Cloth Diaper Primer, Part Two: Why We Cloth

Here's part two in my "Cloth Diaper Primer" series. In my previous post, I debunked a few common cloth diapering myths. Now that we know it's not as bad as we thought, here are the main reasons we decided to go the cloth diaper route!

It saves money!

This was really what first got our attention about cloth. We’re a fairly frugal family, so cloth spoke to our sensibilities. Admittedly, the adorableness was a huge draw, but once we looked into the savings, it was basically a done deal.

If you read my previous post, you’ll remember that the savings compared to disposables are amazing. How amazing you ask? Cloth saves the average family over $2000 in diaper costs. TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS! I don’t know about you, but that’s a decent amount of money that I’d rather spend on things I’m not tossing in the garbage every day.

It’s better for baby!

I was a pretty laid back pregnant lady. I didn’t really read the books or freak out about much, but there was one thing that I went into panic mode over: the number of chemicals in our home. I looked around one day and they were EVERYWHERE – in the kitchen, in the laundry room, in the bathroom. Everywhere. I had a rash pregnant lady moment and announced to my husband that we were going CHEMICAL FREE! Bless him. He humored me (no doubt knowing I’d calm down eventually). I did, mostly. But the one thing I’ve stuck to is minimizing the number of chemicals that touch Wren.

That’s another nice thing about cloth – you avoid whatever “magic” (i.e. chemicals) lives in diapers to make them all absorbent & squishy. It’s way better for their new, sensitive skin. It also means less diaper rash! The only rashes we’ve had to deal with were antibiotic related. Otherwise, her bum stays baby soft and happy.

It’s better for the environment.

(not so) Fun Fact: It’s estimated that 10,000 tons of sposies go into landfills every day. Tons. Every day. Yikes.

Know what doesn’t go into landfills? Yup. Point made.

They’re CUTE!

Guys. This bum. I die.

But really – cloth diapers are ADORABLE. They’re fluffy and round and sweet and oh-so-huggable. Plus…they match outfits. And I’m Southern. If it matches, I’m sold.

They work better.

In addition to minimizing diaper rashes, cloth is less prone to leaks and blowouts. I mentioned in my previous post how many blowouts we’d had in cloth. Didn’t read yesterday? That’s okay. It’s zero. We’ve had ZERO blowouts in cloth.

Why? First, they fit much better than disposables (because they’re cloth, not paper, meaning they hug curves better). Second, they don’t stretch out when babies move around, so messes stay put (rather than escaping).

Matter of fact, I got so spoiled by how well our cloth worked, that I stopped remembering to pack an extra outfit when we left the house. Then, one Sunday, I put her in a disposable (due to using a new, unpredictable antibiotic). Thanks to Murphy’s Law, we had an accident while wearing said disposable. We ended up with a naked baby at church. Fun times.

Cloth babies tend to potty train earlier.

Now, I haven’t researched this, so I can’t say it with absolute certainty, but all of my cloth diaper friends will back me up: cloth babies potty train earlier. The reality of cloth is that babies won’t feel dry as long as they would in sposies. And, no one likes feeling wet. That said, cloth littles learn early to let you know they’re wet and need to be changed. Since they can easily recognize wetness, it makes it easier to teach them to use the potty.

So, we’re spending less on diapers AND using them for less time? Done.

We can sell them when we’re done with diapers!

I hinted at this in Part One, but many cloth brands hold their value fairly well, especially if you go with an All in Two or Flat + Cover system (more on those later). Some brands resell for 60% of the NEW purchase price! So, if you take good care of your stash and know where to sell when you’re finished with them, you can make back A LOT of what you put into it (making cloth EVEN cheaper in the long run).

And what can you resell a sposie for when you’ve used it? Zip. You just toss that money into the trash. No thanks.

There you have it! I’m sure there are other reasons to cloth, but these are our top. Ready to make the switch? Tune in tomorrow for more on the different types and how to choose what’s right for you! Still not convinced? WHY? Did you SEE that fluffy bum? Scroll back up and look again. Then tune back in tomorrow for how to start your own stash.