This post is part of the Real Diaper Facts carnival hosted by Real Diaper Events, the official blog of the Real Diaper Association. Participants were asked to write about diaper lies and real diaper facts. See the list at the bottom of this post to read the rest of the carnival entries.
In case you haven’t heard Pampers has a bit of a PR problem lately because many parents are claiming that their new disposable diapers are causing horrible, bleeding diaper rashes. While the case is being investigated, Pampers has posted info on their website regarding “Myths and Facts about Sustainable Diapers.” While I recognize that they are simply trying to sell a product, their comparison of cloth v disposable diapers is at best slanted and at worst complete lies. You can see Pampers full comparison here and you can see the Real Diaper Association comparison here. Since I personally, don’t believe that there is one correct way to diaper a baby that fits every family, I’m not going to dispute Pampers claims, I’ll just give you my scoop on cloth versus disposable diapers…
Do Cloth Diapers Really Save Money?
The short answer yes. We own about 20 one-size diapers ranging in price from $18-24 each. They are all one size and we plan on using them for more than 1 child. But for a really conservative estimate, I assume that we’ll only use them for Capone. Our costs would look like this…
This chart assumes that all additional energy consumption since Capone was born has gone to cloth diapers and does not account for additional water for baths, dishes, food prep, and his regular laundry, so actual cost of energy usage would be much less if I had the information calculate it. It also figures cost of detergent based on the super concentrated cloth diaper friendly Planet detergent which I buy in bulk through Amazon’s Subscribe and Save Program because this is also our regular detergent.
If he were in disposable diapers, we would likely spend $.20-.25 per diaper. Capone has sensitive skin, so when we do use disposable diapers, we buy the chlorine free kind. Assuming he used on average 8 diapers a day for 2.5 years (7300 diapers) that would be about $1460-1825 dollars for each child.
The longer answer. We have recently started expanding our cloth diaper stash beyond the 20 one-size pockets, because I’m a sucker for cute prints and colors. We still do the same amount of laundry because there is a limit to how full you can let the cloth diaper pail get before you have to wash them to avoid smelling them. You can cloth diaper for cheaper using prefolds and covers and you can cloth diaper for more if you go with bamboo or organic fitteds. I could easily spend another $500 on cute cloth diapers, but I don’t need them in order to cloth diaper.
How Much More Laundry for Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables?
I wash diapers 2-3 times per week. We dump the entire pail in the washer when we put Capone in the tub (last daytime diaper). I wash on cold no detergent, then rewash on hot with 1.5 oz of detergent, then do an extra rinse on cold. I throw everything in the drier when it’s cold, rainy, or we’re really busy, but during nice days I hang the diapers outside to dry. Technically, this would mean that I do an extra 4-6 loads of laundry a week if you count the number of times I have to restart the washing machine.
But I don’t think that actually adds up to more laundry in our house. When Capone was in disposable diapers, we had a lot more leaks. Since he’s been in cloth diapers, I have had to change wet sheets exactly 3 times in the last year. He has had 1 leak at daycare and that was because our 1-size diaper had accidentally gotten put on the large setting. We’ve never had poop escape a cloth diaper, but have had escape several times in disposables. My experience has been that I plan to wash cloth diapers is worth skipping the hassle of the spontaneously leaking/exploding disposable diaper.
Can I use Cloth Diapers in Daycare?
Yes. We do and have since the very beginning. We send 4-5 diapers and a small zippered wetbag. When I first asked about cloth diapers at daycare, I got less than enthusiastic responses because everyone was envisioning prefolds, pins, and bleach water. When I showed them our pre-stuffed pockets, we got much warmer receptions.
Many people have claimed that daycares wouldn’t or couldn’t take cloth diapers and required disposables for health regulations. In Illinois, however, this is not true. When Capone first started daycare Sarah at Pinstripes and Polkadots pointed me to the section on diapering for Illinois daycares. The licensing requirements for daycares specifically provide instruction on how to care for cloth diapers (see Section 407.340 Diapering and Toileting Procedures). They cannot wipe out covers, so we send pockets, but there is nothing preventing cloth diapers in daycare. We also send flushable liners so that any poop gets dumped in the toilet and doesn’t wait until the end of the day or the next morning to get taken care of.
My biggest recommendation to anyone approaching a daycare with cloth diapers would be to take the diapers and the daycare requirements for your state with you when you have the conversation. Offer to provide the wetbag or the separate pail or whatever they need to make the system work easily for them. The term cloth diapers conjures up images of extra work but if you can present them as just as easy as disposable (which in my opinion they are), you will have a lot more success.
What about the poop?
This is the number 1 question I get asked about our cloth diapers. Poop in cloth diapers is really no different than poop in disposable diapers. In fact if you read the package of the disposable diapers carefully, the instructions say to flush the poop before throwing away the diaper. Fecal matter in landfills should be a major concern for everyone regardless of which diapers they choose to use.
We never dealt with merconium in the cloth diapers because we didn’t switch until Capone was about 10 days old. My mom was still staying with us and so we had help, but if you are planning on cloth diapering from the beginning, I would highly suggest allowing yourself to ease into the transition when you are ready to tackle something new. Starting at 10 days-2 weeks meant that cloth diapering became as much a part of our daily routine as changing the sheets, putting the baby clothes away, breastfeeding, and all the other new parenting tasks we were integrating.
Newborn poop of exclusively breastfed babies is water solubile. You throw the entire diaper, poop and all, into the washing machine. It took me a while to really believe this, but it’s true. Everything comes out. What stains the washer doesn’t get out disappear after a few hours in the sun and washing is super easy.
Once solids or formula are introduced, poop gets slightly more interesting. It can no longer be dumped in the washing machine. Most pockets have a microfiber inner that the well formed poop can be gently shaken into the toliet. We, however, were blessed with one of those children who eats so much fiber that we rarely see shakable poop. We started buying flushable liners for daycare purposes, but then liked them so much we use them at home as well. I’ve tried a lot of different brands and we prefer Imse Vimse Flushable Liners because the non-poopy ones can be washed and reused about 2-3 times. There is no scraping or dunking or mess involved. Just peel, flush, and toss the diaper in the pail to be washed. The $30 or so dollars we spend on these a year is so worth escaping the poop question all together.
I could go on about other comparisons and will try to in future posts. If you have a question about something I talked about here or something you wish I had, please leave me a comment and I’ll try to help you find answers. Modern cloth diapers are not as complicated, messy, or time consuming as most people think. So even if you think cloth diapers may not be right for you all the time, try 1, do it part time, do it on weekends, whatever works for your family. Every disposable diaper we keep out of a landfill is better for the environment and your baby’s future planet.
*I refuse to use the word myth because it does not mean “false.” The term actually refers to a folk narrative that often contains supernatural events and relays the history of a people/culture and their worldviews.
For parents worried about using their cloth diapers at daycare, RDA and RDIA teamed up to produce this tip sheet: http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/daycare/Daycare-tip-sheet.pdf
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