Cloth Diapers, it’s better than you think!

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WAIT, wait come back! I know, you saw “cloth diapers” and immediately decided it’s not for you but hear me out because I promise cloth diapering can and should be for YOU! If you’ll be kind enough to spare me just a few minutes I’ll give you FIVE amazing reasons why the swap to cloth is the right move for you and your family. Are you still with me? FANTASTIC…let’s do this!

Reason #1 They’re Easy!

No really, I swear these are not your Grandmother’s diapers! If you know how Velcro works or how to snap a button, you can do cloth diapers.  This generation of cloth diapers are user friendly (not to mention adorable) with no folding degrees necessary. There’s no fighting with a fold, no pins, no stress. I know what you’re thinking “but what about the laundry?” Glad you brought that up friend. You have two options here the first is the route I took, look I’m already doing laundry an extra load once MAYBE twice a week does not break me. I’ve lived in a home with a top loading machine and a front loading machine and have had zero issues (thanks YouTube moms for your wealth of information!). I’d rather fold my diapers than pair my socks together any day. But let’s say laundry is the bane of your existence or you live in an apartment and don’t have a washing machine. Well, you’re in luck! Flagstaff has an incredible diaper service called “Easy does it diaper service.” They have how to videos, they will come to your house for tips and tricks, they will give you one week FREE services, take away your dirty diapers, wash and fold them and hand deliver clean ones every week for a very reasonable price! Talk about convenience! 

Reason #2 It’s A Money Saver!

SHOW ME THE MONEY! Kids are expensive, these little humans sure seem to require a lot of things. Typically you can expect your child to be in diapers somewhere between 2 and 3 years. When they’re infants this can mean about 12 diapers a day slowing down to about 4 to 6 as they get older. Now if we do some rough calculations and average things out that’s WELL over 7,000 diapers in just 2.5 years. The average family spends about $2,000 on diapers per child and if you go for the more premium, chemically reduced, more biodegradable diapers you’re looking easily at $3,000.  Where as with cloth diapers even if you want the high end & cutest patterns you can find your diaper stash is going to set you back about $400 or less. Take into account detergent, water bills or a laundry service  and you’re still not at half the cost of disposables. The savings don’t stop there either! Plan on having more than one kid? Savings become HUGE with each child! Think about it, every child you have in disposables is thousands more in purchases you can’t get back, where as with cloth that few hundred you spent on your first child’s diapers are the same EXACT diapers you will put on your second child, and your third…and on and on until your family feels complete without spending anymore money than you did to begin with. Now that’s worth celebrating!

Reason #3 Helpful and Healthy

I am LOVING how many mom friends these days are doing their best to “go clean” with the products they purchase for their families. I’m especially loving that companies are wising up and realizing we will go out of our way to avoid products with KNOWN cancer causing chemicals and additives that can harm us, we will even spend more money on a product that does it’s job without endangering us and our loved ones. Don’t get me started on the fact that we even had to MAKE them realize that, but hey… small victories. However, we have a LONG way to go even with those “greener diaper options!” The amount of chemicals in your typical diaper is astounding. Now, I GREATLY want to keep this article away from any fear mongering type deal so I’m not going to harp on this or get into the nitty gritty too much but I’m just going to say this, if you’re working on using “cleaner” products for your family, ditching the disposables for cloth is a good place to start. Also, did you know on average a child in cloth diapers tends to potty train faster than those in disposables? Mostly because in a cloth diaper they can feel when they are wet more than a disposable because of those chemicals we just mentioned above. Are you almost ready to join team cloth?

Reason #4 The Environment

Don’t run away now, you’ve made it this far! Truthfully, I’d like to make this reason Numero UNO but sometimes people zone out when you go from cloth to the environment too quickly so, thanks for letting me sneak into number 4. Look I’m not trying to make you the crunchiest mom on the block but there are some SERIOUS issues when it comes to disposables and the environment! Did you know that disposable diapers stay decomposing in a landfill for 500 HUNDRED YEARS? Yeah, that’s right! Your grandma’s first diaper is still sitting in a landfill and will be doing so for centuries to come! Remember that average number of over 7,000 diapers PER child? Every one of those is going to sit in a landfill for hundreds and hundreds of years. Then add in the chemicals used to make diapers, the plastic, the paper/cardboard materials for packaging, the gas in transportation to deliver and purchase them, all so they can return to the environment as waste! I could keep going but the point is that the carbon footprint of disposables is painfully disturbing!

Reason #5 It’s Not An All Or Nothing Deal

Look you do NOT have to use disposables 24-7. Let’s say you don’t want to deal with it during your work week, fine cloth diaper on the weekends. Every cloth diaper used helps to save you money and reduce your carbon footprint. I’ll tell you my cloth diaper truth… I DON’T cloth diaper when we travel. I have friends who do and I admire them! For us traveling around with the dirty diapers and figuring out where to wash them is just too much of a hassle. You can find the appropriate balance for YOUR family and find out why switching to team fluff is worth raving about!

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jennifermcknight
I'm Jennifer a FMB Contributor and I live in Flagstaff with my nearly perfect Husband and our energetic Son. I attended Northern Arizona University where I receieved my undergard in Elementary and Special Education as well as a Masters in Early Childhood with a focus on reading. I taught for almost a decade before staying home to spend more time with my son. These days you can find me working as an instuctor at the BARRE3 studio in town (come sweat with me!) spreading my joy of the beauty of movement and what it does for not just physical health but mental and emotional health too! I openly share my TTC stories and want women to feel less alone in that area! Join me to indulge in yet another cup up of coffee, a hike, or a happy hour around town!

2 COMMENTS

  1. Great article I have a daughter expecting in February and her mother-in-law was concerned with using cloth diapers. It’s funny we just had this conversation last night and I’m amazed at how far they’ve changed. The first thing I notice is How cute they are in pictures. But seriously I’ve used them on my grandson and I would highly recommend them. Thanks for the article and the pictures made me smile ?

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