I have never used a cloth diaper. But if I had to start from square one with child #1, I probably would.
Last week on Simple Mom, they did a big review of cloth diapers and the pros and cons. They gave a ton of info about everything that had to do with cloth diapers.
The biggest thing that stuck out to me was this:
investment in the cloth diapers (the most expensive and most user-friendly/convenient kind)=about $400. You can reuse these for all of your kiddos.
investment in disposable diapers for 3 kids=about $4,500. (And we'll surely try to make it to #4 at some point.)
Yikes. My children just pooped all over $4,000 that they wouldn't have had to. Oh, that kind of makes me ill.
Supposedly, a lot of people use a combo of cloth and disposable because (let's face it) disposables are simple to use. My friend, Erin, is the only person that I know that uses cloth.
Any thoughts moms? Erin...if you read this, feel free to share or post about your experiences on your blog...I'll link you!
Josh says "definitely not" to the cloth, but I think if this was baby #1 and I showed him the numbers, he'd think about it a bit more seriously. If any of you have thought about it at all, you should at least read up on it over at Simple Mom. I learned a lot just reading through the 5 articles on it!
4 comments:
I just don't think I could. ;) The money saved is great, but ewww :)
i researched this to death when we were pregnant the first time. it was so overwhelming all the info out there, but i couldn't believe how much you saved. i was still considering up until a couple months ago. i couldn't convince james it was a good idea, and i figured we'll have so much else going on that we are trying to figure out that i just want to enjoy those first few months. we might pick it up later after we are out of the newborn stage. bum genius look the best as they grow with the kid all throughout. plus i hear they potty train easier if they're in cloth diapers!
We used cloth for our first three and then disposable for the younger three. I don't think I could go back to cloth!
There are some advantages to cloth, of course, but I think the cost savings are actually pretty minimal when you consider the fact that you don't have to buy name brand diapers at full price. Then factor in the cost of energy to run the washer and dryer, detergent, and water. Add in the cost of any disposables you'll buy anyway (are you seriously going to ask teen babysitters and the nursery workers at church to change a cloth diaper?) Add to that Dad's decreased willingness to change cloth diaper and the fact that the baby's skin is almost always wet unless you change her every twenty minutes.
I'm not opposed to cloth, but you certainly don't need to kick yourself for going the disposable route!
Cari
Wow Cari...thanks for the info! I didn't know you used cloth for the first 3 girls. My respect for you grows daily!!!
Again, thanks for sharing!
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