Eco-Friendly Parenting | Debunking Common Cloth Diaper Myths
We love that more families are making small changes to their parenting choices to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. It’s so easy to go green with everyday swaps, like reducing your plastic or going zero-waste with cloth diapers. That said, we know cloth diapering can feel like a huge commitment and often scares a lot of families away. As eco-friendly parenting educators, postpartum doulas, early childhood and family educators, and parents ourselves, we work with a lot of families, both here in the Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN area, as well as virtually across the country, to help make taking the cloth diaper plunge to feel less intimidating.
We hear the same few reasons from parents on why they don’t want to commit to cloth diapering: they’re expensive, messy, and too much of a time commitment. The good news? We can easily debunk these myths and help you feel a lot more confident rocking cloth diapers as a family.
Myth One: Cloth Diapers Are So Expensive
We’ll admit, from the outset, cloth diapers feel like a very expensive investment. The reality? When we break down how much we actually spend on diapers over the first two years of our child’s life, the initial investment usually pales in comparison to regularly buying boxes of disposable diapers. Does that mean it doesn’t sting to write the check for all of your cloth diapers? Nope. One thing we love doing with families is working with them ahead of time to understand the appropriate amount of diapers for their needs. We often see families over-buying cloth diapers. We can help you identify the sweet spot based on your child care, washing schedule, and more.
The other helpful tip to know is cloth diapers have an amazing shelf life. Cloth diapers are meant to size-up with your child, meaning one diaper can fit a newborn through a three-year-old. Often, most of your cloth diapers will last the entirety of your child’s diapering phase, with maybe one or two replacements. We’ve even seen families use the same cloth diapers for multiple children. If you know how to take care of them, your cloth diapers can last a long time.
Worried about your water bill? Washing cloth diapers every single night is less of an impact on your water bill than a daily shower. Unless our families are super-conservers of water, the majority of people see no difference in their regular water bill.
Cloth diaper longevity also means it’s easy to find sets of diapers secondhand. Many parents will sell their used cloth diapers at a discount on Facebook groups or in neighborhood apps. A lot of times, we’ll see parents who over-bought diapers trying to get rid of some of the extra, so you benefit from lower-cost and gently used cloth diapers.
Myth Two: Cloth Diapers Are a Mess
Yeah, the idea of cleaning up your child’s BMs isn’t appealing, but we hate to break it to you, you’ll be doing that regardless. Many parents forget they’ll be staring down a poopy mess no matter if it’s in a cloth diaper or a disposable one. The first thing to understand is if you are body feeding (breastfeeding or chestfeeding) your baby, those diapers won’t need to be rinsed before washing. Human milk bowel movements are completely water-soluble, which means they’ll break up in the wash without causing a mess. For a lot of families, that means tossing your diapers directly from a wet bag (we’ll talk more about these in a moment) to the washer.
Are you formula feeding or has your baby moved on to solids? No worries, we have a simple, extra step. Parents can purchase a diaper sprayer attachment for their toilet and it’s a game-changer. Simply spray the soiled diaper into the toilet before placing it in the wash. Only a wet diaper? No need to rinse off. As long as you are spraying off the diaper within 24 hours of being soiled, you should have no problem rinsing away any mess.
The other thing we love about cloth diapers? There isn’t a bucket of stinky diapers hanging around until garbage day. Whenever you change your kiddo’s diaper, you simply place it in a wet bag until your nightly wash. Wet bags are lined bags that ensure any mess or smell from your diapers doesn’t slip out and get everywhere. Simply snap or secure your dirty diaper, place it in the wet bag, and zip up. Most bags are easy to travel with and can be tossed into your diaper wash each night.
One last little miracle we love about cloth diapers: They’re super containers. Cloth diapers are meant to grow with your child, meaning they have extra room, while also needing to be secure. If you’re using a cloth diaper with an outer shell, the elastic around the legs is almost completely spill-proof. We’ve heard from families, and experienced it ourselves, that there are way fewer blow-outs with cloth diapers (aka poop escaping your child’s diaper and traveling everywhere).
Myth Three: Cloth Diapers Take Way Too Much Time
The idea of having to wash your child’s diapers can often be the main reason most families decide not to use cloth diapers. The great news is, there are numerous ways to make cloth diapering work for you. We always tell families, there is no one right way to cloth diaper your kid, just the right way for your family.
One great solution is using a cloth diapering service. A cloth diapering service will pick up your soiled diapers to wash and bring your fresh ones. For families that don’t have the time to do laundry each night, this can be the perfect solution. While we love the convenience of a diaper washing service, it can also be a bit more expensive than purchasing and washing cloth diapers yourself.
Also, no one says you have to only use cloth diapers. Do you want to use disposable diapers for night time or when you travel? Go for it! You’re still making an impact on the environment and your wallet. This is another reason why we love consulting with families about their cloth diapering goals ahead of time. We can help them assess how often they want to use cloth diapers, when they may want to use disposable, and discuss a disposable brand that fits their needs and budget.
Lastly, cloth diapering, much like adjusting your schedule to the many needs of parenting, can easily fit into your routine. Whether we’re washing pump pieces and bottles, tidying up the toys, or adding a nightly bath, cloth diaper laundry can quickly become a routine you barely think about. Get home from work, rinse the diapers, toss ‘em in the wash, set a timer on your phone for the next step, and wake up to clean diapers in the morning. Boom, you’re done.
