The Skinny on Cloth Diapers

Let's face it one of our largest expenses for babies are diapers. The average case of diapers is around $40 for 200 diapers, over the life of your baby that adds up to some serious money. Approximately $2000 over the period your baby is in diapers. Many of us have considered switching but get waylaid by questions such as: are they difficult to care for? Is it gross to wash them? Isn't just much more trouble then it is worth? I had many of the same questions and I didn't take the leap until my fourth, and now I am completely converted, so much so that I have switched my 2 year old over to cloth as well. So let me try to demystify cloth diapers.

With any large decision as a parent one has to weigh the costs and benefits, and cost is not just monetary but also how much bother something is. I have to say that the benefits of cloth diapers way outweighs any bother. In fact the care for them is very easy. I am getting ahead of myself though let me first stipulate that the only kind I can truly speak to are bum Genius because that is the only brand I use, although I have also heard excellent things about bummis, econobum, and thirsties.

The first and most obvious benefit to cloth diapering is the environment. The Real Diaper Association reports:

• Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product in landfills today.
• A disposable diaper may take up to 500 years to decompose.
• One baby in disposable diapers will contribute at least 1 ton of waste to your local landfill.

I have to admit though that the deciding factor for me was the economics. According to a recent report about Disposable Diapers from Consumer Reports, "You can expect to spend $1,500 to $2,000 or more on disposables by the time your baby is out of them." The cost for a cloth diapering system is all across the board. I spent about $14 dollars per diaper on mine. Estimate that you need about 20 diapers to start out with so the original investment is about $280, but then that's it. The bum Genius diapers are one size. They have snaps so they are adjustable from 8lbs to 35lbs. That is from about newborn to the time they are potty trained. So they are all the diapers you will ever need to buy. When you compare the investment of $280 to the $2000 spent on disposables the value is clear. Also I have known many people who have reused their diapers for subsequent children, they are that durable and well made.

The next most common objections I hear are "aren't they hard to care for", "isn't washing dirty diapers icky", "doesn't mean you have tons more laundry". To answer all three questions in one word, no.

The washing schedule works like this. Every other evening I wash my diapers. If there is any solid matter I dispose of it in the toilet immediately after I change the diaper (a nifty gadget called a diaper sprayer is handy for this) then I just stick the dirty diaper in the diaper pail like normal. On diaper washing night I collect the dirty diapers from both of my kids and take them to the laundry room where I take the inserts out of the liners and throw them in the wash (you hardly have to handle them to do this). Then the diapers are washed once on cold then again on hot with an extra rinse. Perfume and dye free detergent is recommended and you will need to use half of the recommended amount. Then your throw the inserts in the dryer and hang the liners up the dry. They are dry the next morning and I stuff them and put them away. Total active time investment is about 30 min, not bad at all.

So now that I have sold you on switching to cloth diapers you may be wondering, "Well where can I find this magnificent product?" The website is www.cottonbabies.com Also Vancouver residents are in luck because there are only three Cotton Babies stores in the whole nation and one of them is right here in town at 104 Grand Blvd. It is off of Hwy 14 near the new Freddies. So go in and check them out. If you have any more questions that I didn't cover please ask me and I will do my best to answer them.