Disposable vs Cloth
I was born in the 70's. My parents were a young married couple with 2 kids, making the best life possible for themselves. Disposable diapers were not cheap but cloth diapers were. We're talking cloth squares held together with diaper pins. They were a pain to use and could literally cause pain to the child if you pinned them accidentally. My parents used a service for a while that exchanged their dirty diapers for clean ones. To me, that sounds like the way to go if you're going to use cloth diapers. My Dad was a salesman. After a few years of using cloth diapers, he found at his trade shows that he could trade his insulin supplies for disposable diapers. Mom was SO happy. From then on out, we were disposable diaper kids.
Baby Hops will be born in 2012. The new (hopefully I won't get punched for using this next word) "trendy" diapers are cloth diapers. Now, I was skeptical at first. Why use cloth diapers when you can use disposables? Disposables are so EASY! I started to do some research. I spoke to friends who are pregnant or recently had babies. Not everyone in my circle uses cloth but the ones who do, they do it for cost reasons. Also, I don't think they can resist the cute factor. See example:
You notice I mention cost and I'm all about saving a buck here or there. From what I have read, it sounds like disposable diapers cost, on average, double what you would spend on cloth diapers plus other necessities you need for cloth diapers like: extra detergent and water (you are washing them every 2-3 days), inserts and possibly, attachments to your toilet to help you eh hem extract the poop from the diaper before you wash it.
I like the idea of saving money. I really like how cute the cloth diapers are. It also helps that they come with snaps, velcro and other easy ways to keep the diaper closed, without using pins. I researched cloth diapers a lot. I scoped out not just the diapers but also what is needed to go with them and how much work is necessary when it comes to using cloth diapers. See note above where I mention laundry every 2-3 days. Yes, that is when they are an infant and need a diaper change 10 times a day but still. I did the math. If you have 10 diaper changes a day, you need at least 30 diapers if you don't want to be doing laundry every other day. All-In-One diapers (or AIO) can run anywhere from $10-$20+ per diaper. Per. Diaper. That is a lot of up-front cost if you're buying 30 or more!
The next thing I started thinking about was time and how long it takes to wash all of those diapers. When my 3 months of FMLA (read: unpaid maternity leave) are up, I will be heading back to work. My work schedule is 8am to 5pm. I leave the house at 7:20am and get home at 5:45pm. From 5:45 to 6:30, I'm usually in the kitchen cleaning up dishes from this morning or the night before and making dinner. We eat at 7 when my husband gets home and then spend time together until 8pm when we do whatever else we want to do that night. Laundry is NEVER high on that list. Sitting on the couch is pretty high on that list. I know once we have a baby, our routine will change but our work times will not. That means our "us" time will be rearranged. I really don't want to waste some of our precious "us" time on even more laundry.
One of my friends, without even knowing if we are doing cloth or disposable, sent me an email the other day saying she was going to clip diaper coupons for us, if we wanted them. I asked her to since I still hadn't made up my mind yet at that point. I hadn't had the thought about going back to work yet.
That small decision - going back to work - has helped us make our decision. Due to convenience and both of being working parents, the Hopkins family will be using disposable diapers. I know, I know: "the environment." I know, I know: "the cost." We are both working and we can cover the cost. I figure the environment is being saved by so many other people these days, one more family using disposables won't hurt too much. While I would love to have a baby with a really cute covered butt, I would prefer to put pants on the kid to cover the disposable diaper and save myself a lot of unnecessary work and hassle.
Less work + Ease of use = Big win for the Hopkins!!
Less work + Ease of use = Big win for the Hopkins!!
4 comments:
1000% agree with you!
This is the argument I've brought up (or, you know, thought in my mind) whenever anyone writes about how they're going to use cloth diapers. The time! WHY would you sign up for adding a ton more laundry to your life, on top of all the baby clothes, just to save a couple of bucks? Sleep (or couch time) is way more valuable than the savings of cloth diapers to me!
Yeah I thought about the cloth diaper thing briefly. I have a friend that used and really liked a diaper service, and the thought of all those diapers ending up in a landfill is a bit depressing to me. But for one, my husband is easily grossed out by smells and things, so I don't think scraping baby poo into the toilet is up his alley. And two, I think I'm gonna be overwhelmed enough as a first time mom that I dont need to add anything else to it. So I think we will be going the disposable route and scheduling weekly diaper deliveries from Amazon. I'll take any way to make life easier!
You made such good points! I'm the most indecisive mother to be so I will just try both and see what works.
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