Reusable Diapers - Green, Easy and Cost-Effective
By Julie R. Holland Reusable diapers are an easy way to keep your little one dry and rash free while doing the right thing for the planet. Let's face it, sometimes doing the right thing for the planet is not the easiest thing to do. When it comes to diapering your baby, cloth is the simple way so you save time and effort too. Oh, and did I mention that you save a lot of money too? Cloth has gotten a bad rap because there are some really, uh, awful diapers out there. Good quality is not expensive and it makes all the difference in the world, and for the world. You can get a dozen high quality Indian or Chinese prefolds for about the same price as one pack of disposables. For just a little more than you'd spend on diapering your baby for 2 months, you can get enough high quality DSQ prefolds to keep your baby dry and happy for months or even a year or longer, depending on what size your baby needs. If convenience is your priority, there are lots of fitteds, pockets or all-in-ones available to make diapering fun, easy and convenient. Reusable diapers are so much easier than people make them out to be. Parents consistently tell me that using cloth has been easier than they ever expected. These days there is no need for dunking. For breastfed babies you can just toss the used ones in the pail and it all comes out in the wash (honest! I have never had to rinse a diaper and my daughter is nearly 5 months old). For older babies you can use flush-away liners or a sprayer that attaches to your toilet so you can rinse any messes off without having to dunk or swish. Washable anything reduces your carbon footprint, but here it is even more important because you also reduce petroleum used to make disposables, wasted energy to transprot garbage to the landfill, and the environmental cost of the 18 billion disposables being added to our trash heaps every year. How much can you save? Well, with one child in disposables you will spend about $2,000 or more - and that is not including the extra cost for gasoline to run to the store, disposable wipes (add another $400-800 or so for those!), any extra municipal fees for having too much garbage, or the stuff you don't need that you buy because you are already at the store. Add a second child and you double your investment in trash that needs to be hauled to a landfill where it will enshrine your child's waste for up to 500 years. Ick! Compare that to the savings with reusables. A really nice diapering system will cost you $300-500 or so. Add in another hundred if you want a sprayer, a washable pail liner (to keep the pail clean!), nice cloth wipes, liners and a cute wet bag for when you are out and about. Savings with one kid, about $1,500-2,000. For a second child you'll probably have to replace a few things, so this time you'll save $1,900 or more! Julie R. Holland is an attachment parenting author and owner of Little for Now cloth diaper store. Subscribe to the free Little for Now newsletter for cloth diaper savings and more great articles like this one. |
