Vancouver Diaper Circle

Cloth diapering on the go

4/19/2015

Posted by: Amy Fong

A common question from parents who are new to cloth diapering is, how feasible is it to cloth diaper on the go? Cloth diapering can be simple and straightforward even while you're out and about with baby, as long as you're equipped. Here are some tips on how to do it:
1. In addition to bringing a few clean cloth diapers for any needed changes, don't leave home without a waterproof wet bag. A plastic bag will also do in a pinch. You'll need the bag to store and transport the dirty cloth diaper(s) while you're out and about. We always keep a couple smaller wet bags (which can hold a few cloth diapers each) in our diaper bag so that we do not have to remember to pack them with us as we're rushing out the door.
2. If you're using reusable cloth wipes, bring some water for moistening the wipes. Since I usually carry a water bottle to stay hydrated throughout the day, I just squirt a little from the bottle as needed to moisten a wipe.
3. If the baby poops while you're on the go, it's not that bad. Just wipe off the bum using moistened wipes, and seal up the soiled diaper and wipes in the wet bag. You can deal with the poop by dumping the poop into the toilet after you get home.
There, that's all there is to it. Your baby can enjoy a real, chemical-free reusable cloth diaper even while you're outside the home!

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Cost comparison analysis: cloth v. disposable diapers

3/29/2015

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Posted by: Amy Fong

I played around with numbers in a spreadsheet today to figure out just how much money a family would save by exclusively using reusable cloth diapers and reusable wipes for a child, from birth up until 30 months of age, compared to using disposable diapers over the same period. The graph below charts the cumulative costs for each option over the 30 month period:

Cumulative Cost Comparison of Disposable Diapers v. Cloth Diapers

I made the following assumptions in arriving at the cost comparison graph above:

For the disposable option:
- from birth to 6 months, the child goes through 9 diapers/day, at $0.30 each diaper
- from 7 months - 12 months, the child goes through 8 diapers/day, at $0.33 each diaper
- from 13 months - 18 months, the child goes through 7 diapers/day, at $0.35 each diaper
- from 19 months - 30 months, the child goes through 6 diapers/day, at $0.38 each diaper
- the child goes through $8 of wet wipes per month, for the first 12 months, and then $6 of wet wipes per month, from 12 months - 30 months.

For the cloth diaper option:
- the initial set-up costs at birth are: 20 cloth diapers x $25 each, $20 in wet bags, $15 in reusable wet wipes, and $50 for an optional (but helpful) diaper sprayer (total set-up costs: $585).
- laundry detergent costs are $5/month (note that this is a generous estimate; on average you'll be spending less on detergent costs)
- the washing machine is run 3 times a week to wash cloth diapers using a hot water wash cycle, followed by 60 minutes drying time in the dryer, resulting in $8/month in electricity costs for laundering the cloth diapers (note that these costs will be halved if you line-dry the diapers).

As you can see from the above comparison, while there are some initial set-up costs associated with using cloth diapers, the cloth diapers started paying for themselves after 7 months. Over the 30 month period, the disposable diaper option cost a total of $2422, which is about $1450 more than the cloth diaper option ($975). The cost savings would be even greater for subsequent children, since the cloth diapers can be reused so that you will not have to spend any money on the set-up costs for further children.

Cloth diapering can be done for even less money than the above scenario would suggest. If you purchase prefolds or flats instead of more expensive pocket or all-in-one diapers (which is what the above cost calculations were based on), or purchase a used set of cloth diapers from another family, then your initial set-up costs would be significantly less then as depicted above. Alternately, if you have basic sewing skills and access to a sewing machine, you can make your own cloth diapers for a fraction of the price. To make reusable cloth diapers and wipes, you can even upcycle materials that you have around the home, such as old cotton terry towels or washcloths and flannel pajamas.

If you wish to use cloth diapers, but are struggling to make ends meet and do not have the funds to afford the set-up costs for cloth diapering, then you may be eligible for a cloth diaper loan from Cloth for a Cause.

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Why we chose cloth

3/28/2015

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After switching to cloth, we have never looked back.

Posted by: Amy Fong

Even though I am an advocate of cloth diapers, we actually did not use cloth diapers from the outset. Our family used disposable diapers with our eldest from birth, without really questioning our decision to do so, because like many others, we were too busy to research the alternatives, and we assumed it would be too much work to do cloth. Disposable diapers were conveniently available from the supermarket and drug store, whereas cloth diapers would have required more effort to locate.

However, after 5 months of using disposable diapers (during which time my mom constantly reminded me that she had cloth diapered me when I was a kid — thanks mom!) we became concerned about how much waste we were generating as a household. The problem was only going to get worse since the diapers were becoming larger as our daughter grew. We did not want our child's legacy to be a ton of plastic garbage that would sit in a landfill for hundreds of years. After asking a friend about her experiences with cloth diapers, and trying out a couple cloth diapers that she recommended, we discovered that cloth diapers were surprisingly not as hard to use and wash as we had expected. We made the transition to cloth at that point, and have not looked back since.

Once we made the switch, our eldest wore cloth diapers full time until she was toilet-trained and now her little sister is continuing our cloth adventures, having been exclusively in cloth diapers since she was 1 week old. We love the fact that, with minimal added effort on our part, we are living a conscious decision to reduce our environmental footprint for our kids. We also love that we are putting something real on our kid's bum, and are avoiding exposing our kids to the harmful chemicals in disposable diapers. Our kids have been happy and rash-free in cloth diapers. Using cloth diapers has also made us, and our kids, more motivated to start the toilet training process. Our eldest was completely out of diapers, even at night time, by the time she was 24 months old, and our youngest, who is now 12 months old, is continuing that trend -- she loves potty time and will go find her potty as soon as she wakes up.

Plus, on top of all the above-mentioned benefits, cloth diapers have saved us thousands of dollars over the cost of disposable diapers. They are also more stylish and fun to wear than disposable diapers. When our youngest is out of diapers, we look forward to passing our cloth diaper collection on to another family, so that they too can experience all the many advantages of cloth.

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Cloth diapering on the go

Cost comparison analysis: cloth v. disposable diapers

Why we chose cloth

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Cloth diapering on the go

Cost comparison analysis: cloth v. disposable diapers

Why we chose cloth﻿

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Why we chose cloth