To cloth or not to cloth…..pt. 1

That is the question.

When we were pregnant with Shyloh years ago we looked into using cloth diapers. Back then our reasons were totally financial. We wondered if that would be the more economical way to go. We didn’t have the internet at our finger tips so we did our research the old fashioned way….asking questions to those who had used cloth before and calling cloth diaper services.

In the end we decided that it just sounded like an awful lot of work, and the immediate expensive of purchasing all the cloth diapers, pins, and rubber pants was actually quite pricey. We also priced having a diaper service and if we did that then we might as well just buy disposable. We chose just going disposable.

Fast forward 20 years and this old dog is learning some new tricks…I think. Being pregnant at the same time as my young energetic daughter has allowed me to learn all sorts of new things. Shyloh is constantly researching and studying everything in preparation for her new baby. When she came to me a couple of months ago telling me she was considering cloth diapering I thought she was taking things to an extreme. I immediately thought back to my limited research on the subject and thought why would anyone want to do that?

As she slowly pulled me into her studies I started seriously considering cloth myself. Her are just a few of the things she has learned and passed my way…

First there is the financial aspect of diapering.

She found this helpful breakdown at Diapering Decisions. The costs calculated below for disposable, single use diapers are based on two of the most popular brands, using a store known for its value pricing.

~The newborn pkg. (up to 10 lb.) contains 48 diapers @ $16.23 = $0.34 each . The average number of changes for a newborn is 12-16 times per day for the first 2 weeks.14x7x2=196 diapers @ $0.34 =$66.64 The Infant # 1 pkg. contains 104 diapers up to 14 lb. @ 0.22 ea. An average baby requires 10-12 changes per day for the first 3 months 11x30x2.5 =825 diapers @ $.22 each = $181.50

~ The Infant # 2 pkg. 12-18 lb. contains 88 diapers @ $0.26 each. An average baby 3-6 months old requires 10-12 changes a day 11x30x3 =990 diapers @ $0.26= $257.40 Mega pack pricing was used for the balance of the packages as it is the least expensive. Each Mega Pack was $28.92+$2.02 GST For a total of $30.94 / pkg.

~The Infant #3 pkg. 16-18 lb. contains 96 diapers @ $0.32 ea. A 6-9 month old baby requires 8-10 changes per day 9x30x3= 810 diapers @ $0.32 ea. = $259.20

~The Infant # 4 pkg. 22-27 lb. contains 64 diapers @ $0.37 ea. A 9-12 month old child requires 8 changes per day 8x30x3 = 720 diapers @ $0.37 = $266.40

~The toddler pkg. # 5 over 27 lb. contains 58 diapers @ $0.41 each. An average 12-18 month old child requires 6-8 changes a day. 7x30x6=1260 diapers @ $0.41 ea. = $516.60

~The child #6 pkg. over 35 lb. contains 48 training diapers @ $23.00 =$0.45 each. An average 18-30 month old child requires 6-8 changes per day. 7x 364 = 2548 diapers @ $0.45= $1146.60

Total estimated average cost $2694.54 for 7,349 disposable, single use diapers. Keep in mind that these figures are a conservative estimate. It is not uncommon for a child of 3 years to require a diaper at night and children in single use diapers tend not to feel wetness requiring a longer duration of time for toilet training success. Your child's individual sleep pattern, body functions and their time frame for toilet training success will determine the number of actual diaper changes required.

Can we just say “WOW” over that one? I was surprised just by that. I still wasn’t convinced though as I usually buy my diapers with coupons on sale and don’t pay more than $4.oo or $5.00 per pack. She wasn’t done with me yet. Saving money isn't the only plus in cloth diapering.

Secondly there is the "saving the environment" aspect of diapering.

Did you know that each child goes through about 2 TONS of diapers in their diapering career?

And furthermore, did you know that it takes between 300 and 500 years for a disposable diapers to disintegrate in our landfills?

So with every baby born, about 2 tons of diapers sit in our landfill for 300-500 years waiting to decompose.

Yuck.

I must confess that we are not huge “Go Greeners” if you know what I mean. We try to do our part with recycling and over the last 2 years we have been very concerned with using cleaners that are safe, mostly for us to be around, but also because I don’t want all those chemicals going down my drain and getting into our soil and water systems….and yes, they do do that! Finding out that disposable diapers just sit in our landfills for all those years really grosses me out. I’m more shocked with how I’ve contributed to that than even the price I’ve spent on buying disposables.

Here’s another little tidbit that Shyloh and I are trying to find out if it’s fact or fiction. On many of the cloth diapering sites we’ve been reading, they claim that it is actually against the law to throw poopy diapers away because of the human feces that sit in the landfills and the germs they cause. Your supposed to dump the poop in the toilet first. We’ve read the packages of disposable diapers and can’t find any info on them and would love to know if this is true. It actually makes sense to me when I think about it. Anyone know the answer??

I’m breaking this into two posts because of how long I’ve rambled.