why cloth ?
Easy
Are you thinking using cloth diapers means pins and plastic pants…thinking it would be gross to clean cloth diapers?? Think again, it’s not like that anymore!! Velcro and snap closures, hi-tech waterproof fabrics, and adorable colors and prints have replaced the pins and plastic pants. Some diapering systems even include flushable liners to make clean up even easier. There are so many options for cloth diapering systems that you’ll definitely find one that fits you and your baby!
Economical
The average American spends $3000 on diapers for a child from birth until potty training. A great cloth diapering system for the same 2 ½ to 3 years of diapering can cost as little as $300!! Phenomenal savings -even when you factor in the extra 2 to 3 loads of laundry per week. And if you are able to use that same diapering system for 2 children- WOW, that’s even greater savings!!
Eco-Friendly
Did you know that a baby using disposable, single use diapers generates between one and two tons of garbage and that is all going to the landfills. Even in ideal conditions, which almost never exist in landfills, it could take 500 years for those diapers to biodegrade. According to the Sustainability Institute, eighty percent of the diapering done in the United States are done with disposables. That comes to 18 billion diapers per year, just in the United States alone!! The idea of a “disposable” diaper is a myth; the ramifications of which will stay with us for centuries to come.
Healthy
Parents and caregivers should be concerned about the toxic chemicals present in disposable diapers. Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrulate. If you’ve ever seen the gel-like, super absorbent crystal in a disposable diaper, then you’ve seen this first hand. Sodium polyacrylate is the same substance that was removed from tampons because of its link to toxic shock syndrome. Disposable diapers may also contain Tributyl-tin, a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals; and trace amount of dioxin, which in various forms has been linked to cancer, birth defects, liver damage, skin disease, and genetic damage. And with cloth diapers there tends to be more air circulation and less build up of temperature, therefore less irritation and diaper rash.
Quite simply, cloth diapers are easy, cost effective, better for the environment, convenient, and healthier for our children. We feel as though the real question parents and caregivers should be asking themselves is, why use disposables?