One night when I just couldn't sleep, I found myself reading up on cloth diapers (on the internet, of course). From what research I've done so far it seems that we could really save some money over the course of 2-3 years, especially since we wouldn't be paying for the water or energy used to wash the diapers (that cost was usually included in the estimates comparing disposable and cloth). That's the main benefit I see, there may or may not be some other benefits like earlier potty-training and doing less harm to the environment. There's even one variety whose reviews say they stop the runny blow-outs of breast-fed infants better than disposables because it uses a terry cotton fabric. From what I've read, many modern cloth diapers are as easy to use on the baby as disposables. The main negative I see is the extra laundry- you're supposed to do a load (or more) of not more than 2 dozen every 2-3 days and there are some pretty specific care instructions- but I think that is something I could get used to. I even found a website that will let you try a variety of cloth diapers (I had no idea what a huge variety is available!) for three weeks for $10 (plus $9 for shipping). So right now, I'm thinking we'll give it a try. Scott's not sold on the idea... yet. Tell me what you think, or if you have any experience with cloth diapers, please share! I even created a poll (see left side), the quote is something I actually read in one of the articles I found.Friday, February 29, 2008
Cloth Diapers???
One night when I just couldn't sleep, I found myself reading up on cloth diapers (on the internet, of course). From what research I've done so far it seems that we could really save some money over the course of 2-3 years, especially since we wouldn't be paying for the water or energy used to wash the diapers (that cost was usually included in the estimates comparing disposable and cloth). That's the main benefit I see, there may or may not be some other benefits like earlier potty-training and doing less harm to the environment. There's even one variety whose reviews say they stop the runny blow-outs of breast-fed infants better than disposables because it uses a terry cotton fabric. From what I've read, many modern cloth diapers are as easy to use on the baby as disposables. The main negative I see is the extra laundry- you're supposed to do a load (or more) of not more than 2 dozen every 2-3 days and there are some pretty specific care instructions- but I think that is something I could get used to. I even found a website that will let you try a variety of cloth diapers (I had no idea what a huge variety is available!) for three weeks for $10 (plus $9 for shipping). So right now, I'm thinking we'll give it a try. Scott's not sold on the idea... yet. Tell me what you think, or if you have any experience with cloth diapers, please share! I even created a poll (see left side), the quote is something I actually read in one of the articles I found.
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8 comments:
Good luck with the cloth diapers. I thought about doing it, but never got around to researching it.
Lani you are a better person than me, I've never even thought to do cloth diapers! One of my friends on my street used them, I'll talk to her about it and let you know what she says.
Love the baby belly pics! Eden did a great job taking the pictures! You look great!
Lani despite the environmental and economical benefits, I could never bring myself to do that...Whenever I think of cloth diapers I think of Mom telling us about how she got her hair in the toilet when she was swishing the dirty diapers around to clean them. YUCK!
I think it is a great idea! I've been debating about this same thing for a while.I just read an article on it in Mothering magazine. I would like to do it but it didn't look much cheaper than disposables and with cloth you have to pay a lot up front instead of $12 every 2-3 weeks. We have to talk because I really want to figure out a way to do it. There is a website for buying used or homemade cloth diapers www.diaperswappers.com if that is something you want to do. I don't want to freak you out but my friend works in a hospital and they had a baby in there with e coli that they got from disposables. That also made me want to go cloth.
Laura
I researched cloth diapers both four years ago with Ella and then again about six months ago before Liam. I ruled it out the first time because of the cost like Laura said. For the best, easiest to use and wash cloth diapers you have to invest about $200 at a time every six months or so for the first 18 mo. and then maybe once more if your child doesn't potty train early like mine didn't (both at 3 1/3 yrs.). So, I decided I'd look into it again after we were out of school and had a bigger house with more than one bathroom and an actual laundry room, etc. which I think would make it easier. Well, so here we are with baby #3 and we're out of school but we live in California which means we still live in a tiny house with only one bathroom and our washer and dryer are in our dining room. The thought of watching the poopy diapers swishing around in our front-loading washer while eating dinner just didn't really appeal to me. Plus, since this is our last time around, it didn't seem worth it to invest all that money into buying the diapers. However, I still think it's a great idea. I'll bet that you get used to the extra work which is not that bad considering how innovative modern cloth diapers are. Some people say that the extra amount water you use is just as bad as throwing away all those disposables into the landfill but personally I would feel better about using the water. Good luck with your decision! Anna
I've thought about cloth diapers. I read that each baby contributes an estimated 6000 diapers to our landfills. My main concern would be keeping it sanitary, as I have read terrible things about bleach. I'm sure you could use vinegar or baking soda, and it's not like they would be hard to fold!
Also, thanks for the tips on Hawaii!
I had a friend who used them and loved them. She put her daugther in dispoable when they were going to be out of the house for more than an hour. But for everyday stuff she did cloth. It took a couple times to get over the grossness of poopy diapers but after that it was like second nature to her. And she said her baby rarely had diaper rash.
Hey Lani,
I know Holly Deubelbeiss used cloth diapers on both Logan and Cora. I think she only used them until they were on solids foods... you could ask her...
Laura Roy / Wong
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