Cloth Diapering May Actually Be Easier?

There was a mom on "my" message mommy message board that commented on a thread about cloth diapers that she hated it when people said cloth diapering was easier. I nodded my head in agreement, until I took a moment to think about all the good and bad of cloth diapering. First the good:

1. Fewer poopie diaper blowouts: I'm not sure why this is the case, but before when Miss Mayhem would fill her drawers, the disposable diapers would leak 9 times out of 10. We were actually ruining several outfits a week this way because her poops seemed to be especially stain causing. With cloth diapers, 9 times out of 10, the diaper does NOT leak poop so her outfits are saved and we save money that way.

2. Once you get about 4-5 months into cloth diapering, the diapers have paid for themselves (based on my estimate of spending $30-40 dollars a month on disposables). It cost us about $150 to buy enough diapers to cloth diaper using pocket diapers we found for "cheap" on e-bay. So, while cloth diapers are a big expense right off the bat, they are cheaper in the long run. I was warned away from buying the e-bay diapers, but I just did not have $500 to spend on the fancy cloth diapers. The e-bay pocket diapers and inserts have lasted over a year with no problems, so I guess we were either lucky or the fancy diaper people just have better PR workers ;)

3. Not having to worry about if we were out of diapers when we were having a tight month is priceless. There was nothing I hated more than counting the disposable diapers to make sure we had enough to last until we could afford more, and then coming up short. We never come up short with cloth diapers, we just wash them again.

4. Although there are many many many fancy accessories you can buy to go with your cloth diaper stash, it was just as easy for us to use what we had around the house to manage our diaper washing rotation. I had a mesh bag I was using for swimming, and I instead hooked it behind our basement door to keep the smell of wet diapers from invading the house in between washings (about every three days). The mesh bag was important for the diapers to "breathe" between washings. We also did not buy a toilet sprayer since our bathroom sink has a strong spray to it that helped with spraying the sticky poop off the diapers. We also did not buy fancy detergents. We just used a teaspoon of free and clear laundry detergent and a cup of white vinegar. We've never had any problems.

5. Sorsha very rarely gets diaper rash now, which is why we started cloth diapering in the first place. Before, she pretty much had a rash ALL THE TIME, which was no fun.

6. Cloth diapers are almost impossible for Miss Mayhem to get off on her own. She can take off a disposable diaper in about 5 seconds.

7. Cloth diapers are super cute!

And now for the bad:

1. You have to wash the poop out of the diaper. Ew.

2. You have to wash diapers about every 3 days, if you are lucky and the baby does not poop 5 times in one day.

3. Cloth diapers have to be changed more often. I have to change her diaper every 1 1/2 to 2 hours or they leak urine. Poop still stays in even when I don't know she's poopy though.

4. It's harder to smell the poop when she has a poopy diaper for whatever reason. Sometimes she gets a rash because she is one of those babies who gets a rash at the drop of a hat. Poop left on her skin is one thing that triggers that.

5. Cloth diapers are bulkier, so they are harder to pack for a day away. It also makes it harder under some clothes because they bulge out more than a disposable diaper would.

6. We still have to buy disposable diapers for night time because cloth diapers just do not hold enough urine for MM to sleep her usual 11-12 hours at night. So, we still end up spending $8-9 a month for those.

That's the good and the bad from our experience for the 14-15 months with cloth diapering. I'll let you guys decided which is harder!