I'm new to cloth diapering. Of course, I used disposables simply because that's what everybody else does (kind of like vaccinating--oh no, I didn't!). Then I started doing research. Wow, there were so many different types and the cleaning process wasn't nearly as horrid as I had imagined. Now I am hooked and am regretting not having done this research before Kid was ever born. We would have saved approximately $4000. That's huge (not to mention the environmental factor and skin contact factor!)

Look at Baby Bee's stoutness in cloth. Loveable! Baby is sporting Bum Genius Organic One Size All-in-One's... these can be fit for a newborn up to 35 lbs! Talk about cost efficient! Our next 4 children will be getting to use these as well. (Oh, honey, take a breath... one at a time and we'll be fine).

On the cloth diaper topic, I asked Rachel to be a guest poster. Ooh, how exciting is this, a "guest" poster?! Well, I've had a lot of reaction to our decision to go cloth and I would love someone else to take the baton on this, especially when they are way more experienced on this topic...

Rachel, take it away:
"Having used diapers exclusively for the entirety of my daughter’s babyhood (20 months) I have learned a lot! Many people are intimidated by the prospect of cloth diapers, picturing diaper pins and loads of laundry. Well, today’s cloth diapers, ain’t your momma’s cloth diapers! Not only are they easier than ever, but with their use you can contribute in a positive manner to the environment, your baby’s health, ease of toilet-training, and your family’s finances. Cloth diapering can be very confusing at first! My hope is that this article will bring some clarity to the topic. After giving you some great reasons WHY cloth diapers are an excellent choice, I will do a second post on the HOW-TO of cloth diapering.

The Environment

18 billion diapers are disposed of each year, but they are hardly “disposable.” Their effect on the environment will last for centuries (500 years to break down, in fact).Diapers are the THIRD most disposed of item in landfills today. Consider this: Compared to cloth, disposable diapers . . .

1.Produce 60 times more energy (typically from fossil fuel).
2. Use three times more energy (both in production and transportation of materials and the end product).
3.Consume between 10 and 20 times more raw materials (wood, petroleum to create the plastic layer).
4.Consume two times as much water, even when cotton growing for cloth diapers is factored in.

I don’t even want to think about that fact that people are throwing raw, untreated sewage into their household trash. This goes into the landfill where in can seep into the ground and contaminate our ground water .Human feces are known to carry viruses, including live viruses from childhood vaccines. p.s. It is illegal to throw poopy diapers into the trash. The poop must be shaken into the toilet first. Did you know that??

Baby’s Health

It is estimated that by the age of 2 1/2, a baby will spend 22,000 hours in diapers. Whatever is so close to their skin for that long of time is going to have an effect on their health. Don’t forget that skin is a living, breathing organ. Disposable diapers are filled with chemicals –this is what allows for absorbency and what keeps the baby so dry. Cloth, on the other hand, uses naturally absorbent cotton. (Other wonderful fabrics include hemp, bamboo, wool, and fleece; I’ll cover this in Part II.) The breakdown of urine produces ammonia. Cloth is a breathable fiber, allowing the ammonia to evaporate and creating circulation. Single-use diapers don’t allow this, contributing in large part to the reason for greater frequency of diaper rash with these babies. Did you know that in 1955, 100% of babies born in America wore cotton diapers and only 7% of them experienced diaper rash? But by1998, with 90% of American babies in disposable diapers, the occurrence of diaper rash is 78%.

Toilet Training

Cloth-diapered babies toilet train sooner. On average, a cloth-diapered baby will reach toilet independence a year earlier than their disposable counterparts(24-30 months vs 36-42 months of age). In 1957, studies found that 92 percent of children were toilet trained by 18 months. Today, that figure has dropped to less than 25 percent. Only 60 percent of children have achieved mastery of the toilet by 36 months, and 2 percent remain untrained at 4. Who is benefiting here?! Obviously, it is the diaper companies. Does it occur to anyone that it is the diaper companies who have everything to gain from delayed toileting?? Early potty independence = less time, less money, less laundry, less work, fewer “misses”, less diaper rash and greater convenience all-around.

It is here that I would like to mention EC, or Elimination Communication. This is the practice of taking the baby to the toilet from birth (or early infancy), learning their signs for elimination, and never “diaper-training” them. We did this with our baby, and she had all of her poops in the toilet at 6 months and was dry at night by14 months. If there is any interest in this practice, please leave a comment and perhaps I can visit this topic in a separate post.

Finances

Over the span of just 36 months you will spend over $6,000 on disposables. This is assuming the child potty trains at 36 months. And this is for just one child. For cloth diapers, you can spend anywhere from $50-$500 to get started. Why such a range? Well, it depends on which type/brand of diaper you use. I will cover this in the second post. But I will say, it is not so much a difference in quality as it is in ease of use and style. I have the most basic set-up, and have paid not much more than $50. And, now I have invested in something that I can use over an over with my daughter, but for all the children yet to come! Yes, there is more up-front cost with cloth diapers. But when you factor in all of the other reasons (see above) and view it as a long-term investment instead of a short-term one, it comes around.

There is also the option of a diaper service. If you have specific questions about how this works, check out the link below or drop me a line in the comments section.

For further reading:

Websites
DiaperFreeBaby.org
Dy-Diaper.com – Diaper Service (where I got a lot ofmy information)
Mothering.com

Books
Diaper Free Baby by Gross
Infant Pottying by Bouke"

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Thank you, Rachel!

Any questions regarding cloth diapers, ask away and Rachel or I will do our best to answer!

I'm going to take this post as an opportunity to review the diapers we bought.

After doing a ton of research as I knew the initial investment would be costly, I chose to go with Bumgenius (average reviews were 4-5 stars out of 5!). We bought two kinds, the pocket diaper and the all-in-ones. They both have their benefits, but after using both for over a month, I'm entirely sold on the organic all-in-ones. These are amazing! They are so soft and are very thin, almost as thin as Seventh Generation diapers. They come in great colors and have NEVER leaked. And with the diet that we have in our home, we have some major poop fests.

I will be honest in saying that the poop part was intimidating, but the truth is, you're in contact with poop when changing disposables anyway, the only difference is the contact "time" is a minute or two extra. Not a big deal.

I could go on and on about these diapers and how much I love them (I tried two other brands/ types, both don't compare!), but, alas, this post is long enough. Let me know if you have any specific questions relating.

I dare you to go cloth. Even with Baby at 10 months old, the financial benefits were over $600! Do the math-it's tempting, isn't it?