Why are there so many options? I, of all people, know how hard it is to buy cloth diapers in exclusively unisex colors. I have a daughter and have been sucked into buying the cute girly colors and patterns. My husband and I do want to have more children, so what if our next baby is a little boy? Will we put girly patterns on him? Could we afford to buy a whole new boy stash?
“Why don’t you go with all white diapers?” This is a question I have heard many times and I am sure I will hear more when we do get pregnant again. Simply put, white diapers are boring!! Cloth diapering allows us the chance to decorate our baby’s bottom while being economical and environmentally friendly. You are able to let the baby run around with a cute behind without having to put bloomers or pants on. I like taking advantage of that!
In these tough economical times, it is difficult for many people to build a nice sized stash of fluff for their little ones, I am by no means a stranger to this. This is the main reason I have ended up with a not so gender neutral collection.
I typically try to buy cloth diapers that are on sale. I have absolutely no problem putting my daughter in blue or green diapers. Unfortunately, what is usually on sale are the pink and purple, polka dot, flowery diapers! Well, I can certainly tell you, I am not going to pass up a good sale and a great opportunity to build my stash just because the colors are not the most ideal.
What is a parent to do?
Do you just diaper your little boy in pink polka dots or purple flowered diapers? I cringe at the idea of putting a little boy in a female gendered diapers, but these diapers are just too expensive to just push aside and not use.
There is good news if you are one of the people in the same predicament as I am, you have a few options! You can either sell your used stash and buy new diapers that either are gender neutral or are the opposite gender; you can try to find a friend who has a child of the opposite gender and trade with them; or you can buy diaper covers in those bright, bold colors to hide some not-so-gender-friendly patterns.
Depending on how crafty you are, you could even consider making your own diaper covers. If you have an all in one diaper to begin with, the material you use should not matter too much (just don’t forget and use it with a cloth diapers that isn’t water proof).
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Great post! I have been very good about only buying gender neutral colors for my little girl. In a stash of about 30 diapers, I have only three that are very feminine. However, I recently started making my own and since it’s SO MUCH CHEAPER to make your own, I’m going all out with flowers and pink! Yay!!!
A friend and I were just discussing this same topic, as we are both expecting our second babies and have no idea as to their gender yet. If we end up with boys (she and I already have 1 girl each), we’ll just save the pink and flowers for night-time and use the more “boy” or “neutral” colors for during the day. As they wear out, which does happen from time to time, we’ll replace them with more “boy” diapers. To be honest, it doesn’t bother me one bit, as I know they’ll be under clothes, but it would bother their daddies if we put our sons in pink diapers and took them to the park, etc where it might peek out and be seen. :)
I also only have about 3 pink diapers for my girl, but I will use them at night time for a boy if we have one. No harm in that. In actuality, it wasn’t until the 1950s that pink was prescribed for girls. So your great great grandma would think you were nuts for even caring… think about it that way! I think we’re all too ‘specialized’ in our thinking a lot of times, so enjoy those diapers, and realize that no one cares but you, and if you don’t care… well then there is nothing to stop you!!! :-)
I have always felt the same way. I have a little boy, but we are hoping that when I do become preggy again, it will be a girl. I am already trying to make sure the stash can be used for both, but finding prints and colors that are good for both can be hard. I just do what I can to make sure what I get is as gender neutral as possible. Luckily it isn’t as bad going a little boy-ish with a girl. There is nothing wrong with a girl wearing some blues and greens.
The other problem with white is trying to keep them looking nice! I didn’t CD my daughter, now I have a son. I *try* to do GN but I am attracted to boy stuff! I try to tell myself I will put a girl in them (seems more OK than a boy in pink LOL) but I will probably want to run out and buy !PINK! if we have another girl. Tee-hee.
I hear all the “ITTET” stuff, but I KNOW I’m not the only one addited to cloth, wanting more ute dipes even if I have “enough” to get by! I have 18 (?) diapers but I know plenty who have 40-50!
