If you are on the fence about trying cloth diapers, I hope this gives you clarity and courage to begin. Here are my top five reasons why I made the switch from disposable diapers to cloth diapers.
Alright Mommas, if we are being completely honest it took three babies to finally make the switch to cloth diapers. BUT, it was for lack of knowledge about cloth diapers. I still had this image in my head of what cloth diapering looked like…. and that image was safety pins and a white stained up cloth. Let me tell you Momma, there was not a chance in the world I would consider that idea. However, one night at Small Group, I saw one of the Mommas placing this adorable little floral contraption (cloth diaper) that looked like a diaper on her daughter. Needless to say, one thing led to another and I made the switch from using disposable diapers to cloth diapering our fourth boy. If you are on the fence about trying cloth diapers, I hope this gives you clarity and courage to begin. Here are my top FIVE reasons why I made the switch from Disposable Diapers to Cloth Diapers.
My NUMBER ONE reason: CHEAPER
I’m not going to play it off like my number one reason was for the environment, I mean it played into the decision but we switched from disposable diapers to cloth diapers because it was so much more cost effective. I am a budgeting nerd, and if I can find an expense that we can get lower, you bet I am going to run with it. I know this is controversial, because it is so expensive to get started cloth diapering and the big question is…. is it really worth the investment? The average cost of diapers per year are around $800, times that by three years… you are looking at $2,400 for one child. Folks, we are operating on 14 cloth diapers, that cost us just shy of $400 and will last us through Rowdy being out of diapers. IT IS CHEAPER! In fact after just six months you will start to saving. I will tell you I do an extra load of laundry every other day, but it is still way cheaper and cuter than disposables.
All I can think of is how much money we would have saved if I would have started cloth diapering with our first born?
Reason Number Two: THEY’RE ADORABLE!
Is it just me, or does anyone else love the super cute prints of disposable diapers? There are adorable rocket ships, dinosaurs, geometric shapes, and the list goes on. However, the “cute” diapers cost an arm and a leg. I figure the cuter the diaper, the more expensive it will be. Im not sure if its just me, but I can’t spend seventy dollars for a box of 70 disposable diapers. My husband reminds me that they literally poop and pee in their diaper but is it so wrong I still want my babies bum to be cute. (insert laughing face) So, going back to that night at small group…. when I saw this beautiful pink and white delicate floral “contraption”… I was instantly like sign me up. I have four boys so pink floral diapers were not in my future regardless, but the amount of cute prints for boys are pretty stacked as well!
Reason Number Three: LESS BLOWOUTS
After raising up and getting three boys out of disposable diapers, I have found cloth diapering comes with less explosive blowouts. I won’t lie to you, when you first start cloth diapering there is a learning curve. I can’t tell you how many times Rowdy peed out of his diaper, all because I wasn’t cupping it in between his legs. This topic will have to be saved for later but I am sure there are a million YouTube videos showing what not to do. However, I am not sure if we have had even five poop-y blowouts while wearing cloth diapers. It is not a perk that I expected when I began cloth diapering but it has been a total benefit.
Reason Number Four: NO NASTY CHEMICALS
Alright Mommas, the older I get the more I am starting to realize how many chemicals we are surrounded with and how much they affect us. When I was trying to convince my husband to get on board with cloth diapering, I was researching a ton, that way I had a good solid case… something other than, I want him to have a cute bum. One of the things that absolutely blew my mind was that diapers do not have to follow ANY manufacturing rules. The diapers being sold have ZERO regulation. Ladies, thats scary.. and for any second time Mommas… have you ever had a diaper get to soggy and start breaking down? Next thing you know all of that yucky gel stuff is oozing out of the diaper and so hard to get your baby clean. This is actually a chemical called sodium polyacrylate, it can absorb 300 times its weight in water but you know what else it is good for causing irritated skin. I do not want that junk along with all of the other chemicals touching my baby! With the other three boys, we used an off brand diaper… (again budgeting nerd over here) but through the past couple of years, I have noticed the quality of a not so great diaper go down tremendously. Which prompted me to switch to a cleaner brand of diaper, but the cleaner the diaper the more expensive. We will use a clean diaper brand for Rowdys overnight diaper but have shied away from using chemically loaded diapers. Yes, we do use disposable diapers for bed time. It keeps him dry all night and prevents him from waking up from being wet. More on that later!
Reason Number Five: THE ENVIRONMENT
Last but not least…. I believe we were put on this Earth to be good stewards of the land God has entrusted to us. Part of that mission is not trashing it. Did you know the average disposable diaper takes 500 years to completely decompose? You think about the 2,200 disposable diapers a baby wears per year, that my friend is mind boggling. Not to mention, that when disposable diapers are decomposing, they are releasing tons of harmful toxins into our soil, and into our ecosystem. I want to leave this Earth in a condition for my kids, kids, kids to enjoy. I feel like this is such a small change, but it can create a HUGE impact.
RESOURCES
Munchkins: (The average number of disposable diapers a baby wears in a year.)
Wholesome Children: (Toxic chemicals in disposable diapers.)
Grovia: (My favorite hybrid cloth diaper.)
Charlie Banana: (My favorite pocket diaper.)
One of my favorite resources for a lot of Momma related things: http://www.youtube.com/@BridgetTeyler