Why use cloth diapers

There are many pros to cloth diapers, and a few cons. It’s best to know all the information before you make a choice - although, as far as mother nature is concerned, cloth diapers, hands down will come out ahead every time.

Benefits of cloth diapers:

There are over 18 billion cloth diapers disposed each year in the U.S alone. According to Mother Nature’s Shopping List, that’s enough diapers to stack to the moon and back seven times. Now imagine those same diapers sitting in a landfill, where they take up to 500 years to decompose. That’s a stupendous amount of garbage, just with diapers alone.

A billion or more trees are destroyed each year to make disposable diapers.

Cloth diapers not only save trees, but land. If they’re not in the landfill, they aren’t taking up space. Once your baby is out of cloth, cleaner diapers can be given to a friend, or reused yourself. Older, more scraggly diapers can be used to clean with literally until they disintegrate.

When bought on sale and used wisely, cloth diapers are much less expensive than disposable. Even if you go with a diaper service, it’s likely you’ll come out ahead money wise.

Some people think that cloth wearing babies potty train sooner. I haven’t seen a scientific experiment on this - but I swear to you, every friend I know who’s used cloth had babies that potty trained super early.

If you’re buying non-organic disposables you’re looking at plenty of chemicals against your baby’s skin.

Cons of cloth diapers:

Less convenient - to a point. You will have to wash them, but if you get a system going, it really won’t be that bad. Plus you won’t have to run to the store when you run out of disposables.

Cloth diapers don’t travel as well. Obviously, you can’t just toss and go when it comes to cloth. With a little extra planning you’ll be ok.

The water and energy used to wash them cancels out the landfill issue - well, that’s debatable. Sure you will use water to wash, however, there are ways to get around this. Especially if you conserve in other way, like using a rain barrel, washing only full loads, hanging to dry, or washing in cold.

Want more info?:

Reusable diapers made simple

Cloth diaper know-how

Diaper wipes: A must-have?

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