I have all these friends who just became moms, are soon-to-be moms, and having their second, third, etc. moms. For some reason new moms like to pass on the tips and tricks they've learned (because it's usually by trial and error), and because we are so excited about this new journey. So I decided to do a post on cloth diapering.

I started researching cloth diapering when I was about 6 months pregnant. It was mostly out of financial need, because being a student and having a husband who is in the human services field, means we don't make that much money. This is probably the most beneficial bonus of cloth diapering....how cheap it is. I tell you, we definitely cannot afford $20 a week for diapers! Depending on which ones you get, cloth diapering can cost you about $200-$600 all together...that's pretty good, considering that over time your disposables would cost you around $2000-3000! The other thing to consider that makes cloth diapering cheaper, is when people ask you what you still need for baby gifts, you can tell them cloth diapers....in our collection we have about 5 dozen regular cloth, a diaper pail, 9 cloth diaper covers, and 12 fancy bumgenius diapers....the only ones we bought out of the whole lot was 9 bumgenius, which cost us approximately $200. Pretty good hey?!

Of course I don't need to tell you it is way better for the environment. Disposables don't break down in the landfills because of the manufactured plastics and materials they are made from. Let's assume your baby goes through 6 diapers a day (newborns go through about 10-12), and that they are only in diapers for two years (some definitely are in them longer).....6 x 730 is 4380 diapers! Times that by the millions of babies in the world, times that by decades.....that is a ridiculous amount of unbreakdown-able diapers! Okay...'nuff said on that issue.

As long as you are okay with an extra load or two of laundry a week, then cloth diapering might be for you. The yuckiness factor is only slightly more than a disposable, and that is very dependant on what kind of cloth diaper you get. Check out my post on different kinds of cloth diapers, and how to wash your cloth diapers.

*I should add a disclaimer, and tell you that I use disposable diapers at night. I found the cloth leaked too badly. I know there are products out there and extra absorbent cloth and what not, but I don't mind using a disposable overnight. Using 1 disposable a day, means that a pack will last us 2-3 months. I then also always have disposables on hand when we travel.