Cloth or Disposable
There are three primary considerations when deciding
whether to use cloth or disposables: (1) cost, (2)
health and comfort, (3) convenience, and (4)
environment.
(1) DiaperingDecisions.com compares the cost of single
use and cloth diapers for children from birth through
three years and shows a savings of $2,500 - $5,000
when using cloth diapers. Their calculations show
that "Cloth diapers pay for themselves within a
six-month period. After six months, you’ll be
diapering for almost free."http://snipurl.com/1gk72 .
If cost is a primary factor in your decision making,
it’s a no brainer -- go for the cloth.
(2) Health and Comfort -- Disposables with plastic can
cause diaper rash. Sure it’s curable, but it sure is
painful once it gets started. If you’re using
disposables and diaper rash is a problem, you might
want to switch until everything is back to normal, and
then watch for first signs of rash to treat it. Corn
starch and powders can help cure and prevent the rash
in both kinds of diapers. Creams that include zinc
oxide can also rapidly cure that red rash. Basically,
prolonged wetness or dampness contributes to the rash,
so the best practice is to be sure to keep baby
bottoms dry and that wet diapers come off as soon as
practical.
(3) Convenience -- If you have time to soak, wash, and
dry cloth diapers, the convenience of disposables
might be limited to travel or various outings during
the day. A lot of moms report cloth being the better
choice for night time diapers -- unless you like
getting up to put on a new disposable. Some people
use cloth as their primary diapers and resort to
disposables when handling the dirty diapers is the
major consideration. However, you can’t beat
well-fitted disposables for long-distance travel. In
this case, the disposables are worth the cost and
prevents a lot of stress.
(4) Environment -- Take into consideration whether
your disposables are bio-degradable. Some say it
takes 200 years for the usual disposables to
biodegrade in the land fill. Disposables like Eco
Baby are reportedly made of recycled materials and
will decay rapidly. There is the argument that water
and detergents are as much a hazard to the environment
as are the disposable diapers, but today’s sewage
treatment plants can eliminate much of this hazard,
and the amount of water used is negligible compared
with other water consumption. You’ll have to decide
whether you want to conserve water or avoid items that
fill the dump forever.
You can make a simple decision about which you prefer
-- cloth or disposables -- but there are times when
you might want to switch from one to the other.
Regardless of which is your primary diaper, be sure to
stock some of the other for those special needs.
Potty Training Research Team (PTRT) -- More about baby
topics and potty training at http://www.PottyTrainingArticles.net .
Permission is given to publish this article on line or in print if
the PTRT web site is included in the byline.
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