Entrepreneurs: Stephanie Nash & Kristi Crooks

Business: For Baby With Love – A Burlington-based online store specializing in cloth diapers.

Shop online, or visits available by appointment (call 905-633-9018) - www.forbabywithlove.ca

Kristi and Stephanie answer some common cloth diapering questions: Why the decision to use cloth diapers? Aside from which brand they are going use, most people don’t really put much thought into diapers and diapering options.  Our decision to use cloth diapers was based on both cost and environmental factors.  You can save a lot of money with cloth, and you have many different options with cloth diapers (as well as a wide range of cost options).  Cloth diapers can be used on subsequent children, or even sold (or donated to families in need) afterwards.

As for environmental considerations, we knew that by making this one small decision we would be preventing a lot of needless waste from going into landfills.  Disposable diapers also use a lot of resources, energy and packaging.  Comfort for our children was also high on our list of reasons to use cloth. 

Why don’t more people use cloth diapers?
Most people don’t really know what today’s cloth diapers are like.  They are easy to clean, easy to use with snaps and Velcro.  They don’t realize that using cloth can work for their families.  When people see the diaper we sell they are usually quite surprised and come away with the feeling “I can do this!”

Is it really...umm…gross?

It’s not a whole lot different than using disposable diapers.  A diaper change is a diaper change and messy is messy, with cloth or disposable!  Once the change has been made, the diaper goes into the diaper pail, which has a cloth pail liner.  Solids can be “shaken” into the toilet (no need to scrub them).  Then you take the pail liner to the washing machine.  The diapers and the cloth pail liner go in.  You can sanitize your washing machine every couple months by running an empty wash with detergent.

How much extra work is it?  How do you clean them?
Depending on the number of cloth diapers you buy, it amounts to an extra couple of loads of laundry a week.  Your washing machine does all the hard work, making it easy for you.  Store your diapers in a “dry” pail (a cloth pail liner in a kitchen style garbage can with a step-lid works for us), take them to the washing machine when ready and dump them in.  Do a soak/rinse cycle to flush out any solids that may remain in the diaper then run a hot wash with a small amount of detergent.  Toss them in the dryer and you’re done.

It’s that easy!

How much is it going to cost?
Cost will depend on the type of diapers you buy.  The cost of the different diapering systems ranges from about $400 to $900+.  Keep in mind this is the cost for cloth diapering your child from birth to potty training (assuming 3 different sized diapers are used, small-medium-large).  While the cost for cloth may be more expensive up front than disposable, you certainly don’t need to buy everything (ie. Each different size) right away.  If you were paying $20 a week for disposable diapers, the cost to diaper a two and a half year old child (52 weeks x 2.5 x $20) would be about $2600. 

How do I get started?
First you need to decide how much money you are prepared to spend and what type of diapering system you want.  We sell a variety of sampler packages that contain a number of different types of diapers, so you can try one of each and decide from that which ones are you favourite.  The number of diapers that you purchase depends on the number of washings you want to do.  More diapers equals less washing.  We generally recommend about 16 diapers (for washing every other day).
Give me one more reason to buy cloth diapers!

A great reason to buy cloth diapers is that you will often be supporting a work-at-home-mother (WAHM) or small business.  Great moms in both Canada and the United States sew many of the diapers.  And many of the people that you buy from (like us!) are also work-at-home-mothers.  You’ll be supporting families at the grassroots level, rather than large corporations.  These people will strive to make your cloth diapering experience a good one, and will go out of their way to make sure that cloth diapering works for you!

For Baby with Love is proud to have celebrated their one-year anniversary in March of 2006.  Year number two is sure to be a big one, with expanding product lines in an effort to be the number one source of baby and toddler items for online and local customers.  Plans for 2006 include a website redesign (same great store, just a new look – check it out in mid-July) and increasing local presence with cloth diapering and baby wearing demonstrations and workshops.