Cloth or Disposable Diapers – Pros and Cons

With all the decisions new parents have to make you wouldn?t think diapers would be such a tough decision, yet it is one parents routinely struggle with: cloth or disposable diapers? This article lays out the pros and cons of both to help you make the right decision for you and your family.
?
Disposable Diaper Pros

* Disposable diapers are extremely convenient, no doubt about it. It makes changing your infant a quick and easy process. When you?re shopping and you have to change a messy cloth diaper, you don?t get to just drop it in the garbage, you have to haul it around with you. Ick!

* Disposable diapers seem to fit better. The adjustable adhesive fasteners make it easy to fit any size or shape baby. This is not always so with a cloth diaper which always seems to stretch out once you have it on your child and certainly more so once it?s been soiled.

Disposable Diaper Cons

* Disposable diapers are petroleum-based products, which means they?re just downright awful for the environment. Carbon emissions are created in the manufacturing of disposable diapers, fuel is used in the transportation from manufacturer to store and diapers don?t biodegrade but sit in landfills for decades.

* Disposable diapers also contain a number of chemicals, which may harm an infant?s sensitive skin.

* Disposable diapers are more expensive than cloth diapers even if you have a diaper service.

Cloth Diaper Pros

* Cloth diapers can be environmentally sound, particularly if you purchase organic cotton diapers. And while cloth diapers have to be laundered, which does contaminate the water supply and use water, they can be washed with biodegradable detergent. This makes them more environmentally friendly than disposable. However, if you have a diaper service then you?ll also have to weigh in the fact that delivery is contributing to greenhouse gases.

* Cloth diapers, if they?re organic cloth diapers, don?t have harmful chemicals which means they?re not going to be as likely to irritate your baby?s skin.

* Cloth diapers don?t fill landfills. They?re reusable.

* Cloth diapers are generally less expensive than disposable.

Cloth Diaper Cons

* They?re inconvenient, particularly for moms on the go.

* They don?t necessarily fit as well, though some cloth diapers being manufactured today do have a better fit and fastening system than the old rectangle and diaper pin method.

* If cloth diapers are not organic, then the cotton used to make them is grown and harvested with pesticides, chemical fertilizers and other environmentally harmful chemicals.

Wrapping it all up

Disposable diapers are more convenient, though more expensive and they are generally an environmentally unfriendly practice. There are some more natural disposable diapers but for many they leave little to be desired. Cloth diapers, if they?re organic, are the most environmentally sound practice. The downside is they?re inconvenient. Ultimately, the decision to buy disposable or cloth must meet your personal beliefs as well as your lifestyle.

---

If you liked this post, submit your email address below to get new posts by email:

Disclaimer: This website is not a substitute for consultation with your health care giver. You should not use any of the exercises or treatments mentioned in this website, without clearance from your physician or health care provider.

Disclosure: When I mention products, you must assume I will receive compensation for doing so. However, I only recommend products and services I myself use or believe in and would recommend to my own sisters and mother. Nevertheless, you should perform your own due diligence before purchasing a product or service mentioned in this website.