Baton Rouge Baby Photographer | Cloth Diapers vs. Disposable Diapers: Part 1

There are millions of decisions you make as a new mother for your new baby. I know as a Baton Rouge baby photographer and mom of three, that I had tons of decisions to make and that I didn’t make the same ones between each child. The decision of whether to cloth diaper your new bundle of joy or not can be a tough one. Since I cloth diapered my first through potty training, my second for about three months, and chose to use disposables from birth with my youngest, I feel like I have a very good idea about the pros and cons from both sides. I also used a variety of different types of cloth diapers so I have lots of insight on that. But that’s for another blog post another day.

This week we will start with start with a few pros and cons of cloth diapers. I’ll be continuing next week with the pros and cons of disposable diapers.

Pros:

• Environmentally friendly – Anyone with kids will tell you how many diapers you go through a day. In the beginning, you’re looking at about 12 diaper changes a day. You’ve brought home an adorable eating pooping machine. So instead of throwing those diapers in the trash, you can throw them in the wash to use again and again.
• Great for sensitive skin – If you use sensitive detergent to wash your diapers, they really work out great on the delicate skin of a newborn. Instead of using diapers with lots of chemicals in them, you know exactly what’s on your baby’s bum.
• The cuteness factor – This is what really got me. So many adorable colors and prints are available. With my son, I was a bit obsessed with finding the cutest superhero prints from various small businesses that sold cloth diapers.

Cons:

• Leaks – This is ultimately the reason why I didn’t continue cloth diapering with my own kids. My middle child was oddly shaped and everything, and I mean everything leaked. I was washing not only diapers but her clothes and even the car seat cover due to leaking every day. I’ve seen many other moms trying to troubleshoot leak issues. The answer could be anything from fit (which was my problem), to any number of creams or detergents causing repelling, to just having a heavy wetter.
• Costs – Getting started cloth diapering isn’t cheap. There is an initial start up cost and you do want to have at least a few days of diapers to make sure you have enough to wear while you’re washing your dirty diapers. Speaking of washing your diapers…
• Washing – I won’t lie, at one point I felt like washing diapers became something I dreaded. My wash routine involved two cycles in my HE washer. It took me at least 8 hours to fully wash and dry my diapers. I also had times where I had to strip my diapers to try to solve leak issues. That pretty much tied up my washer the entire day. Need to my husband’s work clothes? I had to rotate the diapers out just so I could put in another load of clothes and then put the diapers back in when those clothes were done.

So there’s my list of pros and cons of cloth diapers. I can say that I loved the time I used cloth. I still have one or two of the really adorable diapers as keepsakes. It really was a great experience and I don’t regret making the decision to cloth diaper my oldest.

If you would like more information about Mariko Searing Photography, Baton Rouge baby photographer, please contact me here.