Cloth Diapering With Tummy Bugs

Little 1 year old Spike has been sick with a tummy bug the past few days. Any mom can imagine what my days have been like- my kid throwing up at the worst possible times, like on a 2 hour car ride, in the middle of a fancy dinner party, on me, my pajamas and my bed while I'm trying to catch a few hours of sleep. Of course, being sick only served to make an already clingy kid even clingier.

But the most annoying aspect of the whole deal is the diapers- oh the diapers! I must have changed at least 15-20 dirty diapers a day for the past few days, and done a cloth diapering load at least once a day. One load goes in, the next load gets hung up, and I'm hoping that it's sunny out, otherwise my cloth diapers won't dry before I use up my last dry and clean diapers, and I'll need to resort to using rags or something else.
My life right now is full just being on top of all the diapering, washing, and line drying. I'm drowning in soiled diapers over here.
I would not be exaggerating to say that I have almost regretted using cloth diapers for these past few days and have nearly gone to the grocery store and purchased a package or two of diapers for the next couple of days. I've seriously thought to myself "Why, oh why, do I cloth diaper? Am I a martyr or what?"
But the second I started that line of questioning, I already knew the answer.

Why Cloth Diaper?

Cloth diapering is definitely worthwhile!
Yes, cloth diapering may be inconvenient at times, like with massive diarrhea happening, or when traveling overnight or for a couple of days, but trust me, it pays off.
The biggest incentive for cloth diapering truly is the cost. Cloth diapering is basically a one time expense, that can be minimized even more if you're willing to do a bit of work or lower your standards. Once you have the diapers, you're basically only paying for cleaning them, which, if you have your own washing machine, is a very minimal expense. I live in a place with high water costs because of drought, and even so, my water bill has not gone up since I've started cloth diapering.
If, in my frustration with this tummy bug, I would have purchased a package of diapers, the cheapest diapers would have cost me approximately 10 dollars for a package, which would have gotten used up in 2 days. That's five dollars a day for diapers when your kid has diarrhea! 5 dollars a day over a couple of days definitely adds up! And that is just with the cheapo diapers, but when your kid has bad diarrhea, you're likely to go with something more heavy duty so you can actually contain that poo and not have it leak all over all that clothing, otherwise you'll still have all that extra wash, in addition to having wasted money on disposable diapers.
No, its definitely not worth buying disposable diapers when your kid has a tummy bug.

Worst comes to worst, if I truly run out of diapers before the next batch dries on the line, I do have a dryer to use in emergencies. I'd just have to first empty it out from all the food that I've been stockpiling inside of it.

If, however, you'll be traveling when your kid has diarrhea, it may be wise to invest in disposables for the duration of the trip, because most non cloth diaperers do not take kindly to having dirty diapers being washed in their machine, and lugging around enough cloth diapers to last for your whole trip when your kid is going through a diaper an hour, is simply not doable.

Do you cloth diaper? How do you keep up with all the diaper laundry when your kids have tummy bugs? Would you buy disposables during that time, or would you tough it out like I've been doing?