The fabulous Masha of Where To Next? compares cloth diapers to disposables:
Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables
by: Masha of Where To Next?
I’m Masha, the author of Where To Next?, which is primarily a blog about my family’s travels, but increasingly a forum for my other interests: knitting, cooking, baking, sewing and cloth diapering! I am a former journalist and U.S. diplomat, and a current mother to my infant daughter and another on the way.
I don’t remember the moment that I decided I was going to cloth diaper my baby. I know it was early in my pregnancy, but it wasn’t any huge revelation. It just fit into my general parenting philosophy. I’m a natural-minded mama who prefers to keep my baby’s exposure to chemicals at a minimum. I gave birth to my daughter at home and nursed her exclusively until my supply gave out. I try to feed her organic foods as much as possible. So why would I want to wrap her most sensitive areas in chemical-laden plastic? I couldn’t come up with a single compelling reason, so we started out using cloth. My daughter is now nine months old, and has been in cloth for all but one month of her life – when morning sickness hit hard and I couldn’t keep up with the laundry. Having used disposables for that month, I am now even more convinced that cloth is the better option. Let’s take a look at why:
Health
Have you ever noticed how heavy and squishy a soaked disposable diaper is? That’s because most of them can absorb something like 15 times their weight in liquid, thanks to an inner sodium polyacrylate (SAP) gel core. SAP, by the way, was used in tampons until it was linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS). Despite this, disposable diaper manufacturers apparently see no problem in wrapping soft baby bottoms in this chemical all day long. And if you are not yet aware of the link between Pampers diapers with “Dry Max” and chemical burns, you should go here. Point: Cloth.
Disposables do generally keep baby’s butt drier than natural-fabric cloth diapers, so you might think babies suffer fewer rashes when wearing them. This did not turn out to be the case for us. My daughter had several rashes in her month of disposables, and only one in the entire time we’ve used cloth. There are many cloth diapers on the market these days that offer fleece interiors, which wick the moisture away from the skin. Many mamas also add a fleece liner to cotton diapers, to do the same thing. Point: Cloth.
When cloth-swaddled babies do get rashes, they can be a bit harder to treat. Most of the heavy-duty diaper creams on the market today will ruin a cloth diaper. You can, however, use the cream if you put a liner between baby and diaper to ensure the cream doesn’t touch the diaper. Some mothers put their children in disposables so that they can use cream until the rash clears up. (There are also several CD-safe diaper creams, which you can read about here). Point: Disposables.
Cost
You can save a lot of money using cloth if you don’t go crazy buying too many fancy diapers. This website estimates that the average child will go through $2500 in disposable diapers before potty training. While it is possible to spend that much on cloth diapers if you buy more than you need or spend ridiculous amounts of money on individual diapers (it happens – I’ve seen people spend upwards of $50 for a single diaper!), it’s also very easy to spend much less. My current stash, which includes both $2 prefolds, and higher end diapers for which I’ve paid as much as $20, cost about $1000. I have almost all the diapers I will need for my daughter and the-one-on-the-way until potty training. As long as I don’t give in to the temptation to buy all the cute diapers I see, we’re looking at about $4000 in savings. Even taking into account the cost of the energy used to wash the diapers, I’ll come out ahead. Point: Cloth.
Maintenance
Cloth diapers require a bit more laundry (I wash diapers every other day). Disposable diapers require trips to the store. Contrary to popular belief, BOTH require the disposal of poop into the toilet. Even Pampers says so. Go check out this page on the Pampers website if you don’t believe me (scroll down to “Waste Management” at the bottom). If you dislike doing laundry, it’s Point: Disposables, but I personally don’t see the extra laundry as an inconvenience. I actually love it: washing the diapers, hanging them out to dry (although you can use a dryer if you want), and then folding and putting clean diapers back into their baskets while my daughter pulls them out and puts them on her head. She never played with disposables, by the way.
Effectiveness
In eight months of cloth, my daughter has had three blowouts. In one month of sposies, she had that many blowouts per week. Point: Cloth.
Environmental Impact
Most disposable diapers don’t biodegrade. Not surprising, since they are stuffed with chemicals. I’ve seen information floating about saying that you use just as much water washing cloth diapers as it takes to make disposables. I have no way of knowing whether or not that is true. Even if it is, the cloth diapers don’t take up space in the landfills. Point: Cloth.
The Smell
Disposables reek. Fresh out of the package, they smell like sickly-sweet chemicals. Pooped in, they smell kind of like the ladies’ room in your office when someone tries to cover up a stinky #2 with flowery air freshener. Plain poop actually smells better, in both cases. After we put my daughter back in cloth last month, I swore I smelled poop in her room. I searched for the source of the smell for days. My nose finally led me to the opened package of Pampers in her closet. They were poop-free, but still stinky. Point: Cloth.
The Cute Factor
When I showed off my daughter’s new zebra-print diaper to family the other night, they all oohed and aahed about how cute it was. Have you ever heard anyone say “What a cute disposable diaper?” It does seem like the disposable diaper companies are working to change this, as Huggies recently released a “jean” diaper, and Pampers just announced the launch of a new line of designer diapers from Cynthia Rowley. Point: Cloth.
Final tally: Disposables 2, Cloth 7.
