Why Cloth?

I chose to use cloth diapers when I was pregnant with my first child, Sophia. Why? To prove to my husband that I could. One day, as we were browsing a Baby Store, he jokingly pointed at a pack of Gerber pre-folds and rubber pants and said, “Since you’ll be a SAHM, you should use those to save us money.” He thought he was being funny, but a little light bulb started flickering in my head.

I came home and started researching cloth… and my life changed. Literally, it did. I found a whole new community, circle of friends, and philosophy on living a greener life, even if it was just a few steps at a time.

Since choosing to cloth diaper, I started this blog and have now become a Cloth Diapering Advocate and Consultant. Do I look down on those who use disposables? Of course not! I simply want to show them that they do have other options that are all of the following:

Better for the Environment.

Based on our calculations (listed below under “Cost: National Costs”), we estimate that 27.4 billion disposable diapers are consumed every year in the U.S.
Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.
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. Source

Better for their Baby.

Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process. It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals. It is banned in most countries, but not the U.S. Source

Better for their Wallet. – The average cost savings of using Cloth vs. Disposables is an alarming statistic on it’s own.

“Over a 3 1/2 year time period, you will have used over 8,700 disposable diapers on one child, totaling $2358 for discounted name brands and $1862 for generic/store brands.” – Source {great breakdown of diaper price}