There are cloth diapers and there are disposable diapers. I have used them both. Cloth diapers make kids' bottoms look huge (but they are not, of course). We used a cloth diaper service until Luka was about 8 months old. The cloth diapers leaked a lot though and sometimes, stuck to his bottom. :( And, it was a bit complicated to take all the stuff with me in the diaper bag when we went out somewhere (you can't just throw dirty ones away...) We liked the idea of cotton against his skin, but it just got too complicated to keep track of them all for the service, etc. And, they are quite bulky. I love my kids, but there was no way I am washing and cleaning cloth diapers myself!
Axel has used disposal since birth - the first ones were so tiny. They were "newborn" size. They were teeny weeny and very cute. However, they kept leaking when we first brought him home. All diapers leak sometimes, but this was ridiculous! One of the doctors said her brother had twins and he said to fan them out before putting them on. Luckily, that worked because I was thinking of going back to cloth!
He grew out of this within 3 weeks or so. You can't those at Costco and for good reason. The babies grow so fast at that stage that you may get stuck with 200 newborn diapers that are too small! Now, we are using size 1. Costco sells these and I just got a box. They will last about 3 weeks. Axel, at this age, is using approximately 70 diapers a week.
Luka is still in Pull Ups at night for pee pee. He was awesome with potty training and really is out of that stage now and just goes to the bathroom like a normal person. He was pretty much trained a few months after he turned 2. He has done so well. I am so grateful not to have to change a big kids poopy diapers (ick). Axel's are like nothing since he is breastfeeding. They do not even smell (yes, I mean the poo). When he starts eathing solid food they will, but still, they won't be too gross for a while till he is bigger. Hopefully, he will follow his older brother's example and potty train fast and early. For boys in the US, that is.
I was just reading an article in the paper this evening and it said a lot of cultures around the world potty train their kids by one year old. I believe it - especially in native cultures. I have always wondered how native kids carried on the back by Indians, aborginals or Alaska natives deal with going pee pee or poo poo. It is a weird thing to wonder about, but pretty basic for survival. We have to have somewhere to eliminate... So, that was an interesting article. (It still didn't answer the question of exactly what happens to poo when a baby is in a leather pouch on his mom's back, but I am sure I could find out if I really tried. We could learn a lot from more "native" cultures and avoid using diapers at all, probably. Disposal diapers do have that fakey plastic smell :(
Sometimes, Luka asks me to put on his pull-ups at night like a diaper (you can open and reclose the sides). This is "regressing" as a game because he sees me change Axel's diaper. Thank goodness he doesn't take it farther and actually go poo poo in his own pants - some of our friends had a problem with that with their older child.
We also have doll diapers. Before I was even pregnant with Axel, Luka liked to put his own dipaers on his Baby (doll). They would never stay on because they were too big. So, I bought him some doll diapers to use. In general though, his Baby just "runs" around naked - we should put her winter clothes back on since it is going to snow any time now.
Diapers, diapers, diapers. They aren't so bad. Some day, I will be both glad and sad to never have to change one again.
