Diapers For Your Baby: Good Or Bad?

I made my son wear diapers since Day 1 of his birth. He was on diapers 24 x 7 till he turned 2.5 years old. I got mixed reactions from other moms and elders when I used to tell them that my son is on diapers all the time, be he at home or outdoors.

I’m sure many of you moms too, might be giving me a negative reaction, but I had my own reasons for diapering my baby all the time. And, trust me ladies, I don’t regret it till date. Here’s why:

• I have a family of 7 to look after and a huge house to maintain. That leaves me with lots and lots of household chores on my plate. This led me to choose to diaper my baby, because I knew that I myself don’t have the stamina and patience to clean my baby’s pees, poops, dirtied clothes, bed sheets and swaddles in a large number every day. Hats off to our elder generation who raised multiple kids without diapers!
• It saved me the hassle of facing the situation of getting my clothes or somebody else’s clothes dirtied while they held the baby. It’s so unhygienic and embarrassing when you give your baby to someone else to play with and within minutes he wets their beautiful sari or expensive shirt.
• I never had to handle a baby who caught cold or flu ‘because’ he slept in wet pants throughout the night and woke up sick next morning. My baby stayed dry all night – every night.
• I never needed to use dirty public washrooms to clean my baby’s pees and poops. Just the back seat of the car sufficed and of course a plastic sheet, a few wet wipes and a disposable bag!
• I never had sleepless nights changing the baby’s nappies. The breastfeeding was enough to keep me awake anyway!

These were my reasons of choosing to diaper my baby all the time. But, not every mom will agree with these, nor do I intend to disagree with or oppose the moms who are against diapers. Here’s why:

• There were days when my son would pee endlessly out of schedule and we would witness a diaper rash on his tender skin the next day!
• When we went for regular checkups to my baby’s pediatrician, I would stand clueless in front of the doctor on being asked, “How many times does the baby pass urine?” I could tell how many diapers I changed in a day, but not how many times he peed certainly!
• It took me 2.5 years before I could think of starting to potty train my son. The thought of the discomfort of getting him off diapers always scared me and I always procrastinated. Although, fortunately and surprisingly, my son got potty trained in 3 days, but I didn’t know it would happen so quickly till I actually started!
• Diapers surely are heavy on the pocket. Since your child – the apple of your eye – is the subject of concern, no mom prefers buying cheap brand diapers and any reputed brand diapers cost at least Rs.9 to Rs.10 each. As a newborn baby, my son needed at least 10 diapers on a regular day (leave apart the days on which he had an upset stomach or the days on which the temperature dropped) and that made us pay some heavy bills.

The funniest part of this is, I was told by my maid and even by a few elders that my son’s private parts would not grow properly, if he was on diapers all the time. What I have to say to them:

Jokes apart!

Keeping your child on diapers or completely off diapers is entirely your decision and I believe that it should not be governed by what others will think about you or tell you. Evaluate all factors like your budget, your stamina to manage your baby, availability of help, your baby’s response to diapers etc. and then arrive at the decision of diapering your baby full-time, part-time or for zero time at all.

Whatever you decide, don’t forget one thing:

Let their be love in the doing…