The great thing is, modern cloth diapers bear little resemblance to their old counterparts, what with their pins and their plastic or rubber pants. Nope -- these are easier, more convenient, and cuter than ever! And if you use them exclusively, you can save up to thousands.
I was a bit skeptical when I first started hearing about cloth diapers, I'll fully admit it. Being the tree-hugging liberal hippie that I am, though, I decided to hear my friends out and see what the advantages really were. Ends up, there were quite a few... and cost is only the beginning.
Cloth is cost-effective
... but since we're on the topic, let's talk greenbacks. ;) Considering all your options, you really CAN keep cloth diapering on the cheap if you refuse to overthink it. The average diaper "stash" is up to 24 diapers so the parent only has to launder once every two to three days, and depending on the type of diaper you use (options listed below), you can spend from as little as $4 to $25 per diaper. Even at the high end of my example, a stash is $600, and that's for an entire STASH, especially if you and your baby can make do with one-size cloth (again, options below).
To keep it on the very cheap, inexpensive prefolds and covers, a few snappis, and a diaper pail or wetbag are really all you need to get started. By sticking to these basics, you really won't end up spending all that much.
Comparatively, the average cost per disposable diaper nationwide is about $0.28 per diaper. Figure your child doesn't potty-train until he's 3.5, and he requires a change every two hours for fifteen hours of the day (the rest of the time is spent sleeping). That's about eight diapers a day. We're not counting their time as a newborn, where the number can creep up to 12 per day, but that period is blissfully short!
Using these figures, equaling 10,220 diapers over 3.5 years, you can expect to spend at least $2861.60. Almost three grand!
These figures are all obviously dependent on your situation, but they do fall within averages.
There ARE downsides to cloth diapering, of course, like having to make most of your cloth investment up front and having to spend a bit more in either water/electricity if laundering your own or a diaper service if you're not. In my personal opinion, though, between the low cost for cloth diapering in general and the fact that you can use them for a second or third or fourth child, then sell your stash on eBay, diaper swaps, or elsewhere when you're through with them (and provided they're in good shape), cloth really IS a cost-saver!
Check out this cost calculator to see how much you can save.
Cloth is good for the environment
Short and sweet: Disposables mean huge amounts of garbage every year, gigantic landfills, millions of trees destroyed, and a huge waste of non-renewable resources. Also consider the chemicals used in disposables and the fact that, while you're supposed to scrape or otherwise remove poo from disposables before... disposing of them, most parents don't, you're filling landfills with other pretty nasty stuff.
Cloth is good for baby!
Those same chemicals that are going into landfills? Are going to be up against your baby's skin! To absorb the amount of pee babies make, disposables often contain sodium polyacrylate, a super-absorbent chemical that's great for keeping baby dry (but sometimes can make baby too dry, as it wicks away their natural moisture as well) but terrible for your little ones. And to make those diapers pearly white, dioxin, a known possible carcinogen, is used to bleach the cotton. I wouldn't want all that against my babe's skin.
The components of your typical disposable diaper can be found here.
Cloth diapers are just that: Cloth on the inside, a moisture barrier on the outside, and sometimes an absorbent insert, the most popular of which are microfiber or bamboo. No chemicals, no carcinogens, nothing!
Tomorrow, we'll cover different types of cloth diapers. I'll also share brands associated with each type, and where you can buy your own (both online and in store)!
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