Cloth Diapering: The Prologue

Yes we are in fact using cloth diapers. I know, I know, poop is gross why do we want to handle it? Well the obvious answer is we don't, but no matter what diapers we use we have to deal with poop. I think what scares most people from cloth diapering is that they are thinking of old cloth diapers and don't know much or anything at all about modern cloth diapers.

This might be the image that comes to mind when someone says cloth diapers. A rectangular piece of cloth folded up and pined with safety pins. Well if that was what cloth diapering was now I wouldn't be using them either. Luckily cloth diapering has come a long way! Modern cloth diapers are much easier to use and look much more cute (This is obviously a big factor right? I mean just wait until you see them!) Even before getting pregnant I knew I wanted to use cloth diapers. My friend Jessica told me about her interest in cloth diapering and got me hooked on a blog where the writer started using them and loved them. Reading her blog convinced me even more of my choice. Sean was on board right away when I told him about the savings. My family on the other hand was much more work to convince. Actually to be honest most of them are still in the process of being convinced of the greatness of cloth. They see the pro's but mostly they focus on the con's. Meaning they don't like that it is more work. The most important thing is that we have my mom on board as well. This was most important person besides Sean and I because she is going to be watching Noah whilst Sean is at school and I am at work during the day. We realize that cloth diapers will be more work than disposables but the pro's out weight that one con. I'll keep you all updated on our adventure in cloth diapering.

There are many reasons to use cloth diapers. Don't believe me? Well here is the complied list.
Reasons to Cloth Diaper:

1. Save money rather than use disposables. Depending on which cloth diapering system you decide to use, you can save approximately $1,500 per child
2. Cloth diapers are better for the environment
3. Modern cloth diapers actually leak less than disposables. They are fitted better to the baby. 
4. Babies potty train earlier. Because of the cloth babies are more aware of their wet diapers
5. Less diaper rash. The rate of diaper rash has increased from 7% to over 78% since 1955 (when cloth diapers were used)
6. Cloth diapers are just so darn cute!

Want proof that using cloth diapers really does save you money? Here is a chart comparing cost of disposables to cost of cloth.This is based off the diapers we bought. The savings vary depending on which diapers you chose to get and which accessories you buy as well. The accessories we bought were: diaper sprayer, two wet bags.

Cost of Cloth Diapers	$246
Cost of Accessories	$99.95
Cost of Washing	$423
Total Cloth Diapering	$768.95
Cost of Disposables	$2,839
SAVINGS	$2070.05

Details:

Cost of washing and drying 1 load (water & electric cost) is estimated to be $0.50 Plus detergent (Tide bought in bulk) costs $0.08/load.  Total cost of laundry is based on washing one load every 1.5 days for 3 years.

Disposable Diaper Details: Number of diapers needed based off of 12 diapers per day for the first 3 months, then 8 diapers per day until 3 years old.  This gives 9,000 total disposable diapers for one baby.  Average cost of a disposable according to Consumer Reports is 26.5 cents, giving $2,385. Diaper genie inserts cost 3 cents/diaper, adding $226.80.  1 disposable wipe/diaper at 3 cents/wipe adds another $226.80.  Total cost, excluding gas, extra diaper rash cream, washing baby's clothes more often due to poop leaking, extra trash collection fees, etc.: $2,838.60  

There are so many choices of which cloth diapers to use. Some families use exclusively one type while others use many types. Sean and I have decided that we would like to stick with just one type to begin with and then when we get used to the one we might branch out to one other type that we liked as well.  There are many brands of cloth diapers, just google it and you will come up with a plethora of results. All have their pro's and con's just like disposables. The brand we are using is Sprout Change.

See how cute! They are reversible so it's like two in one. The other thing I love about these diapers is they are one size fits all. They can be used from newborn all the way up to potty training. How in the world does one diaper do that? I'll tell you! It has elastic on the sides and the top so you can adjust them to fit perfectly to the baby. The elastic has small button holes so you can adjust them accordingly.

This is another image of the diaper opened.