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All About Cloth
Why Cloth?
• You are saving 300 lbs of wood if you use reusable diapers on your little one. That’s because it takes that many trees to produce enough diapers to throwaway-diaper one child.
• You’re helping to slow the growth of our landfills. In Canada we throw out 4 million diapers PER DAY.
• You’re helping to reduce the amount of waste that sits in a landfill. In ideal conditions it would take 250 - 500 years for a single throwaway diaper to decompose. The conditions in our landfills are unfortunately not ideal, so decomposition takes much longer than that, even. Your cloth diapers will last you through two to three babies, at which point they can be used as cleaning cloths. After that, cut them up in small pieces and throw them in your compost and they can be helping to fertilize your garden the next year!
• You are saving a TON of money:
From the moment she is born until 30 months of age, your baby will go through approximately 5400 throwaway diapers. This can cost you anywhere from $1500 - $2500. By choosing to cloth diaper your child, you can spend as little as $450 for the entire diapering experience (based on our least expensive package). AND...not only does this represent significant savings for one child, but the SAME cloth diapers could last through two and even three children! You will be saving a minimum of $2000!! Think of what you could do with the money... a family vacation comes to mind...
BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE WATER?
Concerned about the amount of water you are consuming by choosing to wash diapers instead of throwing them away? Even by washing every three days, you are still consuming considerably less water than it takes to produce the diapers you throwaway. Pulp and paper mills are built on rivers for a reason...
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Uncovering The Types of Cloth Diapers
All In One Diapers
(Imse Vimse AIO, MonkeyDoodlez AIO)
All in one diapers have an inner absorbent layer attached to an outer waterproof layer with adjustable closures (either Velcro® or snaps). All-in-one diapers are just like disposable diapers except you wash them! No stuffing, no folding and no covers make this choice the easiest and most convenient by far.
Pros
- Most convenient
- Easiest to use
- Most like disposables diapers (trimmest fit on baby's butt)
Cons
- One of the most expensive options
- Usually takes the longest to dry (drying time varies greatly between brands
Pocket Diapers
(AppleCheeks, Happy Heinys, MonkeyDoodlez Tuck and Go)
A pocket diaper is a cover that has an opening for a specially designed insert to be placed into the opening. This is a two part cloth diapering system.
Pros
- Fast drying
- Gives a very trim fit
- Most like an all-in-one diaper making it convenient
Cons
- Pocket diaper cover needs to be washed after every use
- Need to "stuff" each pocket diaper cover with specially designed insert
Prefold Cloth Diapers
(Bummis)
Rectangular shaped flat cloth diaper with an absorbent pad already sewn in. Come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. Need to be folded to fit in a waterproof diaper cover.
Pros
- Most inexpensive cloth diapering option
- Fastest drying
- No need for as many different sizes
- Versatile - can be used for other functions such as inserts/doublers, burp clothes, rags, etc.
Cons
- Requires a diaper wrap or cover
- Requires some folding(may require some practice)
One Size (ex. Happy Heiny's One Size)
One Size diapers are similar to pocket diapers but with added snaps to provide a flexible fit for babies and toddlers. The snaps are located just below the fasteners with tops and bottoms lined up vertically. This allows you to adjust the size of a diaper as the baby grows.
One Size diapers are an economical choice for your diaper stash. They are designed to fit most babies from birth to potty training which means they typically fit babies within the 8 - 35lbs range. Easy as 1-2-3!
How many Cloth diapers will I need?
This really depends on how often you want to do laundry. But as a general rule-
Newborns go through approximately 10-12 diapers a day.
Infants go through approximately 8-10 diapers a day.
Toddlers go through approximately 6-8 diapers a day.
Use these guidelines to determine how many diapers you would like to have on hand. Also, keep in mind that the larger your diaper stash, the longer they will last because they'll be in a larger rotation cycle.
No matter which cloth diapers you choose, you will know that you are protecting your baby, your wallet and the environment.
Now, that is a great reason to go cloth!
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