Cloth Diaper Myths

Cloth diapers

Cloth diapers. The very words send fear through many a parents' heart - but a lot of what you have been told about cloth diapers is simply not true. Leaky rubber pants, fiddling with diaper pins and origami folds in rectangles of cloth are usually what people have in mind when they think about cloth diapers. Oh, how the world of diapering has changed!

Of course, many of these myths cultivated about cloth are perpetuated by the disposable diaper industry - after all, protecting their percentage of this $7 billion dollar (yeah, that is billion!) market is important to them. According to the Real Diaper Association, 18 billion disposable diapers are tossed out in the US annually. At an average cost of 25 cents each, that is a lot of money and a lot of landfill space. Just one baby will use an average of 6,000-7,000 diapers before they are old enough to potty learn.

Here are some well-known myths about using "real diapers:"

* They leak! Any diaper that is not changed frequently enough will leak. However, advanced diaper covers and pocket diapers (a diaper that holds an absorbent insert in a special pocket opening) make leaks a rare happening. In fact, most moms tell me that after switching to cloth they see far fewer leaks and "blowouts" than with disposables. Elastic is a great invention!

* They are difficult to clean! Well, I spend about 30 seconds cleaning a dirty diaper since I use either a flushable diaper liner or a cloth diaper sprayer attached to the toilet to rinse off any mess. My hands don't get dirty and wet diapers go straight in the diaper pail until wash day. Modern fabrics are much easier to clean than the rubber diaper covers of old!

* They are disgusting to wash! It takes me about 6 minutes, three times a week, to dump a load of diapers into the wash and run a cold rinse. I then run a hot wash and a cold rinse again. Ta da! Clean diapers. I don't have to touch them between the diaper pail and time to put them in the dryer. Thanks to the cool, new-fangled innovation of the washing machine, washing reusable diapers is a snap!

* All that water, electricity and detergent will cost as much as throwaway diapers! Seriously, this argument is flimsy at best. I use a special biodegradable, additive free detergent and it STILL only costs me 10 cents per load. Running three wash and dry cycles a week just does not make a noticable dent in our utility bills. If you are really worried about it, try using a high efficiency machine and line drying your diapers.

* You can't use cloth diapers away from home. I use a uncomplicated zippered wet bag to keep used cloth diapers in our diaper bag until we get home. It's like camping, you simply pack out what you pack in. Now that my baby is on solids most of the time, I use a flushable liner when we go out. With a biodegradable diaper liner, I can dump any mess in the toilet and I only have to deal with wet dipes later.

See? cloth diapers are so much easier than you have probably heard! You can get started with cloth for a small investment to see if you like them and start saving your family money with every diaper change. I'll warn you though, a lot of parents are soon addicted to finding the cutest diapers for their babies!

by: Julie Holland

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