Why should I fool with cloth diapers?

Good morning, and welcome to another week on this journey to natural living!

This week, in honor of my cloth diaper party coming up on friday, I'm going to be talking a little bit about my experience with cloth diapers, starting with why I think it's such a great option.

It's better for the environment.
This was my first reason for being interested in cloth diapering. It's been estimated that it takes somewhere between 250-500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose. Think about all the babies in the world, then multiply that by the number of diapers they'll use by the time they're potty trianed. Where in the world are we going to keep all of those diapers?

Disposable diapers are the third largest consumer item in landfills.

Not to mention all of the natural resources used to make a disposable diaper.

It's better for baby.
Have you smelled a disposable diaper lately? I never really thought about it because, well, I'd never had experience with cloth diapers. After cloth diapering Izzy for a few months, I started to notice the chemical smell when I would use disposable diapers on her. Not just on her diaper area, but after a day or two, I could smell it coming out of her skin. Ew. It takes quite a few chemicals to make a disposable diaper, and I'm not really comfortable having Izzy sitting around in them all day long. Of course, there are some good options out there now for more natural, unbleached diapers. Also, we do use pampers sometimes. We're grateful to have been given enough disposable diapers that Izzy can wear them when we go out for the day, or when she's with a sitter. This definitely makes things easier on those days.

It's better for your budget.
I always tell people, I got interested in cloth diapering because it's good for the environment, but what really sealed the deal for me was seeing the cost of disposable diapers compared to that of cloth. Izzy will be one year old soon, and I've spent about 200 dollars total on diapers for her (not counting water and detergent to wash). Also, I've only had one diaper wear out on me in that time, and it could easily be repaired with a needle and thread. So, next baby will be practically free to cloth diaper.

*I have to say, Izzy has a little frog butt, so I haven't had to buy the next size up diaper for her yet. (The diapers I bought were adjustable, so they can "grow" with baby, to a point. I'll talk a little about different cloth diaper options later this week.) Most babies will have to move up a diaper size before they're one. I'm sure I'll spend another couple hundred before we potty train.

Now, lets compare that to the cost of disposables. It's been estimated that it costs somewhere between $1,600 to $2,000 dollars to buy disposable diapers for one child from birth to potty triaining. Compare that to the $500 or so it costs to cloth diaper a child, matched with the savings on future children. That's a big difference!

I found the facts and figures for this post at realdiaperassociation.org, check them out for some more interesting stats on cloth vs. disposable diapers.

So, now that I've told you why you should cloth diaper, I'd better also share how easy it actually is! Tune in Wednesday for more cloth diaper info!

Do you or did you cloth diaper your kids? If you don't have kids yet, are you thinking about it?

Check out zukababy.com, they're hosting my cloth diaper party and have lots of info on cloth diapering for ya!