Cloth diapering offers many benefits, including safety, health, comfort, environmental responsibility, and cost savings.
Modern cloth diapers are also just as convenient as disposables. You don’t have to use pins or plastic pants anymore, no soaking or wet pails. Soiled diapers are simply shaken over the toilet (which is required for disposables too, as human waste is not permitted in a landfill), then placed in a dry pail until there is a full load ready for the washer.
Beyond the practical advantages, including a significant cost saving over time, cloth diapers are also undeniably cute.
From a safety and health perspective, cloth diapers avoid the toxic chemicals found in disposable diapers. This is especially important because external genitalia are particularly vulnerable. Disposable diapers are made largely of plastic and trap heat; this heat retention can be harmful to testicles. Organic cotton is an especially good choice for cloth diapers, and is the best way to support safety, health, comfort, and environmental concerns all at once (though using cloth at all, whether organic or not, is significantly better in all those ways compared to using disposables).
Environmentally, cloth diapers have a clear advantage. Disposable diapers will sit in landfills for centuries and never compost, contributing to long-term waste, contamination of waterways and other natural areas, and the release of microplastics into the environment from which they get into human and other animal bodies. The manufacture of disposable diapers also contaminates the environment with toxic chemicals and other by-products of plastic production.
Cloth diapers, by contrast, are reusable and significantly reduce landfill impact, particularly when made from natural fibres such as organic cotton. They are made with natural materials that have very little impact on the environment.
There are several types of cloth diapers available today, each with its own advantages:
- Flats are inexpensive and quick-drying.
- Prefolds are also inexpensive, more convenient and easier to use than flats, and nearly as quick to dry.
- Contours are inexpensive, require no folding, and still dry relatively quickly.
- Fitted diapers have elastic and snaps, are especially good for nighttime use when paired with a cover, and often come in cute printed fabrics.
- All-in-ones feature elastic, snaps, and a waterproof outer layer, making them very similar to disposables in ease of use, except they can be washed and reused, and also come in attractive prints.
The first three of these types can be secured with a waterproof wrap-style cover or a Snappi.
The best cloth diapers are often made by work-at-home mothers; Etsy is a good place to look for these. It is best to avoid brands like Gerber.
If choosing prefolds, look for Chinese, Indian, or organic cotton, as these are preferred for quality and performance.