Reasons to cloth diaper...

As I'm getting closer to popping, I've been doing lots of research on pretty much anything that pertains to "baby." One of the things I've been researching is cloth diapers.

I had somewhat played with the idea of cloth several months ago, but realized I was only thinking about it because babies bums look so much cuter in cloth than they do in disposable diapers. (Which is true by the way!) I decided though that spending all that money to get started on cloth diapers and the "trouble" I'd have to go through taking care of a cloth diapered baby wasn't worth him or her sporting an extra "cute tush."

However, as a baby is reality now, my goal is to do anything and everything I can to make it's life easier, more comfortable and healthier in general. One of the things that I've realized lands in all 3 of these categories are: diapers.

I started researching cloth, and the reasons people choose cloth diapers over disposable ones, and I'm very surprised and shocked at what I've learned.

First there is the financial aspect of diapering.

• I found this helpful breakdown at Diapering Decisions.
  
  The costs calculated below for disposable, single use diapers are based on two of the most popular brands, using a store known for its value pricing. The newborn pkg. (up to 10 lb.) contains 48 diapers @ $16.23 = $0.34 each . The average number of changes for a newborn is 12-16 times per day for the first 2 weeks.14x7x2=196 diapers @ $0.34 =$66.64 The Infant # 1 pkg. contains 104 diapers up to 14 lb. @ 0.22 ea. An average baby requires 10-12 changes per day for the first 3 months 11x30x2.5 =825 diapers @ $.22 each = $181.50
  
  The Infant # 2 pkg. 12-18 lb. contains 88 diapers @ $0.26 each. An average baby 3-6 months old requires 10-12 changes a day 11x30x3 =990 diapers @ $0.26= $257.40 Mega pack pricing was used for the balance of the packages as it is the least expensive. Each Mega Pack was $28.92+$2.02 GST For a total of $30.94 / pkg.
  
  The Infant #3 pkg. 16-18 lb. contains 96 diapers @ $0.32 ea. A 6-9 month old baby requires 8-10 changes per day 9x30x3= 810 diapers @ $0.32 ea. = $259.20
  
  The Infant # 4 pkg. 22-27 lb. contains 64 diapers @ $0.37 ea. A 9-12 month old child requires 8 changes per day 8x30x3 = 720 diapers @ $0.37 = $266.40
  
  The toddler pkg. # 5 over 27 lb. contains 58 diapers @ $0.41 each. An average 12-18 month old child requires 6-8 changes a day. 7x30x6=1260 diapers @ $0.41 ea. = $516.60
  
  The child #6 pkg. over 35 lb. contains 48 training diapers @ $23.00 =$0.45 each. An average 18-30 month old child requires 6-8 changes per day. 7x 364 = 2548 diapers @ $0.45= $1146.60
  
  Total estimated average cost $2694.54 for 7,349 disposable, single use diapers. Keep in mind that these figures are a conservative estimate. It is not uncommon for a child of 3 years to require a diaper at night and children in single use diapers tend not to feel wetness requiring a longer duration of time for toilet training success. Your child's individual sleep pattern, body functions and their time frame for toilet training success will determine the number of actual diaper changes required.

Wow! That's a staggering price. I think of my mom when I read this chart. Now granted, my mom is an amazing coupon cutter and sale watcher, so I know she hasn't spent quite that much... but for calculation purposes, I'll just pretend she has. If she has spent $2694.54 in diapers for each of her children, she has spent a total of: $24,250.86 on all of us. (She has 9 kids with one on the way!) Yiiiikkkes!!!

Now earlier I wrote about cloth diapering being expensive to begin. Well yes it is. But it also saves a butt load of money in the future. I'll use Fuzzi Bunz as my example in this calculation. The average newborn would need about 24 cloth diapers. I'm a cheap person, so if I take the cloth diapering route, I'll be buying the "one size" diapers that brag about fitting 8lbs up to 35lbs. It saves so much money (even with cloth diapering!) only having to buy one size rather than 12-15 of each size. I believe Fuzzi Bunz are the most expensive cloth diapers in the cloth world, so I know even this breakdown isn't entirely accurate, as people can cloth diaper even cheaper than what I'm saying.

Anyways, back to what cloth diapers cost... Fuzzi Bunz run about $19 per each diaper. Since a newborn would need about 24 of them, and I would plan on just buying the one size diapers, I'd be buying 24 one sizes at $19 each. The total cost? ... $456. For the baby's entire diapering career.

So, if we start cloth diapering, we will save $2,234 on our first baby alone...And that isn't counting all the rest of the little Bauman babies that will be following this one. So for roughly $500 we would never have to spend money on diapers again. Not only will we be saving money on our first baby, but never spending money on diapers again for the rest of our babies.

