Introduction
Cloth diapering is back with the introduction of modern cloth baby diapers in recent years. These cloth diapers are as easy to use as disposables, machine-washable and attractively-designed. It is now possible to conveniently diaper babies and toddlers in cloth full-time – that includes night-time, when shopping and even travelling abroad. Since a child will be in diapers for a few years, using cloth diapers can bring about significant cost savings and is also environmentally-friendly.
Benefits
Save Money
Building a stash of modern cloth diapers is an investment that will save you money in the many months of diapering ahead. Here is an example:
Modern Cloth Diapers: 15 one-size diapers to rotate x S$30 each = S$450 (total)
Disposables: 6 per day x S$0.30 per diaper x 365 days = S$657 (per year!)
If your child is toilet-trained at 3 years old, that means S$1,971 in total or S$1,521 down the rubbish bin, which could have been contributed to his/her education fund instead.
Cloth Baby diapers are gentle on babies’ sensitive skin, which means no more rashes and expensive diaper cream. Good quality cloth diapers can also be handed down to the next one to two children, further lowering the costs. Many mothers also use cloth wipes which complement cloth diapers perfectly for even more savings.
Save Mother Earth
Having a child on disposables for three years means adding about 6,570 (3 years x 365 days x 6 diapers per day) diapers to the landfill! Compare that with about 15 one-size diapers and the difference is obvious.
For an especially green diapering method, modern cloth diapers can be washed together with the family’s clothes in a full load every one to two days in an energy-efficient washing machine and line-dried. There are also cloth diapers made from natural fibres such as wool, bamboo, unbleached hemp and organic unbleached cotton.
When your children are potty-trained, well-maintained cloth diapers can be sold in the second-hand market (for instance, Diaperswap Forum), given away to relatives and friends or donated to charity.
How to Start
I started with cloth diapering after learning from other mothers who generously shared their experiences in cloth diaper review websites and blogs. You may also seek out relatives or friends who are using modern cloth diapers on their children. It is amazing how enjoyable and addictive modern cloth diapering can be.
Win a Cloth Diaper!
If you wish to consider cloth diapering or add to your cloth diaper stash, participate in Mummy’s Reviews’ Giveaway before 31 December 2009 to stand a chance to win a cloth diaper worth S$29 in your favourite colour!
About the Writer
Mummy to Baby V is a first-time mother who relocated from Singapore to Malaysia. She has been cloth-diapering and breastfeeding her 9-month old son since he was born. Her blog, Mummy’s Reviews, provides reviews on products and services that her family has tried and aims to help parents make smart purchases.
Website: mummysreviews.com
Contact: mummy-to-baby-v@mummysreviews.com
Any thoughts to share with us on eco-friendly cloth baby diapers? Do feel free to write in to us!
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[...] has been published in the December issue and it is also available at the Resources section here. I feel honoured to share the joy of cloth diapering with other parents, helping them (or you) save [...]
Before my son was born, my husband and I have considered using cloth diapers. We researched and discussed the pros and cons before deciding against using it.
We are not convinced the cloth diapering is eco-friendly at all. It is a good marketing strategy working on emotions about eco-friendly. The fact is it neglects :
1. Water
To use those cloth nappies, we have to take into account the units of water to wash.
2. Electricity
What are the units of electricity do we need to take into account washing those cloth nappies?
3. The soap/detergent
The possibility of using detergent which again would generate carbon footprints - in turn is not eco-friendly.
Unless we are able to calculate the actual cost of washing a load of diapers, no one is sure we are actually being eco-friendly by using cloth diapers.
Thank you for an enjoyable read. I was searching for stuff for my baby on Yahoo and your website came up on search results. I’ve bookmarked your site so that I can come back and read more when I have time. Thanks very much.
Great Info Here. I am going to go digg this post now. Merry Christmas!
If there is anybody who is able to come up with the actual cost comparison between cloth and disposable diapers, that would be really helpful!
My son is using cloth diapers. When I see my wife wash those diapers everyday, my feeling cum estimation is that it’s definitely going to be more Eco-friendly to use cloth diapers. It’s just so easy to spray those poo poo away. After that, it’s normal laundry using the washing machine. There is really no need to put much more detergent for that few diapers.
Well, for me, the main reason for supporting my wife to go cloth diapering is because it’s natural. I wouldn’t like to wear “plastic underwear” for even a minute. Moreover, cloth diapers now are so modern and smartly designed. If there are other benefits that come along with it, those are all “bonus” to me.
To me
How about every one wear disposable clothes from top to toe, use disposable cutlery for every meal, use disposable towels/napkins/wipes for every wiping purpose and use plastic bags for every single purchase? This way, we don’t need to use water, electricity or detergent to wash anything.
Mother Earth will soon run out of landfill space…
It is possible to handwash modern cloth diapers with minimal amount of water, very little biodegradable detergent and line-drying under the sun.
For those who use washing machines, the cloth diapers are commonly washed with the family clothes. Adding 5-6 diapers to the family clothes load rides almost freely on the amount of water, electricity and detergent that would be used anyway.
To ensure that the diapers last long, cloth diapers users are always reminded to use very gentle and little detergent.
Certain conclusions can be made by deduction, without the need for actual calculations.
Brilliant. I wish more bloggers would take the time to come up with quality posts like this one.
In fact, we need not go to the extreme of just using disposables or cloth diapering. We can use have a combination of both?
A combination of disposable and cloth diapers is certainly practical, according to every household’s lifestyle needs. In the event when washing diapers is not convenient, e.g. when travelling overseas, disposable diapers would come in useful.
[...] has been published in the December issue and it is also available at the Resources section here. I feel honoured to share the joy of cloth diapering with other parents, helping them (or you) save [...]
It truly is positive to take a look at bloggers going over child care and newborn topics more often as of late. Thanks for the posting, I found it on yahoo.
Excellent. Thanks so much for the post. -Kate
I find myself coming to your blog more and more often to the point where my visits are almost daily now!
Great post, will be back soon.