Bottoms up

CEDAR RAPIDS - During her fourth pregnancy Angela Harger nested by sewing cloth diapers.

Son Miles was born two years ago, but Harger hasn't stopped sewing. Instead, she launched her own cloth diaper business - Eggheads Baby - in November 2010.

“It's a hobby that pays,” Harger laughs.

Even better, it supports something she believes in.

“I love to promote anything having to do with cloth diapers,” the Cedar Rapids mother says. “They're so great and so much fun.”

Harger will be among the dozens of parents at Birth, Baby & Beyond Saturday to participate in the Great Cloth Diaper Change. The global event - more 300 host sites in 16 countries have registered to date - will feature thousands of parents simultaneously changing their child's cloth diapers in hopes of breaking the current Guinness World Record.

The event begins at 11:30 a.m. in Cedar Rapids.

Because of the global time differences, “some people will be changing at 2 in the morning, but they're doing it,” says Heather McNamara, executive director of the Real Diaper Association.

The goal is to top the current world record of 5,026 diapers. This record was set by the same event a year ago. Then the area's closest host site was in Davenport. Chelsea Wagner of North Liberty made the trip with her son, Cooper.

“It was great to be among people who have the same mindset as you,” Wagner says. “We got a certificate from it and we saved the newspaper clipping so Cooper can see he was a part of it.”

Wagner started cloth diapering Cooper, who will turn 2 in July, when he was 6 months old. She had tried to do the same for her daughter, Addison, years earlier, but said the lack of cloth diapering options and information made it difficult for her to continue. She was encouraged to try again with her son and said she'll continue to do so when she and husband, Dave, have a third child someday.

“Mostly, for us, it's the money factor,” Wagner says. “I'm a stay-at-home-mom with an in-home day care, so we're always looking for ways to save money.”

Tammy Bayer, owner of Birth, Baby & Beyond, says finances are among the top three reasons parents choose cloth diapers.

“It absolutely saves you money,” Bayer says. “You can do a bare-bones cloth diapering system for $100 - that's birth to potty training.”

Health is another reason. Some babies have an allergic reaction to the chemicals in disposable diapers. Environmental reasons are another.

“Scientists estimate it take 500 years for disposable diapers to break down,” Bayer says. “I hear that quote all the time, but we haven't even had disposable diapers for 500 years. We don't really know how long it will take.”

As a host site for the Great Cloth Diaper Change, Bayer hopes to bring more awareness to cloth diapering, particularly how it has evolved.

“We get grandparents all the time who ask ‘Why would anyone cloth diaper?' but that's because they did it old school,” Bayer says. “There are so many options to cloth diapering.”

For Wagner, the choice just means an extra load of laundry.

“That's all,” she says. “It's just really not a big deal for us.”

To qualify for the Guinness World Record, each host site must have at least 25 participants.

Birth, Baby & Beyond can host between 30 to 35 parents and their cloth-diapered children. To register, call (319) 364-1144 before Saturday.

“We'll take registrations until we're full,” Bayer says.

Birth, Baby & Beyond also will host a cloth diaper resale from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the store, 4330 Czech Lane NE.

“It's a nice way to check out a wide variety,” Bayer says. “Newbies can buy several types of cloth diapers cheap and see what works for them.”

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