Why Cloth is better and Disposables aren't

First let me start off by saying that every thing you are about to read is my opinions on cloth vs. disposables and also facts taken from The Real Diaper Associations "why choose cloth diapers?" article. I do not in any way look down on people for their choice in using disposables, that is their right to choose. I do however dislike disposable diapers and am very outspoken about it. I will be quoting things from The Real Diaper Associations article, I will not be writing word for word what they have written. Please note that facts are ever changing as more and more people switch to cloth. If you would like to read the full article written please go to http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php

Now that we got that out of the way, lets talk about diapers :-)

I have for many years used disposable diapers. If you have read my "about me " you know that I have 4 children and each of them at one point in time have been in disposable diapers. I made the choice to switch to cloth after our 4th baby was born. At that time we would have 3....yes 3 babies in diapers!! Can you imagine how much money would be spend every 2 weeks alone in diapers!! Craziness! According to The Real Diaper Association ( TRDA) the average child in disposables will cost $66 a month....for one child?! We had 3 in diapers!! That would have equaled out to be $198 a month. That's enough money for a power or cable bill or a week almost 2 weeks worth of grocers! Why spend that much money EVER month when you don't have too!!

I know when you look at the price of cloth diapers that you have to pay up front your jaw drops and your sitting there going "No way am I paying that kind of money for diapers!" Well guess what you are! In fact your spending way more than that $300 for that starter kit from kellyscloset.com when you continue to buy disposable diapers over and over and over. In a total of 6 months you have already spent $594 dollars on those disposables you think are cheaper then cloth. On kellyscloset there is a kit of 12  one size diapers for $235. That 12 pack of diapers you can use from the time your baby is born until the time your baby is potty trained. You wont honestly have to buy diapers again unless you really want one too!

If the money saving aspect isn't enough to make you switch lets talk about what's put into them nasty disposables diapers.  Let me tell you I had no idea the kinds of nasty chemicals that are put in disposables. The chemicals in disposables, I believe are the reason that my son kept getting rashes, we have not changed his diet since switching him to cloth yet his nasty rashes have gone away completely.
Now I know that this is not true for some people, babies can get rashes in cloth as well! TRDA even says that there is no significant difference in rashes when it comes to cloth vs. disposables, rashes can come from many things from the food they eat to a change in a breastfeeding mothers diet to a chemical rash(cloth diapers have no chemicals).
Ok back on track here, went off on a rash tan git there! Here is a list of the chemicals that are found in disposable diapers
- Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process....this chemical has been listed as the most toxic of cancer linked chemicals
-Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals
-sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. this is the chemical was found to have a  risk of toxic shock syndrome by increasing absorbency and improving the environment for the growth of toxin-producing bacteria.
Disposables have also been found to increase scrotal temperature in boys. Prolonged use will blunt or completely wipe out the cooling mechanism that is important for normal Spermatogenesis
~all of the above are facts listed on TDRA's article.

Lets take a look at the environmental side. Did you know that over 92% of disposable diapers in up in landfills? Well they do! Did you also know that on the back of most diaper packages it advices that all fecal matter be rinsed or removed from the disposable diapers BEFORE throwing them away? It does go check it out, I actually found a pack that advised that fecal matter be taken out of the disposable! Who actually does that any way ? I can tell you, no one. If there are actually people out there who do they are very few and very far between.
Now these poo filled diapers, and there's a lot of them, are estimated to  sit in our landfills for 200 - 500 years! Kinda gross if you think about it. Diapers that were on your bottom are most likely still sitting in a landfill even though you have been out of them for years! Heck your moms diapers are still sitting in there!
Back in 1988 it took nearly 300 million dollars to discard disposables ANNUALLY! Can you imagine what that must cost us now to do and how much money can be saved by a simple switch to cloth!
If you do use disposables did you know that 50% of your waste in disposable diapers.....seems like a lot to me! Those nasty disposable diapers are the 3rd largest single consumer items in our landfills! Not only do they sit in landfills for decades each year they use over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstock and 20 pounds of chlorine. That's insane!!

Now I know everybody gets all "I don't have time to use cloth, I'm just so busy" ok I can understand how you can see it that way but I'm to busy to have to pack all 4 of my kids up in a car when I'm down to 2 diapers and run to the grocery store to buy diapers. I am dang sure to busy to go to change a babies diaper at 2 in the morning and go "Oh crap that's what I forgot to get today" and have to go to the store! Cloth diapers are so much easier than people think! You never never never run out of diapers when you use cloth! There's  no 2am store stops or crazy rush hour traffic runs to the store.
Yea you have to wash them, so what, you find time to wash your clothes right? It's so easy to care for cloth diapers, you rinse wash 2 times and rinse again. Now every one does there washes differently but that is pretty much how I wash mine. Rinse once, wash twice ( one cold, one warm wash) then 2 warm rinses and your done! Throw them in your dryer or hang them on a line! You don't even have to get the pocket diapers that you stuff, you can get a all in one! Those are already stuffed and ready to go! Blissful booty diapers are an amazing all in one!

So lets look really quick at why I believe cloth rules and sposies drool........... 
A. cloth actually costs way less!
B. cloth is natural and NOT stuffed full off nasty cancer linked chemicals that can cause hormonal problems and very possibly leave you will no grandkids!
C.  cloth diapers can be used over and over and over until they pretty much fall apart and need to be retired, they don't sit in a landfill for 200 - 500 years seeping poo and urine into the ground.
D. My most favorite reason why .....they are just way too darn CUTE and they can teach our kids things that disposables never could and never will .......but reason D. is a topic for another time :-)

Make sure you spread some fluffy love today!