Handmade-Homemade-Heartmade: Why Choose Cloth?

The reason I chose to use cloth diapers for Gabe (and any other children that come are way) is 3 pronged. And, yes of course, I will explain them all in a very detailed and exhaustive fashion.

1.     Cloth diapers are much more environmentally friendly. Disposable diapers create 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper that are added to landfills annually.At least 80,000 pounds of plastic and 200,000 trees are needed to make disposables for American children alone. And, while some brands of disposables flaunt the fact that they are biodegradable, in order for something to biodegrade it needs oxygen and sun. So unless you're going to create your own mini-landfill in your backyard and properly irrigate it, it's highly unlikely for a disposable to decompose.
       Now, pro disposable people question the amount of water used to wash cloth diapers, siting its wastefulness. However, the manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2 1/3 times more water wasted than washing cloth diapers for their lifetime.
       Another pro-environmental aspect of cloth diapers that I never had given much thought to was where the waste went. When you use disposables the waste goes into our landfills and the runoff goes into our water supply. When you use cloth diapers you flush the solid waste down the toilet and wash in your washer; where both water sources go to a water treatment facility. Let's keep our streams, rivers and water tables clean!
      The lifetime of cloth diapers is amazing as well. Generally, you can use your cloth diapers on at least 2 of your children. And for us, Gabe grew so fast that his first stash of diapers were only worn for about 4 months (less than half of the amount of time they 'should' have been used).
2.     Cloth diapers are a lot safer/healthier choice for babies. I choose to feed Gabe mostly organic food and use only all natural products on his skin, so why, if I didn't have to, put a chemically laden diaper on him. Did you know that disposables contain trace amounts of Dioxin, Tributyl-tin and sodium polyacrylate? You didn't? Me neither, until I decided to become informed.
        Dioxin is an extremely toxic byproduct of the bleaching process. It's a carcinogenic chemical and is listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all chemicals linked to cancer. Dioxin is actually banned in most countries. Tributyl-tin is a pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. And if that's not reason enough, the sodium polyacrylate is a type of super absorbent polymer. The same type of poylmer that was linked to toxic shock syndrome in teh 1980's and is a catalyst for growing bacteria that produces toxins.
       With all of the chemicals in disposable diapers, it's no wonder diaper rashes occur. Speaking of diaper rashes, did you know at almost 1 year of age Gabe has never had a real diaper rash and has only had a little pink in his diaper area a handful of times. These times usually occurred when he'd bm in the car en route somewhere.
        Diaper rash generally occurs because of excessive moisture and cloth diapers are made of materials that expertly wick away the moisture. "Wick away the moisture, " what does that mean? It means that the material used in cloth diapers pulls the moisture away from babies skin and towards the outside of the diaper. Even when Gabe's diapers are soaked, his skin still feels dry! And this dryness leads to very little diaper rash occurrences.

3.     Choosing cloth diapers actually saves money! And this was the reason that made my husband jump on the cloth diaper train! Say your child is in diapers for only 2 years (and we all know that it's usually longer than that) you will spend $1,600 - $2,000. I have spent about $470 on cloth diapers and I have all that Gabe will need until he's potty trained. Yes, only $470 dollars! I 'need' 2 more wet bags (one for travel and one for home) so I'll probably spend a little over $500 dollars. You can spend less than $200 if you choose prefolds and covers. I chose the middle of the road route with contour/fitted diapers and covers. I do have some all-in-ones and while they're great, they are not worth the price. So, I'll spend about $500 for all of Gabe's diapering needs...and I can use them again on more babies! It's estimated that cloth diapers will last for at least 200 washes, so we have a long way to go with our stash!

There are so many decisions to make when you become parents, and no matter what you choose people will judge you. So many people are incredulous that we use cloth diapers but the more I learn the more I can't believe that people would choose anything else.

But you need to choose what's best for you and your family, and for us, it's cloth diapers!

If the reasons above weren't enough, these pictures will change your mind. Babies in cloth diapers looks so darn cute!