Many new parents are encouraged by advertisers to buy disposable diapers for their baby. Advertisers say that disposable diapers are the most comfortable for babies and convenient for parents, but on closer inspection this isn't true at all.

While disposable diapers seem this way, the truth is that they can pose risks to your child, the environment, and end up being extremely expensive. Many parents have heard about how cost effective cloth diapering can be, but are unsure if it is really the best choice for their child. In addition, due to how widespread the use of disposable diapers is these days, many new mothers feel confused about where to start and what they will need.

Despite what the commercials tell you, many people are beginning to see that the advantages of cloth diapering stretch far beyond saving money, and the choice and variety of cloth diapers is becoming better every year.

Better for baby

If you had a choice, would you choose to wear plastic and paper underwear or would you choose soft cotton? Your baby can't tell you what he wants, so you've got to make the best choice for him.

Although disposable diapers are designed to feel dry, in reality the urine is still trapped inside and the bacteria touches the child's skin until the diaper is changed. Disposable diapers are usually changed far less often than cloth diapers because their “dryness” design means parents don't realize the diaper is dirty and the child doesn't notice they are wet.

Infrequent diaper changing leads to diaper rash and irritation to your child's skin, meaning an unhappy child and more money spent on diaper rash creams. As well as being uncomfortable, the plastic that disposable diapers are made from trap the ammonia found in urine and doesn't let the skin breathe properly. Cloth diapers allow for proper air circulation and feel comfortable and soft against your child's delicate skin.

With a cotton cloth diaper you know that there are no chemicals that pose risks to your child's health. Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a substance that absorbs up to 100 times its weight. While sodium polyacrylate means a super absorbent diaper, it also means that your child will be in constant contact with a substance that was removed from tampons in the 1980's because of it's correlation to Toxic Shock Syndrome, a rare but often fatal disease.

In addition, disposable diapers can have traces of dioxin, a by-product of diaper manufacturing that has been shown to cause various conditions including cancer and skin diseases.

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Better for the environment

The environmental damage begins with the manufacturers, who currently use over 82,000 tons of plastic and 1.3 million tons of wood to manufacture the disposable diapers used in the United States alone.

Disposable diapers make up the third largest source of solid waste in landfills, with 18 billion thrown in landfills each year, some of which will take 500 years to decompose. With a continuously booming population, imagine what the landfills would look like for your great-grandchildren if everyone used disposable diapers.

Not only do diapers look ugly and take hundreds of years to degrade, but they pose a serious health risk to residents living nearby the landfills. Viruses in dirty diapers can live for long periods of time and pose a risk of contaminating water if they leak out of the landfill.

With the billions of diapers piling up in landfills each year, it may not be long before everyone is forced to live near a landfill and possibly suffer the consequences of disposable diaper use.

A few years ago Procter and Gamble claimed disposable diapers were no worse for the environment than cloth diapers, and advertised that their disposable diapers were biodegradable and would compost within 90 days. In reality there were no facilities for composting disposable diapers, and the study that said their diapers were as environmentally friendly as cloth diapers was sponsored by Proctor and Gamble themselves. After the lawsuits against Procter & Gamble concluded, further investigations proved that cloth diapers were far better for the environment than disposables.

Some advertisers argue that cloth diapering also hurts the environment because the frequent washing wastes water and energy. While frequent washes are necessary with cloth diapering, with an appropriate number of diapers the loads can be limited to once every two or three days, using about 50 to 70 gallons of water, which is the equivalent of flushing the toilet five to six times a day. So you can see that once your child is potty trained he or she will be using the toilet and flushing at least that much, so it seems like a wash to us.

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Better for you

Cloth diapering may be the best choice for your baby and the earth, but what about you? Many parents have the misconception that cloth diapering is inconvenient or difficult, when actually the opposite is true. In fact, many “cloth converts” love cloth diapering and find it quite fun!

The main reason many parents are drawn to using cloth diapers is because of their cost efficiency. Instead of paying exorbitant prices every week at the grocery store for something that will just end up in the trash, cloth diapering allows parents to invest in diapers and diaper covers that will last until the child is potty trained and can be reused for future children.

The money that you could spend every month on disposable diapers could be saved and used to start the baby's college fund or put towards building a tree house in the backyard.

The convenience of having all the supplies you need at home means you'll never be stuck driving to the store in the middle of the night because you're out of diapers. Any busy parent has enough to try and do in one day, and keeping track of your diaper supply should not have to be an additional concern.

With cloth diapers, you can even put an “emergency” diaper in a separate closet in case you're behind with the laundry. Once they have learned and practiced a couple of times, most parents find folding to be very easy, so if time is an issue you can prepare by folding all the diapers while you watch TV at night, ensuring that the diapers will be ready to go as soon as you need them.

Cloth diapering also often leads to earlier toilet training because the child is aware of needing a diaper change and becomes familiar of the sensations that precede the diaper change. Potty training builds a child's self esteem and gives a family greater freedom when planning day trips or visiting family and friends.

There are so many great reasons to choose cloth diapers over disposables that it's surprising it isn't the most popular choice among all smart, modern parents. Compared with disposables, cloth diapers are better for you, your child, and the environment.

Cloth diapers have come a long way since their beginnings, and are now available in many different designs, fabrics, and colors, so cloth diapering can fit into any modern lifestyle.

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