Why I Cloth Diaper

Ok, first I want to preface this post by saying that this is not an attempt to convert or put down people's choices. I know that when it comes to parenting choices, it's easy to get very defensive. The point of this post is just to explain why this particular choice works for me and perhaps give some information for people who are interested or just curious why anyone would do this. So, with that said, here we go.

1. Environmental cost: Those of you who know me pretty well know that the environment is a big thing for me. For those of you who know my dad, you know where that came from. :) You can google the specifics, but disposables diapers are one of the biggest fillers of landfills and take somewhere around 500 years to decompose, not to mention everything that goes in to making them. Obviously, there's a carbon footprint for making cloth as well, but it's less than disposables, especially if you buy organic cotton (which is what I do).

There's also the argument that the laundry adds an environmental cost - true, you are doing an extra load of laundry every two or three days, but it often translates into the same amount of water that a potty-trained child is going to be using.

2. Money: Cloth diapers have a large up-front cost, there's no question about it. However, the money spent on disposables over the years quickly add up. Cloth diapering can save anywhere between $500 to over $1000. Those savings can increase even more with subsequent children - you've already put in the initial investment. For our personal situation, we don't have a water bill (we're on a well/septic system). However, in talking with other parents, there doesn't seem to be much of an increase in water/gas/electric bills. (See earlier point about same use as another person using the toilet.) Finally, once you're done with diapers, you can resell cloth. You won't make back your investment, obviously, but you certainly make more than you would trying to sell used disposables! :)

3. Potty Training: While there haven't been any scientific studies that I know of, anecdotal evidence suggests that cloth diapered kids potty train earlier (and perhaps easier) than kids who use disposables only. The NY Times had an article about potty training that did contain something interesting: in the 1950s, 92% of kids were potty trained by 18 months. Today, only 4% of 2 year olds are. Now, it could be argued that moms were more likely to be at home with their kids and could devote more time to potty training back then. But I think the bigger switch is that disposables are now dominant and because they're super absorbent, kids don't feel when they're wet. They can't make the association between feeling the need to go, going, and being wet and uncomfortable. So why bother learning to use a potty? Kids in cloth though have a much greater incentive to learn - they won't be as uncomfortable! I don't know if this will happen with us, but I'm more than willing to give it a try.

4. Much Easier: When I first started thinking about using cloth, I only knew of those old prefolds that you had to fold up and pin together. But all that has changed. There's a wide variety of cloth diapers that are just as easy to use as disposables - velcro tabs, snaps, no covers, no inserts, etc. It makes life a lot easier.

Anyway, that's the broad positives of cloth. It's not for everyone, but it works really well for us. The laundry isn't really a pain - I'm already doing a ton more laundry as it is! I do have to change diapers more often, since he can feel when he gets wet and doesn't like it. But if that means he potty trains earlier (and thus a lot less diapers later on), it's more than worth it for me! (Basically we change his diaper every two hours or so, which usually fits nicely with his feeding schedule.) Thanks for suffering through this ode.