Few things seem more “crunchy mom” than cloth diapers. In many people’s minds, you must really care about the Earth to go to all that extra work when disposable diapers are so accessible. Truth be told, it didn’t make sense to me up until recently. Everyone has their own reasons for cloth diapering. These are mine.

They Grow with Your Baby

Generally, cloth diapers come in two sizes: “Newborn” and “One Size.” Some brands have more or fewer sizes, but generally they come in “Newborn” and “One Size.” Newborn diapers generally fit babies from around five or six pounds to about ten to fifteen pounds. One size diapers usually fit babies from eight to 35 pounds. Because of the wider size range, many moms opt not to purchase newborn diapers. However, both types of diapers do grow with your baby, even though some grow larger than others. The way cloth diapers grow with your baby is with a series of snaps / buttons. The bottom snaps, called the “rise snaps,” make the body of the diaper longer or shorter. The top snaps, called the “waist snaps,” make the waist of the diaper bigger or smaller.

Because the diapers grow with your baby, you only need to buy one set of diapers for the entire time you diaper your baby. You may need to replace a diaper here and there or buy new inserts to fit your child’s changing needs, but for the most part, these diapers will work the entire time your child needs them. You can even use one stash of diapers to diaper two children of different sizes. Are you tired of buying size ones for your baby and size fives for your toddler? Just change the rise snaps on your cloth diapers and make the same few diapers work for both kids!

Saving Money

Cloth diapers are actually a great way to save money. While a cloth diaper has a much larger up-front cost than a disposable diaper, that money isn’t thrown in the garbage nearly as soon as it would be with a disposable diaper. The average “moderately priced” cloth diaper is between $5 and $20 per diaper. This cost can go up or down depending on if the diaper is on sale, used, handmade, or made with premium materials. My stash is predominantly made up of used diapers. I have around 35 diapers and only 6 were brand new. This might sound gross, but I bleached them before using them on Elias. I’ve spent around $450 on my entire stash that will last Elias until he is potty trained. The average family spends around $900 per year on disposable diapers. With the average boy potty training around 31 months of age, this means I would spend about $2,325 on disposable diapers for Elias as opposed to $450 on cloth. Granted, water and laundry detergent bills do go up with cloth, but not enough to outweigh the savings of cloth. I, personally, would rather spend that extra $1,875 on something for Elias that doesn’t get thrown away within a few hours.

Environmental Factor

Disposable diapers take around 500 years to decompose. 500 years. For one diaper. The US alone adds 200 billion disposable diapers to landfills PER YEAR. Yeah, my few cloth diapers are saving a miniscule fraction of that, but a drop in the bucket is something.

The main criticism of cloth is that they take a lot of water to produce and use. They do. However, water is a resource that renews much faster than any resources used by disposable diapers. Cloth diapers also can take a long time to decompose in landfills. Longer, in fact, than disposables. However, there are far fewer cloth diapers used per baby than disposables used per baby. Plus, when you purchase used diapers or use them for more than one child of your own, the amount of cloth diapers produced and thrown away also goes down. You are going to create waste, no matter which type of diaper you use. However, there is no comparison. Cloth is a much better environmental choice.

The Cute Factor

Cloth diapers are adorable. They come in a variety of patterns and colors to fit your preferences. Parents can choose anything from simple, plain white or black to fun solid colors to busy prints that reflect the parent or child’s preferences. I tend to enjoy bright colors and cutesy prints. My stash reflects that!

As much as I’d love to be strong and say the cute factor doesn’t really matter to me… It does. It actually makes me excited to change my son’s diaper, which is never something I thought I’d say. It also makes me excited to do laundry because I get to have my favorite diapers clean again. They make me happy!

They’re Easy (for me)

Cloth diapers are really easy to use, in my opinion. In my case, they only add about two extra loads of laundry a week and any poop is easily sprayed off into the toilet. Some people have issues with leaks, but I found inserts that work well (100% cotton with a hemp insert added for overnights) and we haven’t had more leaks than we would have had with disposables.

Yeah, they are more work than disposables, but the amount of extra work is small and manageable for me. I understand, however, that not everyone feels the same way. If you have tried cloth and found them to be too difficult, please do not feel judged. But, if you haven’t given them a try because they seem too hard, I would encourage you to try them out anyway. You may find them easier than you think. If you’re interested in trying cloth diapers, please reach out to me or check out this super helpful website, Cloth Diapers for Beginners.

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