Are Cloth or Disposable Diapers Better?

At the start of the pandemic lockdown, many families were panic-buying formula, diapers and wipes, along with toilet paper. Over very valid fears of lost wages and high costs, and combined with limited supplies and panic hoarding many families turned to early toilet training or cloth diapers for their young children.

While diapers and wipes are no longer scarce (although funds might still be), do you find yourself wondering which diapers are better? Are cloth diapers really more cost effective or better for the environment? Here's everything you need to know to make a decision for your family, budget and lifestyle.

What are the differences between cloth and disposable diapers

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Very simply, cloth diapers are reusable diapers that are washed and dried between uses and depending on durability and quality, can also be used with successive children. Disposable diapers are thrown away after being soiled.

But while the definitions are simple, the debate over cloth and disposable diapers is not. The argument has been raging for awhile, with the long-standing issue revolving around whether or not disposable diapers pose a threat to the environment. NPR's Sam Evans-Brown (who did the math and found that using cloth diapers over two and half years actually only saved the equivelent of less than two tanks of gas, in terms of a carbon footprint) feels that more than anything else, using cloth diapers is often about making a social statement.

"Long and short of it: if you’re willing to put the work in, reusables are slightly better environmental choice, but not so much that it's something to be lording over anyone who is unable to follow your lead," Evans-Brown wrote in 2018.

Deciding if cloth or disposable diapers are a fit for your family and your lifestyle

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Evans-Browns' cynacism aside, should you buy cloth or disposable diapers? Ultimately, the answer depends on what makes the most sense for your lifestyle and family. Here are some quick and easy ways to compare cloth and disposable diapers.

Cost
Depending on the brand, disposable diapers cost between $550 to $750 a year and may accrue up to $2,000 to $3,000 by the time your child is potty-trained. They do have a lower startup cost — but you have to keep buying them until you no longer need them. As for cloth diapers, if you launder them yourselves, the diapers and accessories cost about $800 to start. If you use a laundering service, they will generally provide the cloth diapers (which belong to the service) in addition to pickup and cleaning, and will be in the $2,500 to $2,800 range.

In general, cloth diapers have a higher startup cost due to pre-buying all the supplies at once. Though the startup costs for cloth diapers can be prohibitive, there are some cloth diaper companies like Cotton Babies who have starter kits like the Elemental Joy Cloth Diaper Kit at Walmart that are relatively low cost.

Time and convenience
While some cloth diapers are almost as easy to use as disposables with easy to use clips, velcro, and snaps, few can beat the convenience of disposables. After all, once used, the disposables are discarded whereas with cloth, you still have to clean them.

“Even with the pandemic, we wouldn’t consider cloth because it’s too much work,” confessed Raina Nech to Mom.com. “We didn’t want to do life on hard mode!”

If you really want to use cloth diapers but don’t want to take the time to launder or fold them, there are diaper laundering services who will do all the work for you for a weekly or monthly fee.

Health and fit
There isn’t much difference between the two kinds of diapers in terms of health as long as you change your child when the diapers are full. Both kinds of diapers can cause diaper rashes (albeit for different reasons) as well have varying levels of comfort. It all depends on your child’s bottom and what works best.

Truthfully, all diapers do the job of keeping your child dry — and they all require changing. Dr. Sears warned on AskDrSears.com, “Leaving baby in a soiled diaper for a long period of time or not adequately cleaning them with wipes at every diaper change, can damage their skin, often resulting in a painful rash.”

Environmental impact
While manufacturing disposable diapers uses resources like trees and plastics and after, they collect in landfills, most are 40 percent biodegradable. Remember, too, that manufacturing cloth diapers also uses up resources — not to mention the water and energy used to wash them.

Lifestyle
Most importantly, consider your lifestyle and what is most important to you. For mom of two Evie Koh, she understood the benefits of cloth diapering, but “trying to manage work while caring for babies at home during shelter-in-place required the easiest path to resistance.”

Why some families are choosing cloth diapers during the pandemic

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During the early days of the pandemic, cloth diapers saw a resurgence because of a shortage of disposable diapers available. Some companies started offering contactless and curbside services to entice customers. Also, the financial uncertainty brought about by the pandemic made many families have to choose between diapers and other food or necessities.

“We saw people buying cloth diapers because they couldn’t get disposable diapers or because disposable diapers were too expensive during a time they didn’t have employment. Cloth diapers were a safety net for their family,” Founder and CEO of Cotton Babies Jennifer Labit told Mom.com.

The mother of four — who had to choose between food or diapers when she had her first child — also elaborated on the effect the lockdown had on families' buying habits. “The other thing we saw people doing was using cloth diapers they had previously purchased instead of using disposable diapers, because they didn’t want to go out during the quarantine.”