Reasons to Switch to Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers…
They seem so intimidating. All that laundry, handling poop, it sounds like a lot to deal with. Then again, disposables are like throwing away money, so that’s not very good either. When I did the math, I realized that I could have saved over $2000 by switching to cloth! I was convinced to give it a shot.

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Getting over my Fears

The fact is, as a parent, I was going to deal with poop no matter what. My first born son was in disposables and I still got poop on me all the time. It seems to be a fact of parenthood. S*** happens! With a second on the way, that part of cloth diapering no longer bothered me. So I have to dump solids into the toilet, big deal!

I also came to the realizations that I would be doing laundry nonstop with a family of four using cloth diapers or not. Laundry for a baby is tremendous, even for how small their clothes are. My first often went through 4+ outfits a day because of spit-up. Then there were the burp cloths, swaddles, and all of my clothes that got spit-up, urine, or poop on them (I told you dealing with poop is a fact of parenthood). My son still goes through a couple outfits a day because he’s so active outside that he’s always getting dirty. That adds up quickly.

With enough diapers, I can wash them every other day. That’s not too bad keeping in mind that I’ll be doing laundry at least that often no matter what!

The Math

Once I was over these fears of cloth diapering, I started to look at the money. I wanted to know how much I would really save when I took into account the initial investment and the costs of washing.

Cost of Cloth Diapers

First I thought about how many diapers a day I’d go through. I knew I would need to change every 2-3 hours, so working on the high end of that, I’d need 12 diapers a day. That means I need 24 diapers to allow me to do laundry every other day. Having more will allow a larger rotation which would make them last longer, but that can always be added over time. The price of these diapers depends on what type I choose to use. Here are three of the most common types: prefolds, pockets, and all-in-ones.

Prefolds

These are really cheap. They do need to be clipped on so they stay on. There are products you can use instead of pins. Personally, I didn’t like the idea of a sharp point to pin a diaper on my baby, so these non-pin fasteners were more attractive to me. Then you cover the whole thing with a waterproof cover. This is the cheapest option of the three.

Pockets

These are more middle of the road when it comes to price. They are really easy to use. It is a waterproof cover with a pocket where you can put different types of inserts. There are microfiber, charcoal bamboo, hemp inserts that all have different levels of absorbency. Getting multiple types of inserts can increase costs, but these diapers are really easy to use as once the inserts are in place, the diaper snaps on in a similar fashion as disposables.

All-in-Ones (AIO)

These are the most expensive and also the easiest to use. They function just like a disposable in the fact that it is waterproof on the outside and absorbent on the interior. AIOs snap on easily and there are no inserts to deal with, making them the simplest option for cloth diapering.

The cost for 24 of diapers can range from about $200-500+ depending on which type and what brand you use. I figured out that the cost of laundry (detergent, electricity, and water for running the machines) would add only another $100-150. That means my total diapering costs could be as low as $300!

Note: If you start from the newborn stage, you may need to get extra diaper covers in a newborn size as newborns may not fit in the one-size diapers. Personally, I’ve decided to skip this and will likely use disposables for the first month. This is mainly due to the fact that I am not planning on having another child. If you plan on another, then the cost of having newborn diapers isn’t as bad since you could reuse them for the next baby.

Cost of Disposables

The math for disposables depends largely on the brand. I tried to keep my calculations middle of the road, like Pampers. They can cost a lot more than what I calculated if you use higher end brands like Honest. They can also cost a little less if you use a brand like Luvs.

I started with the newborn size. These are good for up to 10 pounds. For one month, you’ll need about 360 diapers, assuming you are using about 12 per day. This will cost about $100.

As the baby goes up in size, the cases of diapers get slightly smaller and more expensive. The amount of diapers does reduce over time as well, but it doesn’t actually make a huge difference when it comes to cost. I continued to do the math size by size, month by month to approximate how much I spent on disposables for my firstborn. By the time I got to 2 years old, I calculated we used a minimum of 4,300 diapers and had spent over $1,500! This did not take into account the fact that he would often pee or poop into a clean diaper, requiring it to be thrown away and replaced by another clean diaper. It also doesn’t account for the increase in price for overnight diapers. In reality, by age 2, I had probably spent closer to $2,000.

The average child isn’t potty trained until 3+ years old. This means adding another 2,000 diapers, costing another $700+! That means a total of 6,500+ diapers, costing mom and dad over $2,700!

When you look at how cloth can cost as little as $300, you are saving nearly $2,500! I’d say that is completely worth the time and effort to use cloth diapers.

Other Benefits to Cloth Diapers

There are many other benefits to using cloth diapers other than saving money (although that is the biggest one for me).

The Environment

This is the most obvious benefit. As I outlined while doing the math, each child adds thousands of disposable diapers to landfills every year. These diapers are filled with human waste, which is just disgusting! The environmental impact of all this is pretty obvious. Switching to cloth dramatically reduces the amount of waste a family creates, lowering their environmental impact. This is another fact that is important to me personally.

Diaper Rashes

I know of some babies that were so sensitive to the chemicals in diapers that they get a lot of diaper rashes caused by them! Using cloth eliminates this chance. I have also noticed that my son’s booty stays drier in cloth diapers. This reduces the chance of a diaper rash.

Multiple Uses

Cloth diapers have a lot of other uses as well. The prefolds make great burp cloths for instance. I actually used them with my firstborn for that purpose! They can also be used for another baby if you plan on having another. Bonus that it will save you that much more if you use the cloth diapers for another baby. If like me, you will be done having children, you can still reuse your cloth diapers. They make great compresses for a first aid kit or can be used as rags for cleaning. You can even sell them and make some of your money back as a lot of people look to buy pre-loved diapers to save even more money.

The Cuteness!

The last benefit is that they are so much fun to buy! There are so many different patterns and colors. It’s easy to want to buy way more than you need as they are so cute. You can get special holiday diapers (for Halloween, Christmas, and every other holiday), ones for your favorite movie or TV show, tie-dye diapers and a whole lot more! The variety is so massive that it is easy to get lost in the cuteness!

In Conclusion

So far, I’m really happy with my decision to change to cloth diapers. I know I have a learning curve to get the hang of washing and caring for the cloth diapers. There are endless resources on the internet to help learn everything I need to learn, including wash routines. After looking at all the benefits (especially the cost), it was a no-brainer for me.

Have you ever thought about using cloth? If so, what made you go for it? If not, what held you back? Tell me in the comments below!

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