5 MORE Reasons We Cloth Diaper

I posted that last post and immediately thought of several more reasons why we do it.

6. The eco-friendliness of it all. I'm definitely not a tree-hugging hippie or something like that, even though my BS is in environmental science, but I do believe in being a good steward of the earth. When we transitioned to cloth diapers, all of a sudden the only thing we were throwing away per change was a wipe or two (and I'm thinking about moving to cloth wipes, too). It makes a big difference in trash generation. Again: I'm not a hippie. But I do like being wise with our resources.

7. I read that diapers contain the same stuff in them as tampons did that cause Toxic Shock Syndrome. True, diapers don't go up inside a person, but it's still gross. This is what one source states:

With the exception of the pricy natural disposables with extremely limited availability (we only know of the Tushies brand at this time), disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate which absorbs liquid and turns it into gel. Many parents who use disposable diapers will recognize the polymer as the shiny gel-like crystals that often make their way onto your baby’s bum. It was banned from use in tampons in 1985 after it was linked to toxic shock syndrome*. Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.**

So basically when you diaper with disposables, you're putting toxic pollutants right on your baby's skin. Which, eh. We disposable diapered our baby for a month and a half before switching. And everyone I know, including myself, pretty much wore disposables as babies. We all turned out awesome. So there you go.

8. To go along with #7, disposable diapers are bleached white with dioxin, which is apparently really gross and bad for people. Here, just read this blog post about the random stuff they use to make disposable diapers. Gross.

9. To go back to #1--what I forgot to mention is that not only will the diapers eventually be basically free after we use them to diaper our future children, BUT THEN we will be able to resell any diapers still in good condition, for almost as much as we bought them for. Even used cloth diapers can command a good price.

10. They're easy. At least the brand that we use is easy. If they were harder to use than disposables, I might let my inner laziness take over, but actually these Best Bottom diapers are super simple, and easy to use. They maybe add an extra 5 minutes/day of diaper change time, just from me rinsing pooey diapers. But over time, that will save me thousands of dollars, so it's like getting paid thousands of dollars to spend 5 minutes a day rinsing diapers. I'm willing to do that.