Why do YOU use cloth diapers?

[ilovegod123]

I hope this type of curious post is allowed! I had my first baby 4 months ago. I’m an environmentalist so before she was born I put together my stash, eager to cloth diaper. Then she was born and her skinny bum didn’t fit her cloth stash, so we used disposables. She’s only now fitting into the cloths but I’m finding myself...grasping for why I should move to cloth diapers.

I committed to doing all cloth this weekend to get into the habit and here’s what I’ve been mulling over re: my expectations vs my experiences:

• they’re better for the environment! But then I read this study by the UK environment agency in which a life cycle analysis comparing cloth, diaper service, and disposables found no discernible environmental difference between the three. Cloth diapers generate less garbage, but require more energy and water. And I live in a coal-fired electric location, so cloth might actually turn out worse here than in the UK.
• they’re cheaper! But it’s not a red hot deal. The diapers I bought cost ~$13 each. Costco diapers are $0.17 each, so to break even I need to use each diaper 77 times. With my stash of 24, that’s 1,848 uses to break even. I’ll probably hit this just past the 1 year mark. So they really only start to pay back after using them for a year, and we haven’t factored in the cost of hot water, detergent, or my time washing/hanging/folding them.
• they’re all you need! Except, not really. We need to use disposables at night (baby sleeps 10 pm - 7 am) and for when we travel or camp for the weekend. So I’ve still got a diaper pail trash bin in the nursery, as well as the wet bag.
• poo isn’t that bad! Except, it kind of is. My washroom isn’t near the nursery so I’d have to walk the poo diaper across the house to scrape or spray. Instead I’ve been using grovia liners which make it infinitely better but aren’t perfect (and add to the cost). We’ve got a formula fed baby, which might be making it worse (although her ebf poops of two months ago were also yucky)
• they’re better for baby! But...are they? She’s never had a diaper rash in disposables. In addition to diaper rash, cloth diapers bring with them the possibility of yeast or fungal infections, which honestly is enough on its own to make me second guess cloth diaping.
• they’re easy! They’re not hard, but they’re certainly more work than disposables. That’s not even debatable.

I’m so curious what keeps everyone coming back to cloth. I’m secretly hoping you can convince me to stick with them instead of kijiji’ing my stash before I use them. Right now the biggest benefit is I love how cute the patterns are, but I’m not sure that’s compelling enough to keep me hooked. What keeps you on the cloth diapering wagon?

 

[mchava4]

@ilovegod123 If you buy them used (aka "pre-loved") you save a lot on the up front cost, and they still work just as well as long as they were taken care of. You start to see the savings really really soon if you do that. I bought a bundle of 24 all-in-one style diapers for $225 and have not looked back. I only use a disposable at night. Saves tons! It was a nice feeling to return the boxes of disposables we had stocked because she didn't use them and we never opened them up.

I made these fleece cloth diaper liners to go in mine as well, to keep her feeling more dry. So easy.

 

[gracebwthme]

@ilovegod123 I cloth disappeared my first child from 1 month-2 years, and my second just turned a year old. I keep meticulous records of how many diapers I wash each time, and so far, in 3 years of cloth diapering, we washed 6000 diapers! That’s about 15 diapers in the wash every 2 days in that first year and then it trickle down to 8-10 in that second year. We do use a disposable at night on my second child because I just couldn’t find a solution for night time cloth for him like I did with my first.

I keep track of gallons of water used, detergent amount, electricity consumed, natural gas to heat there water, sewage costs, taxes, etc. and so far we’ve saved $800 or so, and that’s with a stash of 30 all in one diapers, which tend to be the most expensive. I would have been fine with 20 diapers, had I known. I don’t use liners because then I have to make an extra trip to the trash can and stink up the kitchen, I’d rather get rid of it all in the toilet.

Everyone around me thought I was nuts for wanting to cloth diaper, but then they realized it’s really not much work for them (they throw the dirty diaper in a bag) and I quickly rinse off poop and throw it in the washing machine!

I can think of so many positives, from not having to run to the store because we’re low on diapers, to not locking away liquids (pee) in diapers that would never make it back to the earth (but if you compost, as in your case, that would work!!). My kids only had a handful of diaper rashes and they recovered quickly. My niece in disposable had more diapers rashes, I think. It just depends on the kid. Change them quickly and get them used to feeling dry

The amount of resources needed to create the raw materials, chemicals for processing, packaging, transportation, then transportation again to the compost yard... it’s really a lot.

In the end, do what’s right for you. It sounds like your already have all of your supplies though, so give it a try and see if it works for you!

 

[trickydardian]

@ilovegod123 We went in for environmental and cost saving reasons.

On the environmental front, almost all of our cloth diapers are second hand. I think this greatly tips the scales in favour of cloth vs disposables. We also opt for 100% renewable electricity so don’t feel too bad about the electricity aspect of washing, not that we noticed a difference in our usage when we are and are not washing diapers. With a newborn we found ourselves washing far more frequently anyway so by combining the main wash for diapers with the other baby items, it didn’t amount to as many extra loads as it first seems.

Second hand also made the cost argument very compelling for us. We have spent less than $350 total on diapers, including accessories like wet bags, washing baskets, cloth wipes, etc, which is enough for day and night use for one child. Washing costs are on top of that. It is easy to fall down the rabbit hole of adorable diapers in limited edition prints, and I have purchased a couple myself too (which really pushed up the total cost of our stash), but cloth can also be very affordable upfront.

We also had rashes with disposables when we’ve used them but not cloth, but that maybe is luck or very child specific. My preference is also for full time cloth so we don’t need to deal with disposing of disposable diapers at all because the smell really is a thing, plus I am uncomfortable about all the plastic bags used to hold them.

I do think if you already have cloth diapers or have a good second hand option available, it really doesn’t make sense cost or environmental wise to try to rationalise using disposables. Consuming disposables creates demand for the manufacture of more and requires further purchasing, using something reusable that you already have available to you does not. There are of course other aspects to consider, time, ease, health, access to washing facilities, etc which may make disposables a better choice for some families regardless.