With a new baby, moms are confronted with all kinds of important decisions to make. Will you make your own baby food or get store bought? Will you breast-feed? Are wipe-warmers really necessary? One of these decisions will be whether to use disposable diapers or cloth. After years of being all but obsolete, reusable cloth diapers are making a big comeback. Though many new mamas or mamas-to-be may be attracted to the lower cost and environmental benefits of cloth diapers, they might wonder if going cloth is worth the hassle.
So, here’s a quick pro and con list to help make this decision a little easier and help sort out fact versus fiction. The results might look surprising to some. Here’s a look at the popular cloth diaper brand BumGenius to help break down all the myths, benefits and potential negatives to cloth diapers.
Con
The mess
Actually, washing cloth diapers is a lot less work that you might think, with most parents saying they launder their diapers every other day. Some parents rinse out the mess in the toilet with the sprayer after changing, and others purchase a disposable liner for the diapers that can simply be thrown away.
Leaks and blowouts
Parents are at risk for leaky diapers and impromptu outfit changes no matter what diaper they use. BumGenius actually specifically designs its diapers to prevent disasters such as this, meaning less cleanup after all.
Pro
The environment
According to the BumGenius website, every baby wearing disposable diapers can generate as much as one ton of landfill waste by the age of two. That’s … a lot of diapers.
Cost
Disposable diapers can cost parents thousands of dollars before their baby is potty trained. Compare that to cloth diapers, which cost a couple hundred up front, but with no real recurring costs after that.
Skin
While disposable diapers are perfectly safe for baby’s skin, a lot of mamas feel better knowing exactly what materials their little one is wearing on their bum.
BumGenius, $21.95, amazon.com
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