Cloth Diaper Debate

When I first told my friends and family that I was planning to use cloth diapers for my baby I received some funny looks and comments like “Really? Aren’t those the ones you have to put the weird plastic pampers over?”…or… “I could never use those, it’s sounds like too much of a mess to deal with.” I’ll confess I was super nervous at first, but after using them for the past 18 months I absolutely love them! It’s depressing when I have to buy disposable diapers now when we’re on vacation… they’re so expensive.

So for those of you debating the idea of going the cloth route, I thought I’d share the good and bad about using cloth diapers.

Let’s talk about the “pro’s” first. 

1. Huge Money Saver! Although they are an investment up front, in the long run they’ll save you so much money compared to the cost of disposable diapers. A starter pack of 12 cloth diapers will cost anywhere from $150-$200. Disposable diapers can cost up to $40/month or $480/year!!! And as long as you take care of your cloth diapers, they should last for years (Hoping mine last through multiple children too).
2. Eco-Friendly. The average full-time diapered baby uses 5000-8000 disposable diapers before being potty-trained and 3.5 million tons of disposable diapers are sent to land-fills each year! So go Green!
3. So cute! They have some awesome colors and fun patterns for cloth diapers. I love watching my little girl waddle around in her diapers, absolutely adorable.
4. Comfy for Baby. My daughter loves her cloth diapers. They’re so soft and she rarely gets diaper rash.

Now for the “cons”:

1. Time consuming. Fact is, it’s much faster to throw away a disposable diaper after a change than it to cloth diaper. With cloth you have to rinse them (which isn’t too bad if you buy a toilet attachment to spray the nasty’s directly into the toilet), then wash them, and then fold them for the next cycle. If I wasn’t a stay-at-home mom I don’t think I’d have the time to do it.
2. Not convenient for travel. I do carry re-usable wet bags with me for diaper changes when we’re out and about, but when we’re traveling for several days we use disposable diapers. Packing enough cloth diapers for more the a few days takes up way too much space in a suitcase, and there’s no way I’m gonna carry nasty diapers around for longer than a few hours.
3. “Stripping” diapers. After 3-4 months of using our cloth diapers they started to get this rancid ammonia smell! I had never heard of needing to “strip” cloth diapers until I asked my fellow mammas about my issue. It’s basically a super washing process to strip out any buildup in the diapers and get rid of the funky smell.
4. Need special products. In order to maintain the water proof barrier in the diapers you can’t use the usual diaper rash creams or standard laundry detergents. I’ve discovered more natural remedies for diaper rash and even found one cream that is safe on my diapers (Weleda - amazing stuff). There are several laundry detergents you can find online that are safe to use, but after a year of buying the special detergents I started making my own.

Personally, I feel that the pro’s out way the con’s when it comes to using cloth diapers; but everyone is different.