by Kris Mery

Created on: July 16, 2008

There are so many advantages to cloth diapers that I don't even know where to begin. There's the cost, the environment, health reasons. And I have to say the cute factor is a big plus too.

Cost. When you have a baby cost is a big factor in any decision. Yes cloth diapers cost more in the beginning. It's an investment. Yes it does take water and electricity to wash them. However, that does not equal out to what you will pay for disposables. Depending on which kind you buy, you can have an investment price of anywhere between $50 (being very frugal) and $700 and above (yes, at some point it can cancel out this advantage if you go crazy with it). Costs are also cut down if you have more than one child because they can be reused for more than one child. Cost for disposables over the years they are needed can be up to $3000 per child. Please don't take my word for this. There are price converters available online where you can enter in how much you pay a month in disposables, price for the cloth diapers you are considering, cost of doing laundry and how many times you choose to wash per week. It will tell you how much you would save or spend by switching. Most likely, unless you choose the most expensive diapers and wash daily, it will show that you'll save.

Environment. I've seen the argument that because of water and power that cloth and disposable even out. This really makes no sense to me when you consider the life of a diaper. Disposables start out in factories being made of plastic and paper. We all know the environmental issues around this process. Add in the chemicals that are used to make them absorbent. Then we add in more plastic for the packaging. This is all before they make it to your home. They go from being used straight into the trash, either very wet or full of poo. Packaging says that soiled diapers should be cleaned out into the toilet for health reasons, but honestly how many people do this? They go from our trash to the landfill where they pile up. Now cloth diapers. Yes some are made in factories too. Some are made by WAHM's instead saving power and energy. Some are even made by the parents themselves. The diaper is not thrown away to sit in a landfill but reused countless times. Yes power and water is used to wash them, but not more than doing any other laundry. We are using that anyway whether we cloth diaper or not.

Health reasons. Most disposable diapers have chemicals in them to make them absorb liquid. Cloth diapers do not. Some babies are allergic to those chemicals. However there are studies that show that these chemicals are not good for people whether they are allergic or not. They can cause cancer among other things. With cloth diapers you do not have to worry about this.

And yes they are cute! If you use prefolds you can get covers with cute patterns or lace. Pockets and AIO's also come in these cute patterns, with lace, or colors. You can match diapers to outfits or use them on their own. They are adorable.

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