And my favorite:

"Cloth diapers?!?!?!?! that's nasty!!!!"

Nasty?  Let me tell you what's nasty:

• 3.4 million tons of waste from disposable diapers dumped into U.S. landfills annually.
• The amount of chemicals that are used in disposable diapers, and the effects of those chemicals, known and unknown, on precious baby skin.
• Rashes, sores and boils (Boils!  Gah!) on sweet baby skin, thanks to chemicals in disposable diapers.
• Denials by the diapers' manufacturer, despite the reports from countless consumers, that disposables can cause the above rashes, sores and boils.

Do you need any more examples?  How about a study linking the increase in the use of disposable diapers to the increase in male infertility?

That, my friends, is beyond just "nasty."  That's staggeringly horrific.

I am a mom.  I do not fear poop, spit-up, wet diapers, or baby vomit.  On any given day, I encounter at least one of those things before 6:00 a.m.  On special days, I may encounter all four.   But I am not invincible; I do have some pretty serious fears.  I fear that my generation is creating entirely too much trash and entirely too few solutions.  I fear contributing to a "throwaway" society.  Mostly, I fear that I could make a decision for my own "convenience" that could negatively affect my child's well being now and for years to come.  I certainly fear that way more than I fear a little laundry.

And to be perfectly honest?  The laundry isn't so bad when you use the right cleaning products.  I work fifty to sixty hours per week and I have no problem doing 100% of the cloth diaper laundry. It just ain't that hard.

Plus, I dare you to find something cuter than a baby in a cloth diaper.  I dare you.

While I realize that it isn't feasible for everyone, I'm happy in my world where cloth diapering is an admirable thing.  I just had no idea there was such a huge contingent out there that felt otherwise.