cloth diapers vs, disposable......?

Question

i am on my 4th pregnancy, 3rd live birth if all goes well, and we are thinking of using cloth diapers. I have always used disposable in the past. Can someone tell me some advantages of using cloth?

Answer 1

Cloth wins, hands down. i even used them when i was s single mama and lived in an apartment with no washer and drier. There was no way i could've afforded to buy a pack of diapers to throw away each week.

I still have many of the diapers my daughter wore 10 years ago. My 20 month old son uses them. That is the main benefit in my opinion. You can reuse them until they are rags and then use them as rags!

We have a high efficency washer and dryer, so washing them really is not a major hassle or an extra expense. I stick them in a pail with a lid, lined with a waterproof bag then I toss the whole thing into the wash on hot every few days. I wash with our regular detergent and a little Bac-Out by Biokleen, I rinse them twice. No bleach needed, it is bad for the covers anyway!-)

Thousands of gallons of water, tons of wood pulp, not to mention bleach and other chemicals, are used in the making of paper diapers.

We don't use pins, we use a variety of diapers and covers with velcro, all in ones and pocket diapers. Super easy.

I have not yet spent more than $200.00 for all our diapering expenses over the last 10.5 years.

If money is a factor, there orginization called miracle diapers that will GIVE low income people cloth diapers!

I also do daycare and I encourage the parents to use cloth. Its really no extra work to stick it in a bag ;-)

Poop isn't supposed to go in a landfill anyway. Even the paper diaper package says to shake out the poop!

Answer 2

My children are probably older than you. But I'll give you a quick opinion.

If you work outside the home, use disposables.

If you are at home as a full time Mom and naturally have a washer dryer, You could use cloth diapers.

My son was in cloth diapers until 12 months and an emergency forced us to travel and I used disposables. I never went back to cloth.

Cloth diapers are expensive these days. Have you priced them yet? But they do make great dust cloths after potty training.

Good Luck on your decision.

Answer 3

I have always used cloth diapers and I love them. I use fitted and covers for the early months, and all-in-ones and pocket diapers for when they get to be a little bigger (along with the fitteds and covers as an economical back-up when I run out of the AIO's). I use a mini-shower which is attached to my toilet water main to spray off any mess from the diaper. I have the diaper pail right next to the toilet. I personally find cloth diapering very easy and convenient and highly recommend it.

Advantages:
*Don't have to take out garbage as often
*Cloth diapers smell like cloth, while disposables smell like chemicals
*Typically better for baby's skin
*May help baby potty train earlier (my first was totally done by 24 months)
*Better for the environment
*Only takes a little more effort than disposables, and it's hardly noticable
*Poopy blow outs are rare with cloth diapers, while they are frequent with disposables (at least in my experience, and other cloth using moms have mentioned this as well)
*Cloth diapers are so darned CUTE!
*You have endless possiblities to choose from-- type of diaper, fabric, closures... literally thousands of choices out there.
*It does save you money... if you're not buying cute new cloth diapers every week like some cloth moms I know! I've spent maybe $300 total on diapers, and this is for two kids.

I really don't notice the extra laundry, and the added cost of water and electricity is negligable. I personally hate taking out the garbage, so for me it was much easier to use cloth.

Edited to add: I've used cloth diapers for over 2 years and I have never ever used a diaper pin. I also work full time and my babysitters are more than happy to use cloth diapers. They really are easy and convenient for me, even working outside the home.

Answer 4

Well, I was using cloth diapers, but my daughter outgrew the sizes I had for her so right now I'm back on disposables. The only thing about them is, initially it can cost $150-$200 to get all the stuff you need to cloth diaper, and if you get fitted diapers you will have to restock each time your child hits an age/weight/height marker and will not fit into his old ones anymore! That is why I am using disposables right now. Our family is getting ready to relocate and we can't afford to buy all new cloth diapers again yet.
Yes, there is less diaper rash with cloth diapers. As soon as my daughter started using disposables again she got a bad diaper rash, even though I was changing her diaper as frequently as you have to change cloth diapers.
Cloth diapers can be really easy, esp. if you buy the ones with velcro tabs. Most are not too bulky, and my favorites are the ones I bought from work at home moms on Ebay. They will leak if you do not change them every 1 1/2 - 2 hours depending on how much your baby goes & how often. Overnight, I stuffed some inserts I sewed myself into her diaper, which were two layers of flannel and a layer of fleece on top to draw away moisture. Her diaper never leaked overnight on me once I started doing that. But you also have to make sure you have a good diaper cover. A lot of people swear by wool diaper covers and say they are the best, but I never got around to buying one and seeing for myself so that would be something to try. I don't like a lot of the "plastic pants" or other rubbery/plastic covers because they are not very comfortable for the baby. I would really suggest trying the wool soakers!
You do save money in the long run if you can afford to buy all the cloth diapering essentials up front. I would suggest that if you plan on doing this, buy a few here and there every month until you deliver. Look at garage sales or on ebay for lots of diapers and you will save a lot of money.
Washing them isn't difficult at all, you just have to get instructions from someone on here or a website and off you go. The hardest part of cloth diapering is the extra laundry. But it made me feel like a more involved mother to be doing something that was better for my daughter and the environment. Good luck with whatever you decide, I could go on and on and on lol, but if you need more info or just want to browse around and think about it, here are some websites I looked at when I wanted to make the switch:
http://www.babycottonbottoms.com/cloth_vs_disposable.htm
http://www.thanksmama.com/
http://www.cloth-diaper.com/care.asp
http://www.thediaperhyena.com/
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/clothdiapers/a/clothdiapers.htm

Answer 5

Cloth-less trash, reusable, safe on the enviroment, washable. less costly relatively speaking, more of a hassle though when going out in public

Disposable-convenient, more trash, no hassle with folding a diaper right, no pins to hold the diaper in place.

