Why use cloth diapers? There are so many great reasons and this will be great for those thinking about using cloth diapers, or if you're on board but you're still trying to convince your significant other.
Why use cloth diapers -
If you have one baby, you'll probably spend between $1,500-2,500+ on disposable diapers and wipes before the age of three. If you have just two children that could add up to $5,000. If you were to buy a very minimal stash of cloth diapers consisting of prefolds and covers (say 3 dozen Osocozy prefolds @ $24/dozen and 6 covers @ around $12/cover) that is $144. Throw in a few wetbags, some Snappi's or pins and you're looking at $160 or so. Cut up some receiving blankets or use some baby washcloths for wipes. That is it. That will cover you until potty training if you really need to diaper your baby on a budget. Say you are more of a pocket kind of gal. If you bought 24 KaWaii pockets it would run you about $263. If you bought 24 bumGenius 4.0's about $407. Add another $50 for wetbags and pail liners and you're good to go. The cloth diapering online stores have great sales so you might even be able to do a bit better. And, there are even cheaper alternatives like purchasing used or through co-ops.
Environment: Say the average baby goes through 8 diapers/day (maybe 12 during the newborn stage and 4-6 or so in the toddler stage, but say 8 on average) and it takes 2.5 years to potty learn. That is 7,300 diapers per child going into the landfills. I'm not super granola or anything, but when I do use disposables I feel a bit guilty throwing another disposable diaper into the landfill knowing it won't biodegrade for 500 years - that's a real number people, 500 years. I didn't just make that up. Even taking into account the water and soap you will use washing your cloth diapers you are still saving the environment and landfills.
Chemicals/Safety: Disposable diapers have A LOT of chemicals in them. Think about it - do you want chemicals, especially dioxin, pressed up against your baby's "hot spots" for up to 3 years straight?
Rashes/Sensitivities: Some babies get horrid diaper rashes from disposables and some are just plain allergic to them. Babies in cloth diapers get less diaper rash and the ointments or salves used with them are usually more natural. There are a small percentage of babies that are sensitive to certain materials in some cloth diapers - like suede cloth or microfleece - but there are usually other options available like all cotton that will work for them.
Blowout containment: If you have a baby then you've probably dealt with quite a few poo explosions before. If you don't have a baby yet, then picture a baby with poo oozing down their legs and up their backs, coating that super cute outfit you put them in. Cloth diapers are MUCH better for poo containment. In 6 months I've had only 1 blowout in cloth and that was due to user error (I put the diaper on too loose).
Not having to run to the store in your pajamas: There will inevitably be a time where you'll run out of disposables if you aren't a super planner/stockpiler and you'll have to run to the store at 9 o'clock at night. With cloth diapers, you'll always have diapers available as long as you keep up with the laundry.
Cute factor: This was the one that got me. Cloth diapers come in so many fun colors and prints - they are just cute and make the whole diapering experience a lot more fun for me.
But what do you do with the poop?
This is the one thing that usually throws people for a loop. You just wash the diaper once it's dirty mmmkay? You scrape the poop off, dunk the diaper and swish it around in the toilet, or you could get a diaper sprayer and install it in your bathroom. Or, if you’re like me, you get a good pair of rubber gloves and rinse them in your utility sink. It's really not that bad.
Be sure to check out my post about the different Types of cloth diapers & all those abbreviations!
And, don't miss how to prep cloth diapers
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Beth R says
I agree with you about the blowoout issue! We have cloth diapered for over 4 years now with 2 different children and only had one or two blowouts (due to sickness). I know many friends who have them on weekly basis. That is worth it enough for me lol
Helen @ Blue Eyed Beauty Blog says
I didn't know much about cloth diapering...but I'm SO gald I ran across this post! I will be pinning it to my Baby Ideas board here in a moment so that when I do have a little one of my own (or will be getting ready for one) I can come back and read over this lovely info again!!
I was stopping by to let you know I have a BRAND NEW blog hop, "The Great Blog Train", and
Bekah Kuczenski says
I started cloth diapering to save money, but now I cloth diaper because cloth diapers are fun and cute. It's so exciting to try out new diapers 🙂
ChristelLovesBeauty says
I love this post! Food for thought. It's great saving money and helping the environment
Zuel O'malley says
I was in target the other day grabbing part of a shower present and I glanced at the diaper prices and did that mental math in my head. My jaw dropped, can't believe the cost, especially since I'm getting some pre-folds from a CD store about an hour away for part of said shower gift and a dozen would cost me less then some of those packs in there. They dont stock CD's in store-Target
Ruth V. says
Yes, disposables are SO expensive. I believe some Target stores do carry Charlie Banana in store but they are few and far between. If they'd just put up a little display it would really show people how far cloth has come!
Keara B. says
Awesome post... I'm sharing this with my non-CD friends! Wish I would have had something like this to show my hubby before my little one was born- I had a bit of a hard time convincing him to use cloth! But he loves it now. 🙂
Melissa Gilbertsen says
I decided to cloth diaper when my second baby was 4 months old. My biggest reason was #5 on your list... BLOWOUT CONTROL! Seriously every poop he had (multiple times a day) he would blow out. He is now 11 months old and we have only had a couple poo leaks. It is fantastic how well they contain breastfed poo. We have saved $$$, my kids aren't wearing paper or harsh chemicals on their skin,
Jennifer says
Been going back and fourth about trying cloth diapers, I would like to try since it does have a lot of pros! Thanks for the information!
Gina Hodges says
I just switched to cloth diapers because my son uses 18 diapers in a day! I just wished we would have switched sooner that is so much money spent on diapers...I did have to purchase a larger stash of cloth diapers because he uses so many but we still save a lot of money using CD! And if we have more children we already have a cloth diaper stash yay!!
Mama Swears says
I've been cloth diapering my two kids since 2010, and I'm about to have another baby to CD. The whole reason we started CDing was no disposable could contain a breastfed baby's...umm..blowouts/blowups. We bought some Fuzzibunz and never looked back. I don't know that we have saved any money, considering I went a little crazy and now own 70+ diapers, and that number is growing as I buy newborn diapers, but I sleep better knowing my kids' diapers aren't going to last longer than they will in a landfill somewhere. 🙂
Christine says
I'm thankful my husband never worried about what to do with the poop.... he just trusted my call on the cloth diapers and I really didn't give him an option about it. I said I wanted to cloth diaper our child. I showed him the cost comparison charts that are out there. I then showed him a couple of the diapers I had my eye on (I had been researching for a while), and then showed him a video of how to use a FuzziBunz OS (what most of our stash is made of). He watched how to adjust elastic, stuff, and change the diaper... and he said go for it. So, really, I gave him the choice of *TYPE* of cloth diaper.... but whether we used them or not was never in question once I said I wanted to do it. 🙂
I also pointed out to him that the disposable packages say to dispose of the poop in the toilet before throwing away ANYWAY, so there is really no point in not making it cloth! 🙂
caedmen says
I chose cloth mostly to save some money. I also decided that they were really cute and if I was going to be changing diapers for the next 2+ years I might as well enjoy it!
Alexandra Leatherman says
Question: Since you have done so many reviews of different cloth diapers, I am interested in which one you would recommend for a first time mom? I am due in less than 2 months and am on the hunt for cloth diapers, we do not pay utilities where we currently live so there is nothing holding me back from cloth diapering my baby. I would love your input, so thanks in advance.
-Alexandra
Ruth V. says
Hi Alexandra! I really like bumGenius diapers. I started off with a flush stash of 4.0's, then switched to the Freetime because I got tired of stuffing the pockets ;). The Freetimes are my favorites.