Cloth Diapers Series Part 1: The Pros and Cons

Stay tuned for Part 2: The cost of cloth vs. disposables

Listen, I hear you. You may be thinking “EWW GROSS, not for me.” I get it! I was you, 100%. When I was pregnant with my first, I didn’t consider cloth diapering at all. It wasn’t until D was 7 months old and we enrolled him in swimming lessons that I looked into it. I was buying him a swim diaper on amazon and looking into washing it, and that led me to investigate cloth diapers. I started by watching this video from Lucie’s List that explains all the different types of cloth diapers (and there are a LOT.) That video does a great job giving an overview, so if you’re brand new to cloth diapers and interested in learning more, I recommend checking that out. I won’t be going into the details on the types of cloth diapers in this post.

Also, I would like to emphasize that cloth diapering is NOT all or nothing. We personally do a combination. Currently, our oldest is in disposables and the baby is in cloth. I like that we can go in and out of it when we have the time and energy. So let’s get into it!

Pros

– fewer blowouts: Disposables do a terrible job at containing newborn poop. There’s no elastic at the back, so it’s free to slide up and go… everywhere. Guess how many blowouts I’ve had with cloth? Zero. Cloth diapers keep that sh*t locked in.

– money savings: This is what I’ll be discussing in further detail in Part 2 of the series, to find out exactly how much you can save. It’s also nice to not have to worry about those last minute diaper runs to the store!

– environmental: This is actually a largely debated topic. Disposable diapers can take up to 500 years to decompose in a landfill, but arguments on the other side say the amount of water and energy required to produce and launder cloth diapers is equally as environmentally detrimental if not more so. Here is an interesting study by the Environment Agency of the UK examining the lifecycle of disposable and cloth diapers and the amount of global warming contributed by each if you’d like to learn more. A key takeaway is to be cognizant of your laundering habits: washing the diapers in larger loads and hanging them to dry is easier on the environment.

– they’re cute: I mean… does it get any cuter than a teeny tiny newborn in a teeny tiny diaper with ice cream cones on it??

– sustainability: I think we all remember The Great Toilet Paper Panic of 2020. It gives me some peace of mind to have a stash of cloth diapers at home. If for some reason we are unable to purchase disposables we could still diaper our children.

Cons

– more laundry: Cloth diapering one child full time will add at least 2-3 loads of laundry a week. Honestly, this doesn’t bother me very much. I’m unfortunately one of those people who will leave my clothes in the dryer for days, so if anything this holds me more accountable to fold my own clothes because I have diapers that need washing! Also fun fact, folding cloth diapers is an easy excuse to get 20 minutes of netflix time 🙂

– #buyallthediapers: This is actually a hashtag in the cloth diaper world. Since cloth diapers are sofreakingcute and new designs are coming out all the time, it can be hard to avoid the mentality to collect them and only buy what you need. Especially when you convince yourself it will save money. REMEMBER, it only saves money if you only buy the amount you NEED. If you’re not good at keeping to a budget and have the tendency to get carried away, I would proceed with caution.

– The poop: You knew this was coming. When the baby is a newborn and exclusively breastfed, the poop is water soluble and completely washes out in the washing machine. However as soon as the baby starts solids, you should be getting rid of the poop before it goes into the laundry. To be completely honest, the reason I’m only cloth diapering our baby and not our toddler right now is because toddler poop is gross. Having to spray or plop it into the toilet is not super fun, but it’s not the end of the world. You can also use disposable liners such as these (amazon affiliate link) if you’d rather not deal with it. They are very cheap (under $10 for 100) and biodegradable. I’m not going to go into wash routines but there are plenty out there for you to research. On the other hand, when your baby inevitably gets poop on their onesie, are you going to throw it out? No, you’re going to wash it. It may need a little sunning to get out stains but it cleans up just fine.

– Daycare: If you’re not home with your child all day this could be an obstacle. Some daycares might refuse to use cloth, but others may be open to it if you show them how easy it can be.

In Summary

Let me know what you think. Would you consider cloth diapering? If you have, how did you like it? Leave a comment and let me know!