8 Reasons Why You Should Consider Cloth Diapers

When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I knew I was going to have to find a way to save extra money once she was born. I knew that I wanted to be able to be a stay-at-home mom with her, but that meant the loss of about half of our income, which to be honest, wasn’t a lot to begin with! One of the things I discovered as a way to save money with her was cloth diapers. Today I want to share with you why you should consider cloth diapers for your baby.

They Will Save Your Family Money

As I said, the first thing that led me to cloth diapers was saving my family money. The average baby will use more than 2,700 diapers in the first year alone, which can add up to more than $550 (based on an average price of $0.20 per disposable diaper).

While individual cloth diapers can range in price anywhere from $4.99-$24.99, so the amount one family will spend to stock their cloth diapers will greatly vary, even at the higher-priced level of $24.99, you can purchase 12 diapers for under $300. That’s certainly enough to make it work! Not only does that save you about $250 during the first year, you won’t have to pay anything for diapers beyond that time. You can even continue to use those same diapers for future children! Since we knew we would most likely have a few other children, it was clear why this would be a huge money saver for us!

Not only that, but we also switched to cloth baby wipes and this homemade baby wipes solution, which saved us even more money! I estimate that over the years between our 4 kids, we’ve saved over $3000 on diapers and wipes. That’s a lot of extra money!

The financial savings is definitely the first reason I decided to consider cloth diapers, but there are lots of other great reasons too!

Disposable Diapers Have a Lot of Chemicals

Using products for my family that are as natural as possible is important to me. It’s one of the reason I’ve had home births and breastfeed my babies. Disposable diapers are full of chemicals that you just aren’t going to find in cloth diapers.

Modern Cloth Diapers are Easier to Use Than You Think

There are a number of different types of cloth diapers. No matter which type you go with though, they are way easier than the pins, prefolds, and plastic covers that our parents and grandparents used to use! In fact, my favorite cloth diaper, the bumGenius Elemental is an all-in-one diaper which means you wash it, dry it, and it’s ready to use again already. It’s all one piece (hence the name, all-in-one). There’s nothing to put together or take apart. It’s essentially just as easy to use as a disposable diaper, except for the fact that you’ll need to wash and dry it between uses.

You Don’t Have to Go All of Nothing

Just because you choose to use cloth diapers, it doesn’t mean you have to use cloth diapers 24/7. For all of my babies there has come a time when they are peeing so heavily overnight that I either have to put them to bed in a cloth diaper the is so padded to absorb all of the liquid that it looks uncomfortable and bulky or use a disposable (or sposie). I choose a sposie. It keeps my kids from leaking through their diaper during the night and waking them up. And, it keeps me from having to change the sheets every single night too!

I’ve been known to take some disposable diapers with us on vacation too, or pull them out if I’m sick and don’t want the extra laundry. It’s perfectly okay to use both cloth and disposable diapers.

Cloth Diapers are Environmentally Friendly

Do you know how many disposable diapers end up in the landfill every year? An estimated 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used each year in the US, resulting in a possible 3.4 million tons of used diapers adding to landfills each year. By switching to cloth diapers, you’re not only being friendly to your wallet, you’re being friendly to the earth too! If you also make the switch to cloth wipes (which is very easy), you’re keeping even more out of the landfills!

They are More Comfortable

Okay ladies, be honest, how many of you find wearing feminine pads comfortable? Right, I don’t either. They just aren’t! Soft cotton underwear against the delicate area down below feel so much better! I have to believe that it’s the same for our babies. Thank goodness I don’t have the need to wear diapers, but I know if I did, I’d choose cloth, hands down!

You Can Resell Them When You Are Done

You won’t find a way to sell a used disposable diaper. However, when you use cloth diapers, there are many moms willing to purchase second-hand once you’re done with them! All you have to do is search Facebook for cloth diaper swap groups or check with local consignment stores to see if they sell them there.

They are WAY cuter!

Have you seen a baby in a cloth diaper? They are adorable! Whether it’s a bright, solid color or a diaper with a neat print, they certainly stand out and look way cuter than any disposable diapers I’ve ever seen!