How much could I save by using cloth?

Won’t I be doing laundry for the rest of my life?

What about day care and babysitters?

Aren’t cloth diapers really messy?

Having a baby itself is really messy! Whether you use cloth diapers or disposables, you’re going to have to deal with your fair share of messes. However, cloth diapering doesn’t have to be any messier than any other option. When your baby is exclusively breast-fed, his/her feces are water soluble and will wash out in the laundry without any help. Once they’ve started solids, the feces can either be shaken out in the toilet or be sprayed out with a diaper sprayer (you do NOT have to dunk anything in the toilet like the olden days!). One mother I’ve spoken to likes to keep an old spatula to scrape out any particularly mushy messes into the toilet before she washes her diapers. Using one of our diaper totes, soiled diapers can be placed directly in the tote and the tote can be washed right along with the soiled diapers, so you rarely have to touch anything at all!

And many parents find that cloth diapers do a much better job at containing leaks than disposables, so you’ll likely be washing baby’s clothes less frequently due to blowouts.

How much could I save by using cloth?

It varies, but many parents save anywhere between $1500 and $2000 over disposables. I’ll give you my own experience: I initially spent about $380 on my baby’s diapers. When she was born, she went through an average of 12 changes per day for the first few months. A case of 204 name-brand disposable diapers at the time cost $45.99 at a major discount retailer (which is relatively cheap, considering you could be paying $17 for the 48-count package at a grocery store). By the time she was 21 weeks old, we would have gone through 9 cases of diapers at $413.91. So at about 5 months old her diapers had paid for themselves… and we’d only spent about $100 on additional supplies since then!

Let’s just estimate that your baby will have about 8,000 diaper changes until he or she is potty-trained. If you bought diapers by the case at the discount price mentioned above – 207 for $45.99 – you would be spending $1839.60 for 40 cases of diapers. However, you could buy a stash of all the diapers your baby would need for anywhere between $200 and $500! And those diapers could be used for future children if taken care of properly, which would save you an additional $1800. In this economy, it’s a no-brainer!

Won’t I be doing laundry for the rest of my life?

Being a parent means doing laundry. We haven’t figured out a way around that one yet. But washing your baby’s diapers is not nearly as cumbersome as it may seem. We recommend that you wash every 2 to 3 days to prevent odors, but you can wash less frequently depending on the size of your stash. I find it helpful to develop a routine. Throw the diapers in the wash before you leave for work and they’re ready for the dryer when you get home. Set aside Monday and Thursday as “diaper days.” I have to admit, I’m notoriously bad about doing laundry, but when it comes to my baby’s diapers they always manage to stay washed and folded. Early on we set our routine and it has worked beautifully for us. It’s second nature now, right along with feeding and bathing her!

If you live in a home without a washer and dryer it may take some more preparation on your part, but you can successfully develop a laundering routine for your baby’s diapers. We recommend taking advantage of the wonderful diaper totes we offer to make the process that much easier. And despite having to pay for the machine, you’re still saving considerably over the use of disposables.

What about day care and babysitters?

We recommend purchasing pocket diapers or all-in-ones for use with babysitters, as they are the most user-friendly options.

Concerning day care facilities, regulations vary depending on your local government. We suggest you familiarize yourself with those regulations and act accordingly (fellow Maryland residents can refer to the Maryland State Department of Education Diapering Procedure and its guidelines for changing disposable AND reusable diapers). If it is permissible by law and you are adamant about your child wearing cloth diapers in day care but your day care provider refuses to use them, try explaining the system you use to the provider. Unless they are already familiar with modern cloth diapers, many care providers get apprehensive about cloth diapers because they assume that you use pins or want them to wash out poopy diapers. I find that a little education goes a long way. Familiarize them with what system you use and assure them that they will not have to stick themselves or be asked to wash anything. This has worked for us with two different day care providers.