In part, I understand some of the disbelief. When most people hear "cloth diapers" this is what they think:
Big flat pieces of cotton, sharp diaper pins, lots of leaks, gross laundry and a stinky nursery. Thankfully, our cloth diapering experience hasn't included any of those!
Let me introduce you to BumGenius:
They look kind of like disposables, right? No big sheets of cloth. No pins. Open diaper, insert baby, close up with velcro (or snaps if you prefer). Done. These are so far removed from stacks of thin cotton and pins that I almost don't like calling them "cloth" diapers and would rather call them "reusable" diapers or "washable" diapers. They are super daddy and babysitter friendly and really only have one extra step beyond disposables, which is inserting the stuffing.
So what I'm sure you're wondering next is WHY? Why reuse diapers when it's so convenient to throw them away?
My initial motivation behind exploring the world of cloth diapers was environmental. Even if you have super baby who is able to be potty trained by their second birthday, you're conservatively looking at using approximately 3,000 diapers the first year and 2,200 diapers the second year they are alive. That's more than 5,000 diapers in just the first 2 years! Estimates I found online, though, say that most babies actually use between 6,000 - 10,000 diapers by the time they are completely toilet trained. Think about that in terms of space. As far as raw materials go, disposable diapers add up to approximately 2 tons of waste per baby over the course of their diapering season. And that's just waste space. In order to even create the diapers, “Diapers: Environmental Impacts and Lifecycle Analysis" estimates that more than 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of patroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used per baby per year for their disposable diapers.
Even for not-a-hippie me (and my even less of a hippie husband), this just seems to add up to a whole lot of waste. And as someone who takes the humanitarian responsibility of Earth stewardship really seriously, I just couldn't do it.
What really convinced my husband, though, was the cost savings. Even if you use off-brand diapers, you are looking at a cost of about $0.15 - $0.24 per diaper depending on diaper size. Name brand diapers like Pampers and Huggies cost anywhere from $0.20 - $0.47 per diaper. Based on really conservative estimates, then, American parents are facing a price tag of about $1,300 for off brand diapers or $2,500 for name brand diapers in the first two years alone. If potty training takes longer (as it often does in disposables), the price goes up even more. This doesn't include the price of disposable wipes, a diaper genie and diaper genie refills. Plus the potential rise in cost of your garbage bill if the area you live in bases the cost of your garbage bill on the volume of garbage your family produces. Compare that to our arsenal of brand name reusable diapers, which I purchased for just under $400. And because the diapers we chose are an adjustable size, we can use the same diapers from birth through potty training and never have to buy more. If we use the diapers again for a second child, the savings is even greater.
Taking both of these key factors into consideration, it seemed like a no brainer to us! Some of the other benefits of cloth diapers that I totally dig:
On a final note, please ask questions! We were able to make an informed decision about using cloth diapers because I had friends I could ask about it. If you're curious or have any questions on the specifics of life with cloth diapers, please ask me personally or in the comments below. I love helping people in get started with and be successful with cloth diapers!
So what I'm sure you're wondering next is WHY? Why reuse diapers when it's so convenient to throw them away?
My initial motivation behind exploring the world of cloth diapers was environmental. Even if you have super baby who is able to be potty trained by their second birthday, you're conservatively looking at using approximately 3,000 diapers the first year and 2,200 diapers the second year they are alive. That's more than 5,000 diapers in just the first 2 years! Estimates I found online, though, say that most babies actually use between 6,000 - 10,000 diapers by the time they are completely toilet trained. Think about that in terms of space. As far as raw materials go, disposable diapers add up to approximately 2 tons of waste per baby over the course of their diapering season. And that's just waste space. In order to even create the diapers, “Diapers: Environmental Impacts and Lifecycle Analysis" estimates that more than 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of patroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used per baby per year for their disposable diapers.
Even for not-a-hippie me (and my even less of a hippie husband), this just seems to add up to a whole lot of waste. And as someone who takes the humanitarian responsibility of Earth stewardship really seriously, I just couldn't do it.
What really convinced my husband, though, was the cost savings. Even if you use off-brand diapers, you are looking at a cost of about $0.15 - $0.24 per diaper depending on diaper size. Name brand diapers like Pampers and Huggies cost anywhere from $0.20 - $0.47 per diaper. Based on really conservative estimates, then, American parents are facing a price tag of about $1,300 for off brand diapers or $2,500 for name brand diapers in the first two years alone. If potty training takes longer (as it often does in disposables), the price goes up even more. This doesn't include the price of disposable wipes, a diaper genie and diaper genie refills. Plus the potential rise in cost of your garbage bill if the area you live in bases the cost of your garbage bill on the volume of garbage your family produces. Compare that to our arsenal of brand name reusable diapers, which I purchased for just under $400. And because the diapers we chose are an adjustable size, we can use the same diapers from birth through potty training and never have to buy more. If we use the diapers again for a second child, the savings is even greater.
Taking both of these key factors into consideration, it seemed like a no brainer to us! Some of the other benefits of cloth diapers that I totally dig:
- Decreased occurrence and severity of diaper rash
- Way less poop blow outs (our son has never had a poop blow out in a cloth diaper...and he has had some SERIOUS poops)
- Cloth diapered kids have a tendency to potty train quicker
- They just seem more comfortable than disposables
On a final note, please ask questions! We were able to make an informed decision about using cloth diapers because I had friends I could ask about it. If you're curious or have any questions on the specifics of life with cloth diapers, please ask me personally or in the comments below. I love helping people in get started with and be successful with cloth diapers!
Does Bum genius have a filler you toss or wash? Do you guys use disposables like if you are out and about all day (we're gone for like 12-14 hours sometimes)....We've been using disposables and pay about $40 a month for Huggies at Costco just because they seem easiest. But as I enter the world more and more of non-hippy hippyism I'm thinking about stuff more. I mean, can I do a home water birth and still use disposables? lol
ReplyDeleteGood questions!
ReplyDeleteThe bum genius diapers have inserts that you put in the wash with the shells. Once they are all clean, the inserts go in the dryer and the outsides go on a drying rack.
We found 3 different kinds of occasions to use disposables:
1) right after he was born to get through the meconium and vaseline for his circumcision phase
2) when going on an extended trip where we would either not have a washing machine available to us or the owners of the washing machine didn't want us washing diapers in it.
3) If he bum does get a bit irritated, we will put diaper rash cream on him and use a disposable overnight. This let's him get some good healing cream on his booty without us needing to worry about ruining his diapers or needing to buy or use special liners to prevent diaper rash cream build up on the diapers.
For out-and-about or overnight trips, though, we still use cloth. We have some waterproof, zippered wet bags we put the used ones in and then just put them in our diaper pail when we come home. This works fine now b/c the breastfed baby poop doesn't stink so it doesn't smell like we are carrying around poopy diapers. When he starts on solids, though, we'll use diaper liners that will catch the poop that can be flushed away, so all we'll have left is a wet diaper to put in the bag.
Of course you can do a home birth and use disposables. I do think you'd really like cloth diapers, though, if you tried them. Plus the cost savings is pretty awesome.