I’ve posted before about “designer disposables,” both here and on Facebook. It’s clear that disposable diaper companies are a little threatened that “they’re cute” is a valid reason for ditching sposies and switching to cloth. Lots of other people have blogged in depth about their most recent campaign for special diapers to go with special outfits yada yada and the sposies on the clothesline, so I won’t go into that too much.
Now, I’m not a sposie hater that thinks that disposable diapers and the people who use them are awful. My daughter was disposable diapered for a little over 2 years, my son just over 5 months. However, had I known then what I know now about cloth (or a fraction of it really) I never would have used a single one! I do think disposable diapers are expensive, wasteful (in many ways) and we really don’t know what the long term health effects of the chemicals really are. I know disposable diapers are very useful for many people in many situations, but what can I say? I love my cloth. I don’t want people to think we cloth users look down on (gasp) sposie users since I want to bring more of them to the dark fluffy side. (Tee-hee.)
I’m particularly bothered by this trend of spending an exorbitant amount of money on a “special” disposable product, when you can get a “special” reusable product for the same cost. I don’t judge people for what they choose to spend their money on, but it would be silly if someone paid a zillion bucks to have fancy paper plates shipped from Europe for a party, instead of spending the same bucks on some lovely fine china to use, keep, sell, lend, donate etc. If you have the money to spend, good for you! You have obviously worked hard to get to where you are, spend it how you like. But why accept an inferior product for the same price? Especially when it will be thrown away? Maybe it’s because I’ve had to stretch a single income over a growing family for so long. Maybe it’s because of the “penny wise, pound foolish” lessons I’ve learned over the years? In any case, it seems silly. Doesn’t a diaper cover (like the little bloomers that come with some baby girl dresses) make more sense than a printed disposable anyway?
I’ve been trying to put my finger on just what it reminds me of. $15 for a case of printed paper towels to cover your Thanksgiving table, instead of spending the same amount on a cloth? Buying a couple of knockoff purses that fall apart after 1 use but cost the same as one designer purse that goes with everything? I don’t know. I need to think about this some more. Maybe like Cinderella’s dress (and all the goodies) that went *poof* at midnight (if she didn’t have a fairy Godmother to *poof* them there for free in the first place?) Getting a French manicure before digging a garden with your bare hands (yeah they’ll get ruined in two minutes, but at least they’ll look nice?)
Oh and so what happens when you have a massive sposie blowout, and now the outfit you bought those sposies to match is no longer in the picture? (True story, we have one pic of my daughter in her baptism gown!) Mmkay so now I’ve gone off on a tangent, totally away from the point of this post!
Though I haven’t used a disposable diaper in over 20 months, I do still collect the “freebie” pampers points codes they put out there. Why not? Free stuff is free stuff, right? Well recently they have been posting codes on their Twitter account that are valid only until the end of the day. I have a specific site I lurk to grab the codes, I don’t follow them on Twitter!
Well here’s why I’m suspicious: Today’s code (yesterday’s by the time you read this) was TWITTERCNGCLOTH. Yeah. CLOTH. OK, no biggie.
I really wanted to know why they were putting out a code with “cloth” in it, so I had to go to their Twitter account to see what was up. (Picture Sherlock Holmes with a laptop.) That’s where I found out where they are doing a trivia type thing where they release the code once someone guesses correctly. See below.
“Is everybody ready for some trivia? We are going to play ‘Guess what’s in my diaper bag’ for GTG points.” “Clue one: Even though this is my first baby, I know I need plenty of these in my diaper bag! What do you think it is? ^Cathy .” The answer was baby wipes, and the code was TWITTERDIPEWIPE. Next: “2 more items in my diaper bag today. What are they? Want a hint?^Cathy .” The answer was keys & wallet and the code was TWITTERKEYWALET.
When I went to stalk their account to figure out why they were using codes with “CLOTH” in them, it said: “Oops! I sent out the free code today w/out the question! Looks like everyone is getting off easy today lol Enjoy TWITTERCNGCLOTH 5pts ^Cathy.”
So color me suspicious but boy do I wonder what the question today was supposed to be! Was it a burp cloth? CNGCLOTH…a changing pad and burp cloth? Was it “What icky gross thing do some people use but not us because we’re using horrifically overpriced but not as cute printed sposies??”
Then again, I’m the type who walks into a room at the same time chatter stops, and gets paranoid that everyone was saying nasty things about me!
What do you think about “designer disposables?”
Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 18, 14 and 11-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. 
