Using cloth diapers is becoming more and more popular these days – and it's really no wonder. Cloth diapers have come a long way since your grandma's day. They are super easy to use and take care of. I have used both disposables and cloth and I find that cloth really only takes a *little* extra time and thought. It's totally worth it!
Cloth diapers are healthier for your child than most disposables. There are some harmful chemicals present in most brands of disposable diapers, and since your baby spends nearly all of his or her time wearing one, a toxin-free alternative is clearly the winning choice. By choosing cloth, you’ll be reducing your baby’s exposure to sodium polyacrylate, in particular, which is the absorbent gel used in disposables. The chemical is linked to toxic shock syndrome. Other ingredients in disposable diapers are linked to health issues as well, such as hormonal imbalance, skin rashes, allergies, and even cancer.
Ew.
Since cloth diapers are reused over and over again, they’ll save you a lot of money. Parents tend to save an average of over $1000 on cloth diapering, including the cost of laundry, over the diapering years of each child. The savings increase even further if you use your diapers for more than one child.
Using cloth diapers doesn’t just save money, it also reduces waste. Rather than contributing over 6000 diapers to landfills, cloth diapers are significantly better for the environment. Since disposable diapers remain in the ecosystem for about 450 years, this is a great way to improve your family’s eco footprint. To really put this in perspective, your diapers are still sitting in a landfill if you weren’t cloth diapered! You can see that the numbers alone are staggering:
- Parents spend an average of $900 cloth diapering a child, while others will spend $2000 (or more!) on disposable diapers and training pants.
- A stash of 50 diapers over the course of 3 years will suffice, as opposed to over 6000 disposables.
- Save money on diaper rash treatments, since cloth diapered babies tend to experience the condition much less.
Cloth Diapers are SO EASY
One common misconception about cloth diapering is that it’s terribly messy and inconvenient. In my experience, this just isn’t true! In fact, the only real difference that I personally notice is where you put the diaper when you’re done changing baby. At home, the soiled diaper can go straight into the washer or a wet pail. Out and about, it can go into a wet bag to bring home. Admittedly, cloth diapers are more bulky, so you might need a larger diaper bag than usual. Other than that, however, I do not feel like cloth diapering is any more inconvenient.
“But what about all the laundry?” you might be wondering. How often you have to do diaper laundry depends on the size of your stash, but in our home I’m only doing an extra load every 2 days. It’s especially easy if you breastfeed your baby, since doing so means their diapers won’t even need to be rinsed out. You just toss them in the washer with a fluff-friendly detergent. Not bad! The effectiveness of keeping everything in has come a long way too.
There are some fun reasons to be using cloth diapers as well – let’s face it – they’re a lot cuter than disposables:
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