Why use Cloth Diapers?

I would like my first post to be on cloth diapers as I often get questions about it and also diapering is one of the most essential and one of the first things one needs to know about parenting. Using cloth diapers or disposables is person to person specific. I support and recommend cloth diapering, read on to know why.

How did I come to know about cloth diapers?

When I was pregnant and we were calculating our expenses after having a baby, diapers were on the top of the list which was taking most of our budget. I did not know about cloth diapers until my second month postpartum. During my postpartum days, I used to browse a lot and during that time I came across some reusable diapers on amazon. I wanted to know what they were and how do they really work. That led me into the world of Cloth diapering.

Why do I cloth diaper?

• Economical: As mentioned above, I found it to be economical. Until baby completes 3 months, we are not allowed to go out of the house too much so we really don’t need any diapers. At home, normal cotton saree pieces or cloth nappies can be used which needs to be changed with each pee. So much of laundry can be managed with help around. Once we are alone with the baby, we will not be left with any energy to clean the baby after every pee and do the large pile of laundry, so we are forced to use diapers. It is recommended to change any kind of diapers, be it cloth diapers or disposable, every 3 to 4 hours. So in a day a minimum of 5 to 6 diapers would be needed, in a month a lot of 180 diapers. People using disposables, do the math. When it comes to cloth diapers, even if I use 6 diapers for the day, I can still keep reusing it. So the money spent once on cloth diapers will anyways be more economical than disposables in the long run. Plus after the baby is potty trained, we can resell the well maintained preloved cloth diapers. So a part of the money spent on cloth diapers is got back. One cloth diaper will cost you anywhere starting from Rs.200 to Rs.3000 depending on the brand. Average amount I spent on my cloth diapers is Rs.800 each which will last for me until Raisha will be potty trained. So I do not have to spend any money for diapers for a year now. Also with disposables, if it is not soiled you will still have to throw it after 4 hours, with cloth diapers I just have to put it to wash. I am saved there also 🙂
• Environment Friendly: The disposables as the name suggests, will have to be disposed. It is non-biodegradable and increasing the landfill and ruining the environment. With cloth diapers, they are just cloth and reusable. So a person, who would otherwise use 180 disposable diapers in a month and send it to landfill, will avoid it by using a max of 10 cloth diapers. Doing my little part here in saving the environment.
• Safe for the baby: Disposables have chemicals in them to keep the layer dry and keep the smell away, this causes rashes on babies. Cloth diapers on the other hand are just cloth and some also have natural fibers like cotton and bamboo which are baby friendly. These when taken proper care of, cause no rashes on the baby. Will discuss on this cloth diaper wash routine and care in another post.
• They look so pretty!!! : Last but not the least is, just see how pretty cloth diapers are. This point was the most that got me to try cloth diapers; I just hated those plain disposables on babies. I had gone crazy with the lovely prints in the market and every week I used to order couple of new prints. I had become a cloth diaper addict. This point can be con for some…getting addicted to something and splurging is not considered good .. Anyways 😛 that is just me. Hopefully with 30 diapers in my stash, I have attained nirvana: P and hope to not buy anymore. Until another pretty print pops up …uff 😛 Earlier I used to buy Cloth diapers only looking at the prints but now I know what can work for us and buy accordingly.

Why cloth diapers are still not used that much?

Top most reason would be that it is not marketed or publicized as much as disposables here in India. Many have not even heard of cloth diapers, forget considering it as an option. Some who are aware of cloth diapers do not give it a try as they find washing pee and poop out of them to be gross and time consuming. You wash cloth diapers just like any other dirty laundry, I machine wash them after removing poop and rinsing off pee. Trust me it is not that much of work.

So with around 10 to 15 cloth diapers in your stash you can sail through those 2 years of ‘baby in diaper’ time economically, saving the environment and also with the baby looking adorable 🙂

We need to take care of the cloth diapers with proper care and wash routine to make them last longer. I will cover everything about this in my subsequent posts.

Thanks for reading and hope my post could convince you to consider cloth as an option.

Next Post: Different types of cloth diapers and how  to choose depending on your need.