I was raised a 100% cloth-diaper-baby, but I never thought that I would be using it for my baby.
The initial thought of it made me drowsy. Accumulating smelly diapers and throwing them into the washing machine where my delicates go was not my cup of tea.
However, never say ‘NO’ to what you don’t know!
After learning some of the benefits online during my pregnancy (and while binging on ice cream), I wanted to give it a try! Now after six months of using them religiously, I can wholeheartedly vouch for them.
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Why I Gave Cloth Diapers A Go-Go
Growing up, my mom had always (jokingly) reminded me of the dirty work she did by washing my clothes diapers by hand. Okay, I hear her. I mean if I had to clean my baby’s diapers by hand, picking out her poops and such, I would not enjoy it very much either.
In addition, the diapers in the past were basically composed of pieces of fabric with pins. So needless to say, they were not only icky-yucky but also extremely cumbersome to use.
Therefore I never would have imagined that I’d even consider using cloth diapers by choice given the wide selection and availability of disposable diapers on the market.
But alas, thanks to the online community, I learned that modern day cloth diapers have many benefits that would out-weight their disposable counterparts. Here are just some of them that I can vouch for:
The AWESOME Benefits of Cloth Diapers
1. They are super cute
Today, there is a wide range of cloth diapers to select from. Not only are there many brands out there, they also come with its own unique designs.
Just looking at all the colorful diapers is enough to get excited about using them. While I was pregnant, I actually look forward to test-driving the cloth diapers and see if I’ll like using them. And yup, I do. I do indeed.
2. They cost less than disposable diapers overtime
Although I was excited about using cloth diapers (seriously, I never thought I would even say this), I knew I had to use a combination of disposable and cloth diapers. But for simplicity sake, let’s find out the cost of cloth diapers vs. disposables for up to 24 months when used exclusively.
From my estimation based on how often my baby uses a diaper a day, I projected that if she uses 100% disposable, it would cost about $90 a month (or $3/day) from a generic brand. That’s $2,160 till she reaches 24 months.
In addition, disposable diapers are more prone to cause diaper rash which requires the purchase of diaper cream. This could cost around $5-$10 a pop. Let’s just say we buy four tubes a year for $8 each, that adds up to $64 in two years.
By contrast, I purchased 15 cloth diapers with 20 inserts for $225. Of course, I would need to account for the cost of machine wash and detergent. So we can probably round that up to $360 (or $15/month) for 24 months.
Therefore, the cost of using disposable diapers is about $2,224 vs. cloth diapers at about $585 for 24 months. That’s $1,639 in savings! (Theoretically, that is, if you don’t use any disposable diapers. But the saving is still NOT negligible!)
Related: Save Money Without Using A Budget
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3. They are environmentally friendly
Oh the horror of disposable diapers!
During some weeks, we’d use disposable diapers exclusively (due to travel or while our baby wasn’t feeling well for instance) and boy do the WASTE accumulate quickly.
If you can imagine having a bag full of 8-12 disposable diapers, then a full week would amount to 56-84. It’s definitely not eco-friendly, and very damaging to the earth.
For this reason, I’m quite proud that I gave cloth diapers a go.
4. They do not contain chemicals
Imagine wrapping your baby in an ultra absorbent plastic wrap, that’s basically what disposable diapers are.
In order to be absorbent, disposable diapers contain chemicals, some of which were found to be toxic by the French authorities according to BBC. They are also made of mostly plastic materials.
I do notice that European tends to regulate chemicals such as those found in cosmetics much more rigorously than the American counterpart. Living in Switzerland has perhaps changed my viewpoint on certain products and I now pay closer attention to what’s in them.
5. They do not cause diaper rash
The extra absorbency in disposable diapers has another side effect which is diaper rash. You will really notice this when you use both cloth and disposable diapers interchangeably.
For example, whenever I’d use disposable diapers exclusively for a week, I’ll for sure see diaper rash if I don’t apply diaper rash cream religiously.
However, I notice that the diaper rash would quickly go away right after switching to cloth diaper. Furthermore, I never had to apply diaper rash cream when using cloth diapers.
Less diaper rash means less pain and less crying for the baby. Who doesn’t want that?
6. They help baby potty train earlier
Since there is no chemical added to cloth diapers for absorbing the pee and poop, it means that they can get ultra wet and sticky after the baby soiled them.
As a result, babies are more sensitive to dirty cloth diapers and tend to feel more discomfort while wearing them. Therefore to avoid all that wetness in their butt, they would feel more inclined to be potty trained earlier.
I’m planning to start potty training Baby Bear as soon as she starts to walk. This will be a great experiment to see if cloth diapers could really help lower the chances of wetting the bed.
If successful, this would be a HUGE bonus for using cloth diapers!
A Happy Medium
Despite the benefits of cloth diapers, they are not always practical or as convenient as disposable diapers. In fact, you may want to read about the five dark sides to cloth diapers before you embark on this heroic journey.
In my opinion, the happy medium would be to use both interchangeably.
Obviously if you’re a mom on the go and/or a working mom, cloth diaper may not even be an option unless you choose to use them during the weekends.
However, if you’re a stay-at-home mama, I definitely recommend giving it a try if you also value the benefits that cloth diapers can bring.
At the end, a clean baby is a happy baby. I’m sure you will find the best method that is most suitable for you and your precious little angel.
Have you used cloth diapers for your baby? If so, which brand(s) do you recommend for other parents? What are the pros and cons you find in cloth diapers vs. disposable ones?
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I had always planned to do cloth diapers, but when my daughter was born 3 months early we weren’t prepared yet and the hospital got us used to disposables so by the time she got out of the nicu 4 months later it seemed ridiculous to change. If I ever have another child we will definitely do cloth though!
No worries! That’s parenthood isn’t it? Always full of surprises. Glad that you’ll considering giving it a try next time though. Is your baby potty trained now or is she all grown?
I used cloth diapers with my second child but only fraction of the time. I mostly used disposables especially when leaving the house. I do see the benefits of cloth diapers.
Disposables are certainly more convenient. There are weeks and even a full when when I exclusively used disposable diapers (such as when we travel or when I’m super tired). But the benefits of cloth diapers are just too good to overlook!
I had such high hopes of cloth diapering with my second baby. He’s now 7 months old and all the diapers are still nice and neat in the drawer. All your reasons are spot on for why I wanted to do it too!
Yay, way to go!!
Great information! I’ve never used cloth diapers and didn’t realize a lot of the information that you mentioned. Thanks for sharing!
I never thought I’d use them but now I’m glad that I did!