Last night I was watching 19 Kids and Counting and unexpectantly caught the conversation between Anna Duggar, Josh Duggar, and the camera about their use of cloth diapers.  We’ve seen her use cloth on both babies before, and she has even mentioned it in previous episodes, but in this episode they had a whole mini segment on the topic.  To those who aren’t familiar with the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting Anna Duggar is the wife of Josh Duggar and Josh is the first son of Michelle Duggar- mom of 19 children.   Anna and Josh now have two children of their own and both children have been cloth diapered part time.

According to Anna she wants to cloth diaper but has run into some issues.  She admitted to feeling guilt that she uses disposable diapers in conjunction with cloth.  She uses cloth more on her son Michael and is trying to potty train her first daughter.  Josh- ever supportive, told her not to feel bad because washing cloth diapers is hard work.

I got the vibe that Anna was having issues not with having to wash diapers but with the actual wash routine.  After I excitedly posted this photo and announced that modern cloth diapers made a spot on the show onto DDL’s facebook Page a few readers informed me that Arkansas, where the Duggars live, has notoriously hard water. They also declared the diaper on Michael to be a Sunbaby and Julie from Rumparooz let us know that Anna has some RaR’s as well!

Hard water can cause all kinds of washing troubles including repelling (where the diapers have buildup of soap and/or minerals from the water that prevent urine from soaking through and will cause major leaks), Barnyard Stink (usually caused by the diapers not getting clean enough, possibly also due to hard water), or ammonia.  Ammonia is the biggest beast of all that is the hardest to kill.  Ammonia produces an intense odor in the diapers that can burn off your nose hairs.  It can also be worse than just an odor- high levels on ammonia in diapers can cause ammonia burns on the baby, usually these appear in bright red, flat rashes or even some blistering, especially on the tip of the penis.

No one ever said washing diapers is super easy.  I’ve had my own troubles more than once and battled them.  I’m hoping Anna will get the hang of cloth diapers and be sure to have those camera men film her adorable babies in their cloth diapers!  Modern cloth diapers have come a long way but society still thinks of the old school flats, pins, and rubber pants.  The more we see the easy to use, modern cloth diapers in the media, the more moms will see them and think “hmm… that’s not so bad…”  Some of you may recall my push to get cloth diapers on The Ellen Show (#OperationFluffy) that wasn’t successful.

More reasons to love Anna Duggar- She uses an Ergobaby Carrier and wears her children, she breastfeeds (even in public with a cover), she has had two successful homebirths and both were shown in part on the show, she practices baby sign language with her babies, and she seems to be a genuinely nice person and a great mom.

Anna Duggar, if you see this and you want some cloth diaper help you just let me know!  

I’ll be the first to say I take issues with the Duggar’s beliefs but this isn’t a religious discussion, or a discussion on their family size. Please keep comments related to cloth diapers on the show or related issues- not about the family or religion.  Thank you.