Change is good...bumpy, a little smelly, but good

While visiting my brother, sister in law and my new nephew in Colorado Springs I found out that my sister in law is using cloth diapers, I knew my cousin was doing cloth as well but Stephs were really cute and seemed…EASY. I had seen some of the new styles on-line but hadn’t really given it much thought. After all my daughter was out of diapers and my son was already a year. Was there any point really in going cloth? At first I didn’t think so. Until I started calculating in my head how much we spend on diapers alone in this house. My son goes through diapers twice as fast as our daughter ever did and the diaper fund was getting astronomical. So I started looking into cloth and crunching the numbers.

Now, my son is 18 months old. Our daughter was not fully potty trained until she was a little over 3. So if we calculate another 18 months at the least, and Sam goes through approximately 6 diapers a day…the average cost per disposable diaper is $ .25, the estimated cost to diaper Sam for another year and a half is, $821. Not to mention the 500 years it takes a disposable diaper to decompose. AND cloth diapers can be resold. Try doing that with a used Pamper. Ewe. So if you figure you spend about $200 all told to purchase enough covers and inserts, your savings is $620. If you are curious, you can calculate the cost for yourself: http://www.diaperpin.com/calculator/calculator.asp

Other benefits: no chemicals on your babys bum! You can wash most of the new cloth diapers with your regular laundry so you aren’t using any additional resources. I found anther blog post, written by a Dad that was interesting: http://cashmoneylife.com/2010/01/04/cloth-diapers-vs-disposable-diapers/

The sad fact is, I wish I had done my research before I had my daughter. I wish that I had looked into how modern and convenient cloth diapers really could be. It’s not as horrific as you think it’s going to be and while yes the initial investment might be more, if you have family and friends buying you baby shower gifts, the cost could be easily managed. Not to mention if you plan on having more than one, you’ve just doubled your return on investment.

So yesterday was the first day we used the cloth diapers. We had one incident, first thing and that was because I simply wasn’t paying attention. The cloth does not carry as much as the disposable, but that’s probably a good thing. The idea that my son was walking around with that much pee against his bum along with all the accompanying chemicals, frankly makes me feel bad.
So today I go boldly and a little more confidently into day 2. I feel better about what I’m putting on my baby and the cost and environmental savings for me is just a bonus.