When I was pregnant with Mr. C, my mother-in-law suggested that we use a cloth diaper service. I’m not going to lie, I thought she was nuts. Wash and reuse diapers? The idea of it didn’t seem sanitary or safe at all, not to mention gross! Plus, when there are disposable diapers, why in the world would I want to put some towel on my kid, safety pin it [read: poke him] and put some “rubber pants” over it? No thank you.
Fast forward a few years, and we are happily cloth diapering Baby M and will cloth diaper any future children. I have learned a lot over the last [nearly] five years, and one thing I’ve learned the most about is cloth diapers. They aren’t anything like I thought they were as a new mom. So if you’re on the “ewwwww that’s gross they poop in those” team, bear with me.
4 Super Simple Reasons to Cloth Diaper Your Baby
Here is my disclaimer that I do not believe cloth diapering is the best choice for every family. When I was pregnant with Mr. C we lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment with no washer and dryer, so we had to pay for laundry. There are people who are committed and make that work, but I was not one of them! They also take more work than disposables. If you are a mom who works full time, it may or may not be worth it to you. This is just what works for my family, you do what works best for yours!
Cloth Diapers Have Modernized
If you think cloth diapers and the first image that comes to mind is white cloths that you have to fold and safety pin then cover with some “rubber pants”, think again. There are so many different kinds of cloth diapers, it’s insane. You could spend months researching them [which I may or may not have done while pregnant with Baby M…] and still not know everything there is to know. I could do a whole post on the different kinds of cloth diapers, and possibly will in the future, but for the purposes of this post, I’ll keep it simple. The diapers available today are extremely close to disposables in the simplicity. They have snaps or velcro to fasten them, so there’s no need for safety pins. The “rubber pants” part of them is now connected to the absorbent part, so changes are much simpler. The “old” version are definitely still available, and I have several friends that use them and love them, but if you’re like me, there are simpler options!
Cloth Diapers Save Money
Okay, so this one is fairly obvious, but it is definitely worth being said. I save so much money using cloth diapers, it isn’t even funny. Instead of buying diapers every few weeks, I wash my diapers a few times a week, and I’m good to go. Now, there are definitely people who save more than I do. We are not strict with our cloth diapers. We do switch to disposables occasionally for a “cloth vacation” or if we know we will be out a long time, or even if we just know that my mom [she doesn’t do cloth] may change the baby. On the other side of the coin, there are people who don’t save any money by cloth diapering. There are diapers that cost over $50 a piece, and people pay that. If that’s you, more power to you! I can’t afford to pay that much for something my kid goes to the bathroom in, even though the patterns are soooooo cute! So the potential to save money is there, but shop wisely!
Cloth Diapers Are Cute
Not even going to lie, this one is big for me. We don’t even use patterned diapers often, mostly solid colors. My favorites are Kawaii pockets. Even without the cute prints, [and trust me, there are adorable prints] cloth diapers are just adorable. They make your baby’s bum look huge. I love my little guy’s “fluffy bum”. There are definitely days that I put Baby M in a shirt and one of his cloth diapers and call it his outfit, and I’d be lying if I said I never chose which diaper to use by making sure it matched his outfit.
Cloth Diapers Save The Planet
Okay, joking. Kind of. They are a lot better for our environment than disposable diapers that fill up landfills. That said, we don’t take this into consideration at all when choosing to cloth diaper. I know, bad mama! I think it’s great that it’s better for the environment, but it isn’t my biggest concern. While I am a “baby crunchy”, I don’t really make decisions based on keeping that lifestyle. This also means that if you choose not to cloth diaper, I think that’s totally fine. You will not hear that you’re the reason from global warming here!
So what do you think? Do you love cloth diapers, or are you more of a fan of the convenience of disposables? If you do cloth, what kind do you prefer? I may or may not have an addiction to learning more….
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I cloth diapered both of my kids. It was a lot easier than my mom had told me it would be. I now miss those sweet days of fluff mail and diaper laundry. :)
Sharla Orren recently posted…Are We Fully Relying on God?
Oh yes. My mom told me all about how difficult it would be and couldn’t imagine why I would do that when disposables were available. I’m so glad to be in the middle of the fluff mail and diaper laundry stage! Hopefully by the time Baby M is out of diapers there’ll be a new baby coming along soon to use them again. :) Thank you for stopping by!
I really enjoyed cloth diapering, for all of those reasons.
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder recently posted…Top Post of 2014
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I was kind of nervous to start, but it has become such a blessing. Thank you for visiting!
My best friend is having a baby in February and will be trying out cloth diapers. Something I definitely want to do when I have kids, so this was a great post to hear another person’s opinion! I love them too because they are both environmentally friendly and save you money at the same time. Just tough when people want to babysit…maybe I’d have a few throw aways on hand for those situations! :)
Oh yes, having disposables can be a huge help to babysitters. That said, they have cloth diapers that are velcro, so putting them on and taking them off is very similar to disposables. Plus, if you’re exclusively nursing, you don’t need to rinse or anything, so it’s pretty simple to just plop them in the diaper bin. :)
I loved using cloth for my son! I was one of those living in an apartment without a washer and dryer, and was stubborn enough to do it anyway! LOL. Cloth diapers are great though. I’d definitely use them again if I have another baby.
Jessica recently posted…Four week update of new nutrition and workout plan.
Oh my word, Jessica, you are one committed gal! I don’t think I could have kept up with all that laundry if it wasn’t easily accessible. You are a cloth diapering guru! Thanks for stopping by!
I used to use cloth, but I forgot to strip them & then it went…not so well! It was a busy time in my life so I sorta gave up… Next time I’ll know better & make sure I get them striped properly every 3 mo. My fav’s are deff. Canga and Grovira!
Gabi recently posted…Catastrophic Living: How to run like a chicken with its head cut off..
Oh yes, stripping is definitely a chore, but afterwards your diapers feel brand new! I haven’t tried those brands, I’ll have to check them out!
How do you deal with carrying dirty cloth diapers in public if you don’t use disposables during outings when this would be inconvenient?
Anna recently posted…All On the First Day
I use a wet bag which is a small, water proof bag that holds the wet/dirty diapers until we get home. Then once we get home we just dump it out into the diaper pail. I’ve actually found it’s easier than trying to search out a trash can when we’re out and about. :)