Cloth Diapers: Helping Your Baby and the Environment

Cloth diapers are not what our grandmothers once used- a cloth towel held together by pins. Gone are the days of hand-washing and line drying cloth diapers, too. (Unless of course, you choose to do so.)We are entering a more environmentally friendly generational wave right now, and one trend is coming back with a new style. Keeping disposable diapers out of landfills can help to lessen your carbon footprint, and it can have significant health benefits for your baby. Choosing cloth diapers over conventional diapers is an easy decision when you understand just what it can mean for your baby.

The Benefits of Cloth Diapering 

Baby’s Health:

Keeping the chemicals from disposable diapers off of your baby’s skin should be a priority. Sodium Polyacrylate, Tributyl Tin, Phthalates, and Dioxin are only a few of the most common chemicals found in disposable diapers. These are all linked to lifelong health risks such as endocrine disruption, obesity, and cancer.By choosing cloth diapers, you also lower the risk of diaper rashes and UTI’s because you will be changing your baby more frequently.

Environment:

9 in every 10 American babies use disposable diapers. This adds up to 27.4 billion diapers in landfills each year. 

• Just for the disposable diapers U.S. babies will wear, over 200,000 trees are cut down every year.
• In one year, 3.4 billion gallons of fuel oil will be used to manufacture disposable diapers.
• Disposables generate over 3.5 million tons of waste each year.
• Those diapers can take up to 500 years to decompose.

Earlier Potty Training: 

Because cloth diapered babies can feel when they are wet, they want to potty train earlier than those in disposable diapers. They tend to have less bed wetting issues as they potty train and grow, too. It is easier to notice your baby’s bathroom cues when wearing cloth diapers, making the transition to underwear smooth and easy.

Your Bank Account:

Purchasing disposable diapers will cost you over $800 a year per child, but (depending on how many cloth diapers you purchase) cloth diapers can be bought for $5-20 a piece. You can survive with about 25-30 diapers, easily. (It’s even cheaper if you use prefolds and a cover!) These diapers can be reused on siblings, too.

The Selection of Cloth Diapers

It is an overwhelming world to jump into these days! You can choose between:

• Prefolds
• Flats
• Fitteds
• Contours
• Hybrids
• Pockets
• Sleeved
• All-in-Ones
• All-in-Twos

But don’t shy away because of the choices, you’ll find your favorites as you start trying them out. The easiest will always be an all-in-one, hybrid, or pocket diaper. They require the least amount of work, but all cloth diapers are pretty easy! Perhaps the pattern options may sway your choice, too. Whales, monkeys, plaid, stripes, ice-cream cones, you name it and you can find it on a cloth diaper. Ruffles and bows? No problem. An attachable dragon tail? Yep. You may just find yourself starting a new obsessive collection!

How to Clean Cloth Diapers

If you are breastfeeding, there is literally nothing to do but toss your diapers directly into a diaper bag, and then wash the contents of the bag every other day (empty and toss the bag in, too). You’ll rinse the diapers on a cold cycle, wash them on a hot cycle with minimal soap, and then rinse them again on cold. You can hang them to dry or toss them in the dryer for convenience.If you are using formula, or after solid foods enter the picture, you can knock the poop into your toilet before throwing the diapers into the wash. 

Learn More About the Risks of Disposable Diapers:

Parents are also not aware of the adverse effects of disposable diapers being in contact with their baby's reproductive organs 24 hours a day for more than two years and the long-term effects it causes. Disposable diapers have been implicated by diapering proponents like leak proof polymers, super absorbent polymers, and some scented chemicals which are the key factors for everything from chronic diaper rash, respiratory problems like asthma, liver damage, skin diseases, infertility, and even to cancer. 

Continue the research:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27580878 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18648080 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27172304https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24749209 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2305737https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3045780https://momlovesbest.com/diapering/cloth-diapers/benefits-cloth-diapers