Why We Use Cloth Diapers: Alicia Hunt

Like Courtney, Alicia Hunt of Green Lifestyle Consulting has her own story on how they ended up addicted to cotton, hemp, bamboo, and wool. Yes, the most awesome fibers that make up today’s modern cloth diapers! I’m so happy to have Alicia share with us her story on why they choose to take the path less traveled and make cloth diapers a part of their everyday life.

* * *

Once upon a time I had twins.  We weren’t green back then.  I turned lights off when I left the room, but I never  looked at my electric and gas bills to see how low they were and to me “healthy eating” meant losing weight in a healthy manner.  Then we went green.  

It started little by little, and when we were pregnant with our third child we were participating in a competition to see which family could have the lowest carbon footprint for a YEAR.

During that year, I learned about the problems with landfills, trash and consumable resources. I learned that there are some areas that have so much trash they put it on barges and send them out to sea.  I learned that trash in landfills doesn’t decompose – even if you use biodegradable bags and diapers, the nature of the landfill is that the stuff in there is preserved for millennia.

I watched Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and realized that climate change is happening, and happening faster than most people realize.  It occurred to me that everything we manufacture uses energy to make and transport, and tons of oil and chemicals go into diapers.

The Blog

As I started blogging about green living,  I learned that there are a lot of chemicals that we eat and put next to our bodies all the time, that really aren’t very good for us.  I learned that “fragrance” is a legal code word for “chemicals” and that companies don’t have to disclose what is in fragrance.  I started thinking about how you can pour tons of water into a disposable diaper and it just swells up, and nothing leaks out.  That is a chemical reaction, and those chemicals sit right there next to my baby’s tender, soft bottom.

Moment of Truth

My husband took me to The Diaper Lab in Somerville, MA and Laura sat down with us for over an hour going over types of diapers and options, showing us samples and styles and talking about their Try It Out program.   Then came the kicker, he said “if you use cloth diapers I’ll do ALL the diaper laundry.” Who can say no to an offer like that?  I was willing to give it a try.  And let me tell you, he did ALL the diaper laundry for the first two months.

Now I’m a convert

I don’t want those chemicals next to my baby’s skin.  I don’t want to fill up our trash can with diapers. I LOVE the money we save – there was a big outlay to get started, but with some loaners and some “seconds” (imperfect diapers) we kept the costs down.  Now, we don’t spend money on diapers.  I keep some disposables around for an emergency, or a problem, and because it’s easy to keep a few in the bottom of the diaper bag,  but I can’t remember the last time I used one.

I use cloth diapers because I love my baby and I love my planet.

Alicia Hunt and her husband Jon started Green Lifestyle Consulting because they wanted to teach their family and friends on how to live a greener lifestyle. With three children, they know how to make it easy to do without the hassle.  Make sure to connect with them on Facebook and Twitter too.