So you’re thinking about cloth diapering–are you crazy?! That’s so gross. That’s so much work. Why would you do that? Disposables are so convenient.
If you’ve considered cloth diapering and have shared this thought
If you’re like me and stay at home and rarely [if ever] get a break from your kids, then it should be of no concern to anyone else about how you diaper your child.
I could wrap a towel around my baby’s bottom and secure it with hair ties and guess who would know? No one. That’s not at all how I plan to cloth diaper, but you get the gist.
Find Your Why: The Decision Process
With my first child my ‘why’ was to save money.
I do laundry almost every single day, if not every other day, why not just go ahead and do an extra load of cloth diapers?
It made sense to me but I let others’ opinions sway me. “It’s overwhelming becoming a new parent, why add more stress?”
I have a few reasons on my “why” list for my second child:
- environment/less waste
- economical
- less harmful chemicals
There are many perks to cloth diapering but you need to pick the ones that are for you because if it doesn’t actually mean anything to you then you’ll most likely give up.
Why #1 – Environment/Less Waste
My
How many diapers does that mean I have put into a landfill in his lifetime? How much money
Answer: A LOT
Statistics show that over 27 BILLION diapers go in a landfill EACH YEAR. Can you say methane gas?
But, what really caught my attention was what the convenience of disposable diapers is really costing us:
- over 200,000 trees cut down annually
- 3.4 billion gallons of fuel used for manufacturing
- 3.5 million tons of waste annually
- up to 500 years to decompose
I know I can’t save the world but I can do my part, and since having kids I have become more aware of the type of planet they’re being left with and it makes me really sad.
Why #2 Economical
While cloth diapering can cost more upfront, the investment continues to pay for itself in the years to follow, especially if you have more than 1 child. If not, you can always resell your stash.
A cloth diaper stash does NOT have to be huge and expensive. I’m a part of some cloth diapering groups with insanely large stashes and I really think it’s more for show, and from what I’ve heard, it can become an addiction to buy “cute prints”.
Don’t let that happen to you and you’ll save thousands of dollars over the years.
I’m taking a more minimal approach in every aspect of my life so I plan to only buy exactly what I need.
From the research I’ve done, here’s what I plan to buy:
Newborn Stash
- 3 newborn diaper covers (4-10lb) $10.99 each
- 6-8 size 1 diaper covers (4-15lb) $13.25 each
- 24 newborn organic cotton
prefolds $30.00/dozen - 24 size small organic cotton
prefolds $35.50/dozen
Total cost: $243.47
Newborn babies will go through roughly 10-15 diapers in 24 hours depending on how much you change them.
Buying a box of newborn Pampers Swaddlers 140 ct it would cost $40 about every 9-14 days, so about 2-3 boxes of newborn diapers in the 1st month of life.
That’s $80-120 in the trash and 280-420 diapers in a landfill in just ONE MONTH.
Some people choose to skip the newborn diaper stage because they’ll only be in them for about 3-4 months, but for me, it makes sense to go ahead and get them and resell them if I don’t use them.
The amount of diapers newborn babies go through is insane. With the environment in
One-Size Stash
Although I haven’t actually tried out any cloth diapers, my plan is to use pocket diapers as it seems to be the type of diaper that cloth diapering momma’s love most.
A pocket diaper is a waterproof outer material with “stay dry” material sewn inside. For absorbency you stuff inserts or prefolds into the “pocket” at the back of the diaper.
The
“How Many One-Size Diapers Do I need?”
This is the question I see asked most in my cloth diapering groups on Facebook and the magic number seems to be between 28-35, depending on how often you plan to wash.
The brand I have my eye on has beautiful neutrals that I can’t wait to get my hands on. I’m not a fan of bright colors or crazy patterns, and I want to buy diapers that will work for a 3rd child, regardless of gender.
A 7 pack of Nora’s Nursery pocket diapers costs $59.95
That includes 7 bamboo inserts & a wet bag (for storing dirty diapers) so in my
Cloth diapering can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it.
28-35 pocket diapers will cost me around $240-$300
Keep in mind that these will fit from 10-35 lb.
My
You will need extra inserts for different absorbency, especially if you plan to cloth diaper overnight, but I will make a post about all of the different types of diapers and absorbancies in another post.
Why #3: Less Harmful Chemicals
Although I have never dealt with severe diaper rash or allergies to disposable diapers, I am still NOT a fan of what’s in them.
The thought of having these chemicals up against my babies skin makes me absolutely crazy as they are known endocrine disruptors which are chemicals that interfere with hormonal systems.
Hormones help regulate growth, metabolism, and sexual development and function. Endocrine disruptors are linked to developmental delays, obesity, and cancer, to name a few.
Knowing that my son has been in them for 2 years breaks my heart just a little but we only do the best we can with what we know at the time. When we know better we can do better.
A research study conducted in France in 2019 showed that 60 dangerous chemicals were found in disposable diapers, along with trace amounts of an herbicide called glyphosate AKA roundup.
Not only is glyphosate sprayed on crops and ingested by our food supply, but it’s also sitting up against the skin of our sweet baby’s bum… I just can’t.
“The researchers tested 23 different diapers between 2016 and 2018 — none of the brands or products were named specifically in the 206-page report — but are all considered to be well-known brands in France and around the world. According to the findings by Anses, the French agency for food, environmental and occupational health and safety, some of the products marketed as “ecological” contained harmful substances.”
organicauthority.com
This is when knowing too much really becomes a burden on my shoulders but it’s also why I set out on this journey of a more non-toxic life.
Read more about how you can detox your life and your home in this post I wrote about removing toxins from your home.
Know Better, Do Better
As I have said in other blog posts, converting to a non-toxic and more sustainable life doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Pick an area of you life that you could improve upon and work on that.
Then, once you’ve corrected it, pick another. And another.
Do your own research.
Knowledge is power.
Take your life back, and don’t always look for the easy way out.
We are in the generation of instant gratification and my soul seeks something simpler. Life has gotten complicated, stressful, and just a click away from having everything you’ve ever wanted. But, is it what you’ve always wanted?
