Cloth Diapers. Are they Really worth it?

Cloth Diapers are messy, stink, and hard to manage. Bolonie! I have been cloth diapering for 1 year now and I'll never go back! Cloth diapers may have some quarks but so do most things baby related. Here are some answers to the looming questions I receive about cloth diapers, tips on making them less messy, and more functional, as well as, give examples of when someone might choose not to use cloth diapers.

This is my favorite brand of cloth diapers from Noras Nursery click here or on the picture to see more on their site ( I am not affiliated with Noras Nursery and all copyrights of photos are reserved for Noras Nursery)

1: Cloth Diapers and Money

There are two ways to look at the expense of cloth diapers. Either they are a worthy investment or they are too expensive all at once. They are more expensive up front, this is without a doubt. The average middle-price brand for pocket cloth diapers (there are many different types of cloth diapers but ill save that for a different post) will cost someone about 60 to 70 dollars for a pack of 7 diapers, inserts, and one wet bag. Depending on age the average baby goes through 6 to 10 diapers a day. Obviously, younger babys go through more and older babies go through fewer. On average cloth diaper companies recommend having at least 24 if you plan to do diaper wash every 2 to 3 days, depending on how many times you need to change your baby's diaper. If you bought 21 diapers ( 3 sets) your upfront cost for new diapers would be roughly 210 dollars. The average baby will use roughly 6,000 diapers in their first year, costing their patients about 800 to 900 dollars in the first year alone if using disposables (click here to learn more).

Now, this is where the cloth diapers start to pay off. Pocket cloth diapers should last between 2 and 6 years of use with proper maintenance and care. We will take the average and say 4 years. This will result in 210 dollars for 4 years of use whereas disposables could cost you $3,200!

Now if that's not a shock I don't know what is. The last thing I will mention when it comes to cloth diapers and money is that it will depend on what type you get, and how many, if they are new or not (Facebook marketplace is a great place to get hardly used cloth diapers, as some moms do not have the time or interest to cloth diaper and will sell them) and how you wash and dry them. If you plan in advance to pay for the upfront cost of cloth diapers. I think it is well worth it.

2: Addressing The Mess

Many times when I talk to other moms the main concern they have is the mess. They don't want to have to deal with poo... Which I get. This was also my main concern. No one wants to mess with that stuff and I knew I would need to find a solution if I ever wanted my husband to change a cloth diaper. The good news is I had 5 months to figure it out. If you are breastfeeding EXCLUSIVELY, your baby's poops are water soluble and can be thrown right into the wash. The easiest way to do this is after changing your baby take the inner "Stuffing" and place it with your cloth wipes (trust me use cloth wipes it's easier and more cost-effective than disposable wipes when you are already using cloth diapers.) in the inside of your cloth diaper cover and place the whole thing in your wet bag. Once the wet bag is full just dump it into the washer. BOOM! It's that easy. When you introduce formula or you start solid foods you will need to start cleaning the diapers before they go into the washer. This is the part most of us dread. However, here is the most mess-free solution I have used so far. Let me introduce you to bamboo liners!

I started using these liners and placing them in the cloth diaper when I was folding the laundry and stuffing/folding my cloth diapers and they are amazing. You can get them on amazon anywhere from 8 to 25 dollars depending on pack size. They are awesome! So much cleaner than scraping or spraying poop off your cloth diapers. They catch all the poo so all you have to do is place them in the trash after they have been used and put on another diaper! Seriously I wouldn't use cloth diapers if I didn't have these. This isn't to say you won't have to face the poo ever but definitely far less. Click the photo to see these on amazon.

As a last note on the MESS of cloth diapers, always remember the squish factor, if the diaper is too full just like a disposable it will leak. However, when it has come to blowouts I have only had 2 blowouts in my cloth diapers the rest have been when I have used disposables. That is another win for cloth diapers in my book.

3: Washing your diapers

Continuing with the last section about the mess, now let us talk about washing your cloth diapers. Honestly, in my opinion, this should be the biggest factor when deciding if you should or shouldn't use cloth diapers. If you have a washer and dryer this is a no-brainer, YES! If you have a shared washer and dryer in an apartment complex this might work depending on the situation, maybe but probably still yes. (up until very recently did we get our own washer and dryer so I can say we have done this.). If you have to go to a laundromat you could, personally I am a bit lazy and wouldn't do it. Not to say you can't it's just a lot of travel or time at the mat. To give you an idea of why this is such a big factor in my book let's look at what are the recommended washing instructions for my Noras Nursery cloth diapers. "rinse cycle, Wash with detergent, extra rinse cycle, then dry (preferably outside on a clothesline or tumble dry on low that usually takes 2 cycles...Boo) ." Yes, that's a lot of time in the washer and if you are paying at a laundromat then it can get expensive as well.

