Cloth or disposable diapers: Results!

Thank you so much for all the great responses to the cloth vs. disposable diaper post. It was interesting to see the varied answers I got via this blog, email, and Facebook. Let me summarize:

Disposable Advantages:

-Easy

-Convenient

-Fast

-Cheap

Disposable disadvantages:

-Child's exposure to chemicals and toxins

-Bad on the environment

Cloth Advantage:

-Little to no toxic/chemical exposure for baby.

-Less expensive in the long run.

-Great for the environment

-With new options over the past few years, less rashes for babies

-Really cute! ;-D

Cloth Disadvantage:

-Learning curve

-Need to launder them with natural detergent (which may not actually be a bad switch!) This takes a little more time.

-Money investment at the beginning, though less and less as time goes on. (And even less than that with more babies)

Here are some comments I received. I will keep them all anonymous.

"disposable....they grow up WAY too fast to spend your short time they are in diapers cleaning them."

"In the long run, cloth are less expensive (I believe) and probably better for the environment -- disposable diapers never seem to decompose."

"Cloth is amazing :) No rashes, amazing for the environment, healthy for baby, not any messier than disposables (and a lot fewer diaper blowouts) and really really cute. :)"

"I looked into cloth and they were really interesting to me. But I never got the funds to buy them up front. If I could I would use cloth. Disposable is less work, but cloth seems worth the extra work..."

"both - cloth for home & disposable for travel (& during early weeks)."

And the following was one of the best explanations. She knows and believes in all the reasons for cloth :

"Cloth is better for the environment -- less trash, less crude oil used, which is needed in the making of a disposable. The average disposable contains dyes, fragrance, xylene, ethylbenzene, and sodium polyacrylate which can trigger allergic reactions. Some studies show these diapers release VOC's. When you feel you must use disposables try non chemical disposables carried online in bulk, at certain stores, and Target has a new brand of chemical free disposable. Cloth can be purchsed from Dy-Dee Diaper Service and you launder every 3 days. Dy-dee can wash them for you, you can purchase all-in-one diapers like Fuzzibunz and Bum Genius, Nickis Diapers (there are so many on the market).

We experienced far less diaper rash with cloth and cloth is more breathable. You can check out the gdiaper and even try a cloth diaper inside the gdiaper cover. Babies wear diapers for 2 years on average and don't need to sit in chemicals 24/7. Do a cost comparison sometime and compare the savings of re-using some sort of cloth diaper vs the cost of disposables. And if you are not sure what you want to do, try Dy-Dee Service for one month while you are in postpartum and then experiment to figure out which path is best for you. There are resources where bundles of diapers can be put together and there are websites such as --"
www.kellyscloset.com
www.nickisdiapers.com
www.gdiapers.com
www.dy-dee.com

All I've ever known is disposable, and that's all I've ever used - when baby-sitting, helping other moms, etc. So I know their convenience and ease. But, as I look more and more into the alternatives, and the reasons for the alternatives, I'm intrigued by what is out there. One note stated above is really sticking with me: "Babies wear diapers for 2 years on average and don't need to sit in chemicals 24/7..." That's something to think about.

So... have at it! Take a look at what there is, and decide from there. I've still got a few months, but it's better to find out now than later. The websites above seem to be really good. And check out this one, too, whenever you've got time.

PS: Here's an experienced Mom who gave me some real pointers. I really appreciated her time to share with me. Here's what she had to say:

"And you had asked about the ick factor. It's really not bad at all. Either way you'll have to deal with the poop :-).

Here's my routine and set-up. I have a cheap $5 garbage pail from walmart with a flip-top lid. I have 2 pail linershttp://www.facebook.com/l/;swaddlebees.com/products/Diaper-Accessories/bagprints) that I put in the pail and rotate during washes. I just throw the diapers in the pail (remove the solids if you need to, don't worry about it if you're breastfeeding). I do laundry every 2 days, but you can wait 3. Just throw all the diapers in the wash, the bag included. I do a cold rinse (to rinse out any extra poop), a hot wash, and a cold rinse (this extra rinse makes sure to get out all detergent since detergent can equal rashes and stink).

Line dry the diapers in the sun to get out any stains (the sun will stain out any organic stains on diapers or clothing! Add lemon juice for tougher stains. It's amazing!) Or just run them through the dryer! It's really simple once you get in the routine."

Thank you to all you Moms who shared your experiences with me! Please keep the wisdom coming!