Disposables Versus Cloth Diapers
Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of posts recently. We’ve been on vacation, and I took a break from the computer while we were away. We spent several days with my husband’s parents at their sunny winter home. They live in an RV park in the southwest during the cold months, and it was great to see palm trees and wear shorts! But it’s great to be home again too.
While we were away, we used disposable diapers for our son. Before we left, we bought a package of 7th Generation diapers at the co-op where we now do all of our shopping. They were definitely more expensive there ($20 for a pack of 35 diapers) than they would have been at a baby store, but we were in a hurry that day, and wanted to make just one stop. We considered taking our cloth diapers along and washing them while we were there, but decided to just take the easy route this once. It’s the first time we’ve ever bought disposable diapers for our son, and he’s 22 months old, so we gave ourselves a pