My decision for Cloth Diapering

Cloth Diapering...WHY!?

I have been asked this question a lot, and most of the people say, "I will never change your kids diapers." Well that's fine, It's my kid, I can change his diaper and you just wont babysit :D

When I first thought of Cloth Diapers I thought of the rag with the clothes pins in them...not exactly what i'd call fun, but hearing a lot about it and wondering why everyone was raving about it I started to do research and guess what!? Cloth diapers aren't like that anymore...nope, they have evolved into something GREAT! Now, i'm not going to tell you why you should cloth diaper, when I don't even know how it will work out for me. I'm not going to quote other people and tell you why they think you should cloth diaper, I'm going to tell you why I DECIDED that cloth diapering would work for us.

First, I'm a stay at home mom. I have a lot of time on my hands and why should I buy a $40 box of diapers/week just to end up throwing them in the trash. Isn't that like throwing away your cash? So money was a factor in this process. All the research said I would save $1000's with cloth diapering. Then I looked at prices for a cloth diaper... prices range from $5/diaper to $30/diaper and there were so many different kinds of cloth diapers I had no idea what I was really looking for. So figuring a baby needs about 12 diaper changes a day and with the cheapest diaper at $5 and needing at least 12 just for 1 day, that's $60/day in cloth. WOAH! How is that cheaper then disposables? So I decided to ignore the money situation for now and figure out other reasons I would want to cloth diaper.

Well, they are cute, but that's not exactly a good reason for diapers. So I looked at skin problems with cloth diapers. When I was born I had horrible skin problems, and to this day my skin still has it's oh-so-horrible dry cracked moments. So it may be a factor my kids will have that problem. I also don't like the idea of diaper rash. It seems like such a common factor with babies and it scares me, literally. How would you like to walk around with a cracked and bleeding bum all day? Exactly. So that was the research I did next and came to the conclusion, if you keep your cloth diapers clean, make sure there is no detergent build-up when putting them on baby, and change them when they need to be changed, most moms have no problems with diaper rash AT ALL! Cloth diapers are made from very absorbant cotton, hemp ect so the cloth absorbs all the wet ickyness and keeps babies bum dry and diaper-rash-free! Plus sitting in a puddle doesn't sound exactly exciting, I would much rather be sitting dry. :)  So Cloth 1- disposables 0.

Environment factor, now this really wasn't a main issue with me until I started reading about it. A disposable diaper takes over 500 years to decompose. Yes that means all of your grandparents, parents, siblings, and your diapers are still in a landfield. Plus all of your friends, my friends, and ever other single persons. yuck! But while doing my diaper research I noticed some cloth diapers have disposable inserts...? isn't that the same thing? Nope. The disposable inserts from gdiapers is flushable and compostable! phew! So my inner hippie won that one! Cloth 2 - Disposables 0.

Conveinent, how? Don't worry, there are no complicated pins and folds like in the olden days. They are all snaps and velcro now, so it's just like a disposable. The cloth diapers fit to baby, they have a waterproof band that fits around babies legs and and removable liner that holds everything until the diaper change. Making a quick and easy change! You do have to change the liners more often then a disposable, depending on the brand you buy and how much your baby pees or poos, but a baby needs a diaper change wether more often or not, and more diaper changes equals less wet and less diaper rash! Which means no applying creams and taking more time! So as for conveinent goes, Cloth 3 - Disposables 0

What about the smell? Cloth diapers come off the babies bottom and into a bin, so It's going to start to smell. Unless you have a "wet bag." You take the wet diapers and throw them straight into that bag, zip it up and there is no smell! When It is time to wash the diapers you unzip the bag and throw the wet bag all of the soiled diapers straight into the wash! The diapers and the bag is clean all in one wash! easy peasy. But what about poopy diapers? You don't throw the poop straight into the wash too do you? Yes...on new borns that you breast feed you can throw them straight into the wash because there poo is still the runny water-based poo. When they start getting solids thats when the fun begins, and you invest in a Diaper Sprayer! You take the poopy diaper into the bathroom where the diaper sprayer is attatched to the toilet, spray off the poop into the toilet and throw the diaper in wet bag and that's it! So easy! Cloth 4 - Disposables 0!

What about the wash? Don't you have to do a lot more washing, and doesn't that run up water bills and electric bills plus the cost of detergent? This is the overall fall of cloth diapers. I have an HE Front Loading Washer and Dryer. My washer and dryer are AWESOME, seriously. Go down to my laundry room, put your hand in the washer and spin the inside and my washer will turn on and run. Yep, my Washer uses a lot less power than any other washer I've seen. I can wash clothes every day or once a week and I have never seen my bill go up, ever! It stays at the minimum payment. So washing my cloth diapers doesn't worry me. But I will let you know later down the road about washing and wether I see my water bill and what not go up. Now as far as detergent goes this is where I get worried. Cloth diapers and detergent have a lot of downside reviews. You have to find out what works for your diapers, and look at what is preferred and use it. As far as drying goes, most cloth diapers dry super fast with just air drying. I have a clothes line outside for summer because sun is amazing to whiten clothes! Or I can throw them in the dryer which is just as easy and faster! But with disposables, they just go in the garbage. So they win this. Disposables 1 - Cloth 4!

So Cloth Diapers have won, but what about the money? I really didn't want this to be a big factor if Cloth diapering is something I really felt strongly about but it is a factor. If everybody raves about cloth diapers and how much money they save then why are they so much money for just one diaper and how does that save money? Well it doesnt up front, but it does down-the-road. So buying a package of cloth diapers is a lot more expensive then disposables but after a few months of using cloth over Disposables guess who starts to pay for themselves? Yep CLOTH! Cloth diapers are also made-to-last. Many moms say that they have used there Cloth diapers on multiple kids. So If you start doing the math you can see where Disposable diapers add up where unless you go overboard with cloth diapers they pay for themselves (:

So my advice, before Cloth diapering. DO YOUR RESEARCH. See what you think you think you'll like and make a budget on how much you want to spend and don't go over it. Don't buy too much of one item because you might not like it after you get it, even though you can resell for the same price, or more money. Look for discounts, coupons, and sales on line! It could save your wallet and make you feel better about cloth diapering. :)