Do you need help choosing in the great diaper debate: cloth diapers vs disposable? Let us lay out why we think cloth is the way to go!
If you have kids, you know how awesome they are. These little pet humans love you no matter what, and their smiles and snuggles are priceless. Sure, there are rough times; crying is inevitable (and normal), sleep sometimes seems like it’s optional, and eating can be a chore, but one sweet smile and cuddle makes it all worth it.
Did I forget something? Oh yeah: excrement. In addition to putting out love, they also put out pee and poop. Sometimes, well most of the time, this is not awesome. Maybe it’s awesome in the sense you say to yourself “I can’t believe that much came out of such a small body” and “How could something so sweet make something else that smells so horrid?” but other than that, you just have to get through it for a few years.
TAKING POO TO THE DUMP? NO THANKS
One thing I never liked (similar to my disdain for throwing away food) is taking said excrement and throwing it into your trash can. It just seems like that’s not the proper place for it; you wouldn’t let your big kids take a poo directly in the trash can, right? Plus the decomposition time for a diaper in a landfill is an astronomical 500 years!
CLOTH DIAPERS VS DISPOSABLE – KICKIN’ IT OLD SCHOOL
What did our parents do? Depending on your age, disposable diapers may have been widely available, but were still really expensive, so your parents may or may not have been using them. Most of our parents probably used cloth diapers. Believe it or not, this trend is really starting to come back around, especially with today’s cloth diapers and diapering systems making it much easier than the squares and pins and covers our parents had to deal with. Plus it just seems more natural to put a cloth system on your child’s most delicate parts than a manufactured plastic-esque excrement catcher. Lastly, some parents report that their kids may potty train faster in cloth diapers as compared to disposables, as the moisture tends to be felt by the kids and help them realize that they’ve gone potty. Although, full disclosure: this was not the case with our kids 🙁
THROWING AWAY DIAPERS = THROWING AWAY MONEY
Now in the clothe diapers vs disposable debate, you might be thinking “Aren’t those cloth diapers really expensive?” Answer: not over the long term of your kid’s diapering life. You’re just spending more money up front, but way less money overall.
See? SEE??!? Basically, the Earth is saying “I’ll pay you over $1,600 to keep me cleaner.” Up front costs are there, but the long term costs when using cloth diapers are much lower. And even if you’re a year into diapering, the cost benefits can still be advantageous, not to mention the lower environmental costs. And yes: you will use more water in the daily washing process, but water is cleaned and reclaimed. That approximate ton (yes, 2000 pounds!) of diapers over the diapering span of your child that’ll be sitting in a landfill? That’s not going anywhere for a long, long time. For me, that’s a big win for cloth in the cloth diapers vs disposable argument.
*Note from Grant: yes, you’re fortunate if your kid decides they will use the potty prior to their 4th birthday and you’ll spend less money on diapers. Even though I would have loved to be done with diapers sooner, both of my older kids waited until they were four or later to use the potty consistently.
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SHOWTIME: THE STARS
There’s several really nice setups out there. FuzzyBuns are what we went with, and the system has only gotten better since our kids were in diapers.
The adjustable elastic leg adjustments (what they call their “Fantastic Elastic” system) really does help you custom fit the diapers onto those sweet baby thighs. On the other hand, BumGeunis was the brand some friends of ours swore by.
There’s no more dumping the dirty inserts out and re-stuffing the diapers after washing; everything is attached and a little simpler to use. You may want to try one or two of each (and there’s other brands out there as well) and then decide which cloth diaper style to make a bigger investment in.
SHOWTIME: THE CREW
Your basic setup will include: a pail, two bags, and a sprayer.
With two bags, this will allow you to always have a set in the laundry and a set that’s clean and ready for your day. Some folks will forgo the sprayer, but for me it was crucial; I want to shake and spray off as much of the poo as I can into the toilet to minimize what had to go into the washing machine. Now available: a clipboard to contain the poo spray!
Also, if you’re going to be out and about, a travel-sized mini-bag is key.
Finally, the wipes. The flannel wipes available now just get washed right along with the cloth diapers, and you should probably have about twice the amount of wipes as you do diapers. Sometime you’ll use more, sometimes you’ll use less.
Our method was even cheaper; we went to a fabric store and cut a bunch of rectangles out of bulk flannel and used those, which we kept damp in a little rectangular plastic container. If anyone ever gave you a hard box of disposable wipes, those containers work great. Regardless of where you get your wipes, keep them damp and ready to use, then toss them in with the dirty cloth diapers to be washed.
Speaking of washing, the recommended cleaning system is typically to run the dirty load through a cold rinse, then a hot wash, then dry. The diapers’ manufacturer will probably recommend a non-fragrant soft soap for your washing. We had good success with Charlie’s Soap, but there’s also biokleen (which we use now post-diapers) and plus these are good for your skin and your clothes anyway.
One quick note on maintenance: your diapers will probably come with maintenance instructions, which may include “stripping” the cloth diapers. This is just typically rinsing the diapers multiple times to keep the soap residue from building up, which helps to keep the fibers at maximum absorbency levels.
YOU: PARENT OF THE YEAR!
In summary of the cloth diapers vs disposable debate, cloth diapers are:
- Less Expensive (by a lot!)
- Less Wasteful
- More Natural
- Could Help Potty Training Develop Sooner (!!!!)
Worth a shot? You bet! Leave a comment with your cloth diaper experience, and if you want more tips on making your family home a little more sustainable, enter your email below. Thanks for reading!