My name is Jenn, and I'm a 27 year old married and babied chick. In addition to a husband, a seven year old daughter, and a five year old autistic son, I also have four cats, three hermit crabs, two frogs, a few fish, and one snorty little Pug. I work from home doing a variety of writing and even some web design. I love blogging, digital photography and web design.
Someone called me crunchy because I breastfeed, cloth diaper and make Ryan’s baby food. I realize that being called crunchy is supposed to be an insult, but it really isn’t. It is an insult to want and provide the best for your child? Breast milk is the perfect choice for babies, while formula should only be used as a last resort. There are chemicals in diapers, and worse still, they fill up landfills. Processed baby food is expensive, and the jars and plastic wrapping they come in only add more waste to landfills.
But I have more than two reasons for breastfeeding, cloth diapering and making baby food for Ryan. I also do it to save money.
One can of formula that yields approximately 96 ounces worth can cost anywhere from $10 – $20. A baby Ryan’s age would go through three or more of those cans per week. Breast milk, on the other hand, is free.
A month after I had Ryan, Dan and I were spending over $100 on disposable diapers for the month. In addition to the money, the amount of added garbage we were putting out each week sickened me. After the initial $120 investment for cloth diapers, covers and snappis from a cloth diapering company, the only added cost I have is buying detergent more often, as I am doing two extra loads per week.
A five ounce pack of applesauce costs $1.19. A pound of apples costs about $1.50, but yields over three times as much.
But I still don’t consider myself crunchy… Ryan has had a bit of formula a few different times while at my mother’s. We keep a pack of disposables around for when we go on long trips, or he or Alyssa are at my mother’s. And I sometimes buy jarred baby food to keep in the diaper bags for trips out.
Just call me chewy. 
Are you a member of http://www.mothering.com/discussions ? It’s a great board
Congrats on doing the right thing for your baby. My goodness. I admire you for being able to do that in the first place. I had my kids a whole lot of years ago so when I had the first one, cloth diapers were it. Then when the second one came along they had a new product out that saved Moms from having to do laundry…which I wasn’t anyway (the diapers). Tape Tabs. LUVS. I liked them but our budget didn’t. Things do not appear to change much, do they.
Oh, I wouldn’t mind being chewy but I’ll bet at my age crunchy is too soft. LOL!!!
Well, it’s not really an insult. These things are all pretty logical and good to do but take a lot of commitment, I think. More than I’d be able to handle
I have a lot of respect for moms who do those things:( I wasn’t able to breastfeed my children for more then 3 months at most – and I always wished I could have done it longer. Not just to save money, but also for that bonding experience. I never did the cloth diapers – I hate doing laundry enough as it is, lol,. But – we spent $20/week on diapers for nearly 7 years – a total of $5460 just in diapers!!! That’s a lot of wasted money!! Looking back – I think I could have made the laundry work!!
My mom had eight of us in 7 years – she did cloth diapers because she had no other choice. With 2-3 children in diapers at a time, disposable just was not an option on her budget.
I’m crunchy, too! I didn’t know it at first either. LOL I think its funny.
I have a give-away for cloth diapering moms on my blog if you are interested!
I saw you featured on twomomsinablog, so I popped over to tell you.