The idea behind this washing pattern is that the pre-rinse will get any unwanted solids off your cloth diapers before you wash them with detergent. Then after the wash cycle with detergent, the rinse cycle is to make sure there is no detergent left on/in the diapers. If you follow this the site states that the longevity of your diapers and the comfort of your baby will be increased. It also helps the absorbency of your diapers. When it comes to drying you should dry on low tumble dry settings or hang to dry on a clothesline outside, the reason they recommend this is to preserve the elastic. I have found during the cold winter months, it's easier to dry diapers on low in the drier, but I have to say there is nothing like your cloth diapers hanging on a line outside your house.

Other Considerations and Tips

Saving Money while building your stash

Obviously, if you can register for cloth diapers for your baby shower do that! It's the best way to get the esthetic you want in your cloth diapers (which is part of the fun of cloth diapers.). If you can't start slow you can start to use the cloth diapers you buy right away even if you don't have a full stash yet. Buy a pack of seven now and when you can afford more pay for another set until you are happy with the amount you have for your family. Another option would be to look at second-hand cloth diapers. I have found some at thrift stores, Facebook marketplace, and even on craigslist. These are great places to start if you have to buy your cloth diapers yourself.

Not going full cloth all at once

I have to confess we do not use cloth diapers at night, Momma loves her sleep so we put an extra large disposable diaper on baby boy and it last all night. But this is one of the best parts of cloth diapering you will still save so much money if you do it even part-time. Reading another blog about how a mom only uses them part-time made me feel very comfortable about getting my stash. My husband's family lives in Ohio and instead of packing 20 of my cloth diapers we just buy disposables while we are there. I think many times we think in black and white, we are either 100% cloth or we are 100% disposable, but it really doesn't have to be that way. Most pocket diapers cannot be used by babies until they

weigh 10 lb so lots of people use disposables till that time. Using disposables when traveling, camping, when you forget to wash your diapers, or at night, are all times that I have used disposables and that's okay. We don't have to be 100% cloth all the time to see a benefit from cloth diapering.

Diaper Rash and cloth diapering

Babies deal with diaper rash and it happens often. When our son was first born we used pampers and he had the worst diaper rash I had ever seen we switched to Huggies and it was much better but it still happened often. One thing I noticed right away with cloth diapers was the diaper rash decreased, we hardly had any but when we did I had to switch to disposables because you can't use butt balms or diaper creams with cloth diapers. Or so I thought, there are a few brands that have diaper cream specific for cloth diapers but they didn't work well for me. It took me a few months but my father-in-law of all people suggested corn starch, which can be used on cloth diapers. After some research the main concern people had with using corn starch was the fine powder getting in the air and baby breathing this. However, I found a solution that allows me to apply it to my son without having much or any powder flinging into the air.

Let me tell you, out of all the butt creams I have tried corn starch (unless the rash is so bad it has broken skin, in which you should not use corn starch) is the best! It really clears up my son's diaper rash within a few hours. Basically, I take one of my cloth wipes and put a fourth of a cup of cornstarch in it tie it up, and use it like a beauty puff. This contains the excess corn starch and only puts it where it had contact with the baby. This is my go-to upon the onset of diaper rash. Another benefit is that corn starch is very cheap and easy to come by.

Detergents

There are many cloth diaper detergents out there but what I found to be the easiest are Tide Free and clear tide pods and Rocking Green Dirty Diper wash. I could go on and on about what type of washer and water type and how that affects washing your diapers but I will just link some of the most helpful sites below!

Noras Nursery Washing 101

Fluff Love University

Scary Mommy

Cloth diapers and Potty Training

This section will have to be updated once we actually potty train our son but another factor that pushed us to try cloth diapers was the fact that cloth diapers do not keep your child dry they kind of sit in the mess. This helps with potty training (in theory) due to the baby not liking that feeling of being wet or smushy. I have already noticed when my one-year-old starts to fuss, and I know they just ate, that his diaper is full. As they get older you can stuff more inserts into the pocket diaper to adjust the absorbency but during potty training, you can do the opposite. The hope of using cloth diapers is that the child will be able to notice when they are wet and associate this yucky feeling and start to prefer (faster) the potty.

Daycare (another reason people do not cloth diapers)

One thing to be aware of is that most daycares will not allow cloth diapers. If they do check into their requirements and how they will treat your cloth diapers so that you know they will not do anything to ruin them (like using zinc butt cream on baby when in a cloth diaper) if you know your child will be in daycare full time this might not be a good option for you.

All in All

Cloth diapers can be a great option for someone looking to save money over the course of their children's diapering years. One large topic not addressed in this article is the environmental benefits of cloth diapering vs disposable diapers. I am sure you can imagine the waist that disposables produce in the environment but we will leave this to another conversation.

In my opinion cloth diapers are not any harder to use than disposables, they take a little more time but if you are a SAHM, why not? In the long run, it's better for your baby and for your budget. We are not dealing with our grandma's cloth diapers anymore, no more pins and folding, it's a snap (literally they use snaps or velcro) my advice to anyone scared to try is to buy 4 or 5 on Facebook's Marketplace for cheap and try it out for a day or two. There is a learning curve so don't give up after the first diaper. Start slow and see what happens.

Do you use cloth diapers? Why?

• Write an answer
• Write an answer

Please Consider Subscribing