That sounds pretty nice to me. Especially seeing how much my parents have spent on diapering us children!!! Who knows if Jeff and I will go on to have 9 children also. $500 today seems like a worthy investment to spend now, whether we have one child or ten children.

So clearly cloth diapering is much cheaper than disposable diapers, and anytime I have an opportunity to save money, I jump all over it.

But saving money isn't the only plus in cloth diapering.

Secondly there is the "saving the environment" aspect of diapering.

Normally I'm not much of a "go green" type of girl. In fact, unfortunately, I'm one of those obnoxious people in restaurants who use two or three straws at a time and don't really care that they're going to sit in our landfills for the next however many hundreds of years. (I know, I'm awful, I'm working on it...)

But, what I've learned about disposable diapers, shocks even me to the point that I'm very interested in cloth diapering.

Did you know that each child goes through about 2 TONS of diapers in their diapering career?

And furthermore, did you know that it takes between 300 and 500 years for a disposable diapers to disintegrate in our landfills?

So with every baby born, about 2 tons of diapers sit in our landfill for 300-500 years waiting to decompose.

Yuck.

Based on that, with my family alone, we've contributed 18 tons of diapers to our local landfills, where they will sit and stink for the next 300 years.

The only thing that cloth diapers do to our environment is produce some dirty water.

Thirdly is the comfort aspect of diapering.

Which do you think a baby or toddler is most comfortable in? Soft cotton or soft plastic? Yes, I know children might not complain about wearing diapers, but really what do you expect? They get used to them from day one and know no different. But if I have a chance to give added comfort to my children, I will. I'd much rather wear soft cutely colored cloth than that fake disposable material.

An interesting fact about cloth diapers: children who are using cloth diapers rarely get diaper rashes, versus children in disposable diapers who will just about all experience what a rash is like. An interesting study was done in the 1990's on diapering and rashes. In 1955 virtually every baby in the country was using cloth diapers. Diaper rashes were at 7%. In 1991, 90% of babies were in disposable diapers. Rashes jumped from a mere 7% all the way up to 78%. I'm sure the statistics are way more even today.

Fourthly, did you know that cloth diapered babies are generally potty trained about a year earlier than disposable diapered babies?

I'm not really sure why that fact is true, but everywhere I've read states over and over that it is true.

Fifthy, the most important aspect of diapering...safety.

Disposable diapers are full of chemicals. Tri Butyl Tin (Tbt) is one of the most dangerous pollutants ever made, yet it's found in the inner and out layer of many disposable diapers. What makes disposable diapers absorbent is the gel sodium polyacrylate crystals (those nasty gelly beads you find on babies after they swim in a disposable diaper.) This gel was actually banned for use in tampons, for its link to causing toxic shock syndrome in women, yet it's still permitted and allowed to be used in baby's diapers?? Shocking. In bleached disposable diapers (nearly everything is bleached these days *sigh*) is a highly toxic chemical called dioxin, which scientists have dubbed "the most toxic chemical on earth." I'm not even sure what exposure to dioxin can cause, I looked it up online and it was very confusing. All I know is it's bad.

Also of interest: disposable diapers have been linked to childhood asthma and all eyes, nose and throat irritations.

Finally, in the category of safety, studies are currently being done on disposable diapers and their possible link to male infertility. Somehow, the plastics in the disposable diapers don't allow for airing or breathing the same way cloth diapers do, and it's causing little boy's "boy parts" to heat up to hot. Temperature is very important when it comes to little boy's man parts developing properly and their future sperm health.

Lastly, I know I'm not supposed to base this decision on this fact...but it is so true...Babies who wear cloth diapers have such cute diapered booties!

With all this said, I ask myself: why am I even debating this issue? Cloth seems like a no brainer. And it really is a no brainer for me. My only hold back, is it is expensive to get started. I'm praying for God to open a way for me to get started on this path as cheaply as possible.

Cloth diapering (when beginning) seems so overwhelming. There are so many different types, brands, prices, ect. I don't even know where to begin! I'm doing so much research and asking so many questions online and am slowly finding out my answers.

When I told my mom a few weeks ago I was thinking of doing cloth diapers, she giggled and said, "Yea. I don't really see you as the cloth diapering type." Haha, she's probably right. But after reading what I've read...I'll become the cloth diapering type if it betters my baby.

The fun part about starting down this road is I think I've persuaded my mom to join me. She told me to do the research and find the best deals and she'll consider jumping on the band wagon with me. I've got to stop her from adding another $2000+ to her already hefty diapering expense!! Not to mention, our local landfill people are going to come pounding on our door complaining when they realize one family has contributed 18 tons of diapers to the garbage piles. ;-)

So now that my decision is tentatively made to go with cloth, the fun part begins: finding out which type of cloth diapers I want to go with. Ugh! So many choices.