There are now so many more options for cloth diapering than our mothers’ traditional terry cloth nappies. Here are just 9 good reasons to make the switch from disposables to cloth
1. Cloth diapers save stacks of money. The average cost of disposable diapers per child (0-3) is around R20,000. Your cloth nappy set (between 15-20 nappies) will cost between R2000-R3000, thus saving you R17,000-18,000 rand. Not to mention if you use cloth for more than one child! Then your savings is doubled!
2. Cloth nappies hold their value. If you take care of your cloth nappy set, you can easily re-sell them when your children are out of diapers, thus causing even further savings for your pocket.
3. Cloth leaks less than disposables. They can be adjusted to fit baby perfectly to reduce the chance of leaks and poo-splosions!
4. Cloth causes less diaper rash than disposables. New-borns should be changed every hour and older babies every 3-4 hours, no matter what kind of diaper they wear. Cloth diapered babies have less diaper rashes due to natural fibres, and not chemicals, against baby’s bum. Cloth also gets changed more frequently thus causing less moisture on baba’s bum in the day.
5. Cloth nappies are healthier for your child than disposables. Cloth diapers reduce exposure to chemicals, as disposables are made from plastic and contain chlorine, polyacrylate, and other chemicals that have NOT been proven safe for use on anyone, especially babies’ new and sensitive skin.
6. Cloth is earth friendly. Cloth diapers are reused repeatedly, only entering a landfill when they are nothing but rags with a large composition of that being natural fibres. It is estimated that disposable diapers take about 250-500 years to decompose, that means every disposable ever used is somewhere on this planet.
7. Cloth is water-wise. The manufacturing and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth. Over 150kg of wood, 25kg of petroleum feedstocks and 10kg of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for 1 baby each year.
8. Early potty training. An added benefit is that children often potty train earlier in cloth diapers because they are more aware of moisture and connect the sensation to the behaviour faster.
9. Cloth is cute. Cloth diapering is easy, fun and the prints are super cute too! Some mums and dads even find it addictive.