cloth diapering bandwagon

We have decided to jump on the cloth diaper band wagon. After tons of research it seems to be the smartest decision for us. I visited a local baby shop that had a bunch of different brands to look at. I touched them and opened/closed them. I fell in love with the soft material that my unborn child would have close to them for the next two years. Seemed a lot better then crunchy, scented, chemical laden materials. CD's have come a LONG Way baby!! I am sure you think I am nuts. When I told my mom we would be going the CD  route she looked at me like I was mental. To show you all I have not lost my last brain cell here are the reason we chose cloth diapering:

Monetary savings:

 We've decided to start cloth diapering as a new born. Price wise it will be very close to disposable, but when we can reuse these diapers for future babies it seems like a no brainer.

So, for the first eight weeks, it will ruffly cost $336.84 to disposable diaper your baby. This includes wipes and changing 14x a day. We have decided to go with the bumgenius all in ones (AIO). This will cost us $310.80 for newborn diapers not including wipes. I think we will do cloth wipes since we will be washing diapers anyway. 

Here is where the savings get huge!!!! Once the baby is around 8-10 lbs and up to 35lbs we will use the Bumgenius Freetime AIO (more on this brand in a bit). The baby will go through about 6 -12 diapers a day ~ or about 9000 diaper changes by the time he/she is potty trained.  At $0.24 a diaper, that adds up to about $2,160!   Disposable wipes will cost another $400-500.  In contrast, purchasing our own cloth diapers and cloth wipes to wash them at home will cost somewhere between $400 and $600.  Considering our laundering costs (about $.50 a load or $120 over the course of 30 months) you will still save about $2,000 - $3,000 over an average 2.5 year period!  And if we reuse our diapers over multiple babies, you can multiply this savings! These are all estimates, so in the long run we could end up saving even more. 

Little to no Diaper rash:

If I can save my baby from experiencing discomfort from rashes why wouldn't I. Our skin is like a sponge.   Consider what you will be putting against your baby's vulnerable skin for the next 2 - 3 years, 24 hours a day. With the exception of the pricy natural disposables with extremely limited availability. With the toxic chemical exposure of disposable diapers, it is no shock that a study by a major disposable diaper manufacturer shows that the incidence of diaper rash rose from 7.1% to 61% between 1970 & 1995, coinciding with the increase in disposable diaper use.

The solution saturating most disposable wipes can be very harsh and contain questionable chemicals that we don't often recognize.  In contrast, reusable cloth wipes can be used and laundered alongside cloth diapers and are a great alternative to disposable wipes.  Cloth wipes allow the flexibility for you to use plain water to cleanse your baby’s bum or for you to mix up your own chemical-free brew or use a premade solution whose ingredients you trust.

The Environment:

I am in no way a tree hugger, but if I can make the earth a better place for my babies future I am going to do it. No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.*6*

Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste.  In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.*6*

Disposable diapers generate sixty times more solid waste and use twenty times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp.***

The manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth.***

Other reasons:

CD's are pretty freakin cute. Not to mention rumor has it that many cloth diapered babies potty train earlier. (The supposed reason? You change cloth diapers more often. Baby pees, feels wet, you change the diaper. They are regularly exposed to, and possibly learn, cause and effect early in life.)

I hope this helps explain our reasoning for using cloth diapers and why so many others have decided to do the same. There are literally tons and tons of cloth diapers to choose from, as well as different types. After some research we decided to go with the Bumgenius Freetime AIO. All in one diapers go on and off like a disposable with no extra pieces to figure out. These diapers have multiple layers of absorbent fabric on the inside and waterproof material on the outside. These seem way more time friendly to me since you don't have to worry about stuffing in liners after washing. You just take the whole diaper and pop it in the washing machine. Pretty easy! 

These are soooo not your old school cloth diapers with the pins. Cute right?! I will not go into the whole wash routine, but it seem really simple. Especially since your doing laundry all the time anyway. I am pretty excited about going this route. I would love to here if you know of anyone that has used them or if you yourself has. I would love as many pointers as I could get.

Sources:

*6* Link, Ann.  Disposable nappies: a case study in waste prevention.  April 2003.  Women's Environmental Network.

***C-J Partsch, M Aukamp, W G Sippell Scrotal temperature is increased in disposable plastic lined nappies. Division of Paediatric Endocrinology, Department of Paediatrics, Christian-Albrechts- University of Kiel, Schwanenweg 20, D-24105 Kiel, Germany. Arch Dis Child 2000;83:364-368.
Click here or go to http://adc.bmjjournals.com and search by the title of the study.

***Allsopp, Michelle.  Achieving Zero Dioxin: An emergency strategy for dioxin elimination.  September 1994.  Greenpeace.  http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/reports/azd/azd.html

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