The Great Diaper Debate

Last week, as I was changing an extremely messy diaper, I had a thought: "I am so thankful that the parents that I work for decided to use disposable diapers." Not that I have anything against cloth diapers. I know that they are much better for the environment, but I didn't know anything else about them. I reached out to some moms to get their opinions.

Elizabeth, mom of 2 boys:

Cloth Diaper Pros

-Cloth is certainly the more eco-friendly option- no disposables cluttering up landfills and certainly I think this is the biggest reason people go cloth. Ryan pooped A LOT as an infant and the sight of all the diapers in my trash is what inspired me to make the change when he was a couple of months old.

-Better for sensitive skinned children- Ryan often got diaper rashes from disposables

-Economical. While some cloth diapers can be pretty pricey, old fashioned prefold diapers are low maintenance and a high quality one can run you as little as $2-$3 per diaper. Plus they can be used for future children.

-Did I mention cute?

-Popular brands such as BumGenius are not your grandmother's cloth diapers. These have the all-in-one ease of a disposable.

-Much better at containing those messy breastfed newborn poops!

Cons

-Certainly not the more convenient option

-Not all daycares are down with it yet, but I think more and more are coming around to it.

-Bulkier

-Require cloth diaper friendly detergent which isn't always readily available at mainstream markets.

-Have to be washed and often can be finicky resulting in stink issues

-Sometimes can get dicey when you are dealing with a very messy poop because you do have to get most of the poop off in the toilet before it can be put in the washer. HOWEVER, for the those newborns- exclusively breastfed poop is completely water soluble and doesn't need to rinsed prior to washing- SUPER EASY!

-Can be a higher start up cost if you want to go with more modern diapers such as "All In Ones" and "Pockets", however, you'll make your money back, no doubt.

-Have to pack more accessories when you are out and about (such as a bag to store the dirty ones in)

Elizabeth's youngest son wearing a cloth diaper

From Amanda, mom of 1:

Cons to cloth

Rinsing them out, getting more poop on your hands, risk of wiping poop on your face, getting hepatitis from all the poop all over the place, knowing there is poop residue in your washing machine and therefore on the rest of your clothes. Not as absorbent which means more urine in contact with babies skin (More irritation??)

Also, you probably have to bleach them to get them clean so there is the chlorine issue.

What kind of diapers do/did you use?