Aahh sorry, my “c” key hasn’t worked right since I let my DD play on pbskids.org on my laptop. *sigh*
I try to only buy gender neutral colors, but with an ebay purchase, what looked like orange on orange polka dots was actually pink on pink. I hesitated before dressing my son in it, but it was a really nice cover, so he wore it. He is three now and all boy – completely unharmed by the cross dressing period, and the cover will look really cute on his little sister when she grows into it! :)
If I have a boy next, I plan to sell most of the girly diapers and replace with boyish ones. I know it wouldn’t matter to him, but I don’t think I could put him in girly diapers, even at night. But that’s just me.
I honestly am suprised by this post and the comments. It’s the year 2010 and we cannot put aside antiquated notions of gender identity based on color – even for something worn underneath clothing.
I have a girl now but if I have a boy, I definitely will dress him in pink or flowery diapers. They are diapers, used to catch bodily waste. If we cannot even have equality in the things that catch our waste, how will we ever have it in things that matter?
My son is the first kid I have cloth-diapered, and I honestly bought gender-neutral diapers for him out of the gate – he wears a lot of yellow and green. It works well for us.
However, it sort of bugs me that girls ‘can’ wear boys’ stuff and boys ‘can’t’ wear girls’ stuff. Especially if we’re talking diapers. My kids wear clothes, especially out of the house, so the patterns on their diapers just don’t really matter.
I am pretty surprised at these comments as well. My first son was cloth diapered, and when a friend gave me new cloth diapers that were too small for her baby, I took them despite them being “girly”. Same with clothing, I didn’t worry about putting my son in yellows or even purples as a baby. Why? Because it’s clothing on a baby and it doesn’t matter. Kids are going to be socialized into gender identity as soon as we allow them to watch cartoons, so why start so early with cloth diapers? I found that even when my son was dressed in his most boyish outfits, people would mistake him as a girl when he was a baby. I also experienced this with my daughter, who would be dressed in her pinkest outfit and someone would still say “he’s so handsome.” I’d simply correct them, or not even care because it’s a stranger anyway. All that matters in those early baby years is the love I give my baby and the bond we have created, not whether they are in pink or flowery diaper covers. Will you also only immerse your boys in “manly” activities and girls in “womanly” activities as they grow older?
When I 1st started CDing I bought a big batch of dipes and covers. The covers ended up being equal #’s of blue, green and pink. All 3 of my boys have worn pink covers. Pink holds poop in the same as blue and green. I guess I don’t understand what the big deal is.
We didn’t have this situation with diapers, for some reason — I guess we bought gender neutral covers by default. It’s generally my preference to steer clear of very gendered clothing, anyway.
But when my oversized son potty trained early and we were looking for cheap training pants, the only ones I could find in his size were on eBay and were pink with flowers. I checked with his father, and we both agreed: Who cares. They fit. He’s 2. He has no idea he’s not “supposed to” like pink, so he does. I used it as an opportunity to work through some of my own hang-ups, so it’s been good for me.
All this said, I think you had some good ideas for ways to trade in diapers that aren’t to your liking, for whatever reason. No harm in that. I actually bought some diaper covers off eBay that I wasn’t overly fond of — because they were so boyish! Trucks and sports and so on, and they were just too much for me. So I took them to our local children’s consignment shop, where I earned money on their sale to buy what I really wanted. So that’s one more option for a frugal place to find cloth diapers.
Last time I looked my daughters and my sons all poop the same. Who CARES about the colour of the diaper! Cannot believe this!
Sterling wears his pink cloth diapers proudly! I’ve never been one to jump on the gender neutral wagon.
I agree with some of the above posters about the root of the problem: why does it matter what little boys and girls wear as underclothes? I have fought very hard to keep not only my son’s diapers, but also the rest of his wardrobe as gender-neutral as possible–not for practical reasons like using it all for a second child someday, but for the simple fact that until he expresses a preference, I won’t dictate to him what little boys “should” like or dislike. Don’t you find it telling that we don’t seem to mind as much having little girls wear blues and greens, but the thought of a little boy in pink or purple bothers so many people?
Our son and daughter were raised when ALL diapers were white, but they had no trouble adding their own individual colors on the inside. :-)
Don’t worry about what others think about your color choices. Mothers should add their own lipstick colors to the baby. All that matters is that you love them.
Pink, white or polka dot. . . . Just love them.
There’s never been a perfect mother since the Virgin Mary, so just enjoy your child.
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