Cloth Diapers versus Disposables – Which to use?

Cloth Diapers versus Disposables

Cost

For mothers, like me, on a tight budget, cloth diapers are the perfect way to cut costs. Despite having an initial expense, you don’t have to buy them every week like disposables. Cloth Diapers cost over £700 ($1500) less than disposables over the diapering life of one child. On top of this you can reuse them for a second child, saving you even more money in the long term.

Health

Whereas disposable nappies are made of super-absorbent chemicals, plastics and adhesives, cloth or ‘real’ diapers are mostly made of natural fabrics (to be extra safe you can also purchase organic cotton/hemp diapers which are even better in terms of protecting your child from chemicals and also they have environmental benefits too). This has a negative affect on a child’s health, not only because you are putting chemicals directly against a baby’s sensitive skin with disposables, but also in determining whether your child is getting enough milk and in terms of early detection of whether your baby is ill.

When a new mother starts breastfeeding, one sign that she has produced enough milk for her baby and that it is ok is her baby’s wet diapers. Many women have a difficult start to breastfeeding and worry about their child getting enough milk (even supplementing with formula (which also can be flagged for having a negative affect on a child’s health). If you use cloth diapers, the wetness in the diaper will reassure you that your baby is getting enough or the dryness will alert you to something being wrong. With disposables you cannot get this reassurance (and for a first time mother this can be very worrying), as the chemicals within them turn any liquid into a gel-like form, in order to keep baby ‘dry’.

A reduction in wee can also be an early sign of illness (sometimes even before other symptoms) and if you can’t monitor this or aren’t aware of this through changing diapers, it could be quite major.

Disposables also leave you blind to any changes in consistency or colour of poop, which can be a good indication of the state of a child’s stomach. They leave you blind to this, because people claim one of the advantages of using them is the ability to wrap up the poop and dispose of it quickly, without even looking/pretending it isn’t there. This is exactly what people do. With reusable diapers you will notice the consistency and colour of poo, because you actively flush the contents down a toilet. After a while, like anything, you do get used to dealing with excrement and thus cloth diapers are also helping make you less squeamish to everyday messes.

Although it has been suggested that babies who use disposables are less likely to get diaper rash, this is totally unfounded. A lot of mothers have found cloth diapers to be the answer to diaper rash. Cloth diapers allow air to circulate to baby’s skin and put less friction on their skin, thus reducing the chances of diaper rash. A wet disposable diaper feels deceptively dry to the touch, and the plastic casing prevents “breathing,” trapping water and ammonia in the diaper, right next to baby’s skin. Some babies have such sensitive skin that they can also be allergic to the chemicals in disposable. This issue is evident also in the fact that some companies have even produced a ‘sensitive’ product range of diapers to try and combat this problem. However, if this does occur there are gel-free/eco-alternatives for disposables (but like other disposables, the other disadvantages are still present!).

Comfort.

The health disadvantages of disposables can also be seen if we look at comfort issues and how they compare against cloth diapers.

The majority of mothers, who use disposable diapers, tend to use a lot of different lotions and potions with each diaper change. Using cream on their child’s bottom each time, with yet more chemicals to protect them from diaper rash and to sooth sore skin, indicates a problem. If creams are needed every time a diaper is changed, this is an ongoing problem that really needs to be sorted out, instead of just splurging on creams every time.

A disposable diaper would seem much more uncomfortable to wear. I don’t like wearing menstrual pads, when I have a period and I have also found that they can make me itchy and irritated (although I did try eco-friendly alternatives with no chemicals which stopped the irritation but I still found them uncomfortable). I converted to using a mooncup and cloth pads (which are so unbelievably more comfortable!). I can imagine this being ten times worse for a baby because the diaper covers a lot more skin and also people tend to leave disposables on for longer because of the chemical properties that leave baby ‘dry’. I found the scratchy material and chemicals to be quite irritating to my skin, so I can only imagine what a diaper must feel like to a baby! Thus, deciding to put my baby in cloth, when he arrived, was an easy decision to make.

In terms of home comforts, with cloth diapers you flush the contents straight down the toilet, whereas with disposables you place everything into a bin. I would think a bin full of disposables would be far less desirable, than a cloth diaper placed in a bin, without mess.

Convenience

Disposables have always been seen as more convenient and less hassle than cloth diapers, but this isn’t necessarily true and even if it is, why should convenience and hassle be prioritised over a child’s health and well being? Yes, with disposables you can use anywhere, anytime and not have to worry about laundering, but their contribution to diaper rash, and hindrance of observing the onset of illness as well as their financial costs are all inconvenient as well. However, not all is lost, as there are gel-free/eco-friendly alternatives that can be used.

Cloth diapers aren’t as inconvenient to the extent that is commonly believed. Cloth diapers come in a range of different types, including all-in-ones that are just like disposables in ease of use. Washing machines are also much more advanced these days and therefore diapers can be easily and quickly washed and dried.

Many see laundering as a major inconvenience and feel cloth diapers would make even more washing than they already have to deal to. However, a lot of women find the extra washing they are currently doing is a result of the disposables they are currently using and lots of people find that by converting to cloth, they actually reduce their washing load.

Reliability

the right cloth diaper, your child’s poop is contained where it should be – in the nappy. Nothing beats a cloth diaper for containment because they are a much snugger fit than disposables. They are even more secure and better fitting when one uses pre-folds, as opposed to all-in-ones, thus reducing the amount of ‘accidents’ either completely, or substantial in comparison to disposables. So you no longer will have to deal with that ‘explosive’ poop that makes a mess everywhere, right up the back of your baby too! I know that I would rather do a dedicated wash of things that I know have poop in (i.e. the cloth diaper) than wash a bunch of clothing that might be left with poop stains – it would make me so mad!

Potty Training

Many experts believe that toddlers need to be able to feel wetness so they can make the connection between feeling and going to the potty. Cloth diapers, therefore give a great start to potty training, because the child can feel wetness, whereas the chemical in disposables absorbs wetness, keeping everything dry so the child cannot feel it.

As a result, children using cloth diapers have been found to potty train much earlier and a lot quicker, than those that wear disposables.

UPDATE JUNE 2010: In my experience with my son’s potty training, I would say cloth didn’t make a difference with training him earlier. I tried to encourage him fairly early but he showed no interest, then one day when he was 2 he just decided to start using the potty and toilet. So I do not believe that cloth diapers/nappies contribute to a child training early. I think this is an individual thing.

Waste and Environmental Concerns

Billions of disposables are thrown away annually and end up in our already overburdened landfills. These disposables are not readily biodegradable, because the paper in them needs to be exposed to sunlight and air in order to rot (and under tonnes of other rubbish it isn’t likely to happen). Also it is not known how long it takes for plastics to decompose, but could take hundreds of years.

Disposable diapers also generate four times as much solid waste as cloth diapers and use both renewable and non-renewable resources in their production.

Using disposables ties in with our cultures attitude to material items. Instead of reusing items when they break by fixing them, or by giving them another use, we just tend to throw it out and replace it. Buy using washable nappies you set a much better example for your child/ren by not being wasteful.