Similar to my homemade baby food post (Oct. ’10), this is meant to be a simple post of encouragement to anyone considering cloth diapering.
Really, if you’re thinking about cloth diapering for the first time, it’s not the nightmare you might imagine. It’s not the same as when your mom cloth diapered you – or your grandmother cloth diapered your mom. Cloth diapers have come a long way since the days of pins and rubber pants, and the benefits are huge:
#1- Safer and gentler on your baby’s skin. Cloth diapering keeps the absorbent chemicals of disposables away from that cute little tush, which is important since the skin absorbs so much of what it touches. Another perk? Fewer diaper rashes.
#2- Huge cost savings. Though I can’t recall now where I got this statistic, I think I’ve heard that the average disposable-diapered child will cost his parents between $2500-$3500 in diapers over the course of 2-3 years. Cloth diapers are certainly a bigger expense up front, but much less expensive over time, particularly when you consider the multiple child usability factor. We’re about to put baby #4 into our same set of FuzziBunz. You can do the math on that. Under $1,000 vs $10,000? And if budget is an immediate concern, you can always ask for your cloth diapers as gifts from people. We got ours as major Christmas and birthday presents from family, instead of having to buy them ourselves.
#3- Significantly cuts down on environmental waste. Cloth diapering doesn’t just keep the disposable diaper itself out of the waste stream, but consider also the chemicals inside the diapers and the plastic bags often used to contain diaper stink when placing them in the trash or ‘odorless’ diaper pail systems. Don’t buy into the myth about your water and electric bills skyrocketing if you choose to cloth diaper. I think our water bill went up about $5 a month, maybe? And the electric bill, I’m not sure, but it couldn’t have been much because: a) I didn’t notice and b) we line dry our dipes most of the time.
As with homemade baby food, cloth diapering is so worth the little bit of extra effort – worth it for your baby, for you, and for the planet. If you want to cloth diaper, but just need that little bit of friendly encouragement… “You can do it!” 🙂
these are all great reasons, and also why we cloth-diapered…looking back, I wouldn’t do it any other way…and the washing wasn’t that big of a deal (though I remember it all seemed overwhelming when researching it…).
If someone wants to do cloth as quickly/easily as possible, I’d recommend getting a pocket diaper system like fuzzi bunz or happy heiny. There are millions of other ways to do it, too, if you really get into it and want to sew your own, knit covers, repurpose things around your house, etc. but don’t let that scare you off if you’re just getting started…just get a pocket system, which even grandparents, babysitters, etc can use with out fuss, and you’ll be in good shape! 🙂
a tip for reducing smell…put vinegar in the fabric softener compartment of your washing machine…
also works great for reducing smell on things like kitchen rags/napkins that have been sitting too long before washing and gotten sort of yucky-smelling!
Thanks for the tips, Jenny! Baking soda in the wash helps with the stink, too.
Haven’t had stinky kitchen rags yet, but I’m sure one of these days we’ll leave them out too long. I only have a dozen or so, so it makes us get them in with the daily load. 🙂
Great post! For those of you who are on the fence whether to try cloth diapering, have a friend who is curious, or just want to see what all the buzz is about, I host a Cloth Diapering 101 Workshop every other month at Yogawood in Collingswood, NJ. Only $10 a person or $15 a couple. Come touch and feel many different types of reusable diapers that are on the market, learn how crazy simple it is to clean and launder them, all the while saving over $2,000 from newborn to potty training. Get the dates and times here: http://www.tryclothdipes.com.
My next class is Jan 23, 2011 at Yogawood in Collingswood.