Also you have to consider this: If you are staying at home with the baby all the time than go with the cloth because you know how to use and fold the cloth. But you won't be able to put him in cloth diapers at day care. They have a timed schedule in which they change diapers, and they won't have time to wash it out. And even if they did, they are bad about not changing disposable diapers.
If you have the time to use cloth and be at home. But for the convenience of others, use disposable. So now you got to think if you want to use both if you're gonna use cloth at home and disposable when you out. Hope that helps.

Answer 6

Honestly, there is no comparison between cloth and disposable diapers. Cloth diapers have been around since time itself, and disposable paper diapers, only for the last 30 or so years.

Ever notice how disposable diaper makers copy cloth diapers? Elastics around the legs and waist of their diapers copying rubber pants, and a cloth like outer covering, copying cloth diapers. Seems that even with all that technology at work, disposable diapers are still garbage. They leak, don't fit right, are scratchy and uncomfortable against a baby's tender bottom, and their so ridiculously expensive. And that's just the tip of the list of negatives surrounding disposable diapers.

They ruin the environment, and fill our landfills up with excessive waste. Need I go on. I'm the mom of 3 and I have usd cloth diapers on my kids since day one. Once you have cloth diapers you have them for the life of your child. Use them, rinse them, wash them, dry them, and use them all over again. Simple. Easy.

No waste, no constant expense. With cloth diapers there's no leaking, and there's a whole lot less diaper rash. Plus, cloth diapers look so babyish and cute. Cloth diapers are the epitome of babyhood, not disposable diapers. If you want to go really cheap, choose regular type cloth diapers with pins and rubber pants. The absolute cheapest method of diapering on the face of the planet.

So the next time you even think about putting your baby into a disposable diaper, first take one and rub it up against your skin just to see how uncomfortable they really are. Not nice.

Then take a nice 100% natural cotton cloth diaper and rub that up against your skin. The proof is in the pudding. Do yourself, the environment, and your baby a whole lot of good, and diaper with cloth. You won't regret it.

Answer 7

I have three children and with my first two I HAD to use cloth diapers (disposables hadn't been invented yet), and honestly, I can't think of a single reason why anyone would want to use cloth diapers. With cloth diapers you will need diaper pins to hold the diaper on, rubber or plastic pants to keep the sheets and baby's clothing dry and if you go somewhere you will need a zippy bag to put the used diapers in so you can bring them home to wash them and a large container at home to put the soiled and wet diapers in, preferably to soak (if you don't, the smell is sooo over powering, it will gag you). They are bulky under baby's clothing and heavy when wet (especially if there is more than one diaper) and the wet stays next to baby's skin until you remove it. My first two had diaper rashes a lot due to this, the older they got the worst it got. The first disposables were awful, they would fall apart when they were wet and pieces of diaper material was all over baby's bottom, over the years they have greatly improved (I have six grandchildren).
I sincerely hope this helps you to make your decision, if not, buy a dozen cloth diapers and try them for a week, when you know you will be going somewhere and see what YOU think!
Good Luck!

Answer 8

We used cloth diapers for our two daughters, but also had disposable for occasional use, such as extended car trips or outings.
I think the cost savings is considerable, not to mention the reduction of waste going to landfill. It is more work than using disposables, but well worth the effort.

Answer 9

i used cloth ones with my first but when my second was born (my eldest was 2 by then ) i found i simply didnt have the time! they r dearer at first but once youve bought everything then thats it.as for all the washing if you get a sealed bucket and put antibacterial nappy powder in it you can put the used ones in there ,let them steap,and then your not having to wash every day.if you buy about 24 then you will use about 6 a day in the early days.so wait until the bucket has about 12 in it then wash them.then as they are drying your using the other 12 and doing the routine again.good luck and hope your pregnancy goes well.god bless x

in addition the ones i used were prefolded and the plastic pants were velcro fastening so no need for pins.i bought 24 cloth nappies,6 pants and the liners.(a box of about 150.u dont need to wash the pants after every change just when they get messed or after maybe every 4th change

Answer 10

i was thinking of using cloth diapers but i dont' have a washer or dryer at my house so i was going to use a diaper service to provide them and wash them. but after looking at the cost it wouldn't be worth it to me (the cost was the main benefit to me).

my cousin also said the only local diaper service was unreliable and u would have to buy disposable because they wouldn't pick up on time and u would run out of diapers. so ask around ur local area as to reliability.

if the cost is better in ur area they are environmentally friendly though