Cloth Diapering, Part 1

How would it sound to never have to buy another diaper or wipe again? What about the thought of no more leaks, blowouts, diaper rashes and hauling out those huge bags of dirty diapers?

Welcome to the world of cloth diapering! Again, because a lot of people ask us about our choice to cloth diaper and all that it entails, I thought I'd take some time to write about the basics of it.

First off, in all honesty, it's not that we NEVER buy diapers anymore. We always have a handful of disposables diapers on hand. If we have someone watching Ian who isn't comfortable dealing with cloth, they are free to use the disposables. Also, on occasion I sell some of our cloth diapers and buy new ones when I want to try a new type, or just get bored with our stash!

We haven't had a blowout or leak (with the exception of a few diapers being put on wrong) since we started cloth diaper over a year ago. Ian has had only 3 diaper rashes in his entire life of 15 months and all were accompanied by an illness.

There are 3 main reasons why we chose to switch to cloth diapering when Ian was a few months old:
1. save MONEY!
2. lessen our carbon footprint
3. expose Ian to fewer chemicals

Here is a blurb from an article about the chemicals in disposable diapers:

On the market since the early 60’s, the disposable diaper changed from a plastic diaper with a lot of paper fluff to a diaper constructed of a waterproof plastic outer layer, an absorbent pad with super absorbent chemicals, and an inner liner. The super absorbent chemical, sodium polyacrylate, absorbs and holds fluids in the diaper. This chemical has been linked to toxic shock syndrome, can cause allergic reactions, and is lethal to cats if inhaled. Death has occurred from ingestion of just 5 grams of this chemical. Pediatric journals contain reports of this chemical sticking to babies’ genitals. When the baby’s skin gets wet, this super absorber can poll fluids form baby’s skin. Dioxin, the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is a byproduct of bleaching paper. Even in the smallest detectable quantities, dioxin has been known to cause liver disease, immune system suppression, and genetic damage in lab animals. Dyes found in some disposables are known to damage the central nervous system, kidneys, and liver. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) received reports that fragrances caused headaches, dizziness, and rashes. Problems reported to the Consumer Protection Agency include chemical burns, noxious chemical and insecticide odors, reports of babies pulling disposables apart and putting pieces of plastic into their noses and mouth, choking on tab papers and linings, plastic melting onto the skin, and ink staining the skin. Plastic tabs can also tear skin, and disposables may contain wood splinters. -www.ecobaby.com

I can't even imagine how much money we have saved by cloth diapering. For a rough estimate of what you could save, first let's figure out how much investing in cloth diapers could cost you. If you start with 12 pocket diapers (roughly $18-$20/each), 12 prefolds ($2/each) and 2 covers ($12/each), that will run you about $275. If you throw in some cheapie washclothes ($20) you have yourself a full stash of cloth diapers and cloth wipes. Let's say you spend $40/month on disposables diapers and wipes, it will take you about 7 1/2 months to break even. So from 7 1/2 months till potty training, you aren't throwing that extra $40 away! Cloth diapers can also be used on more than one child, so the savings grows exponentially!

Finally, it is estimated that you will use between 5000 and 9000 disposable diapers on your child in their lifetime. Can you imagine that all in a landfill? Enough said.

That's enough information for now. Next we'll talk about the different kinds of cloth diapers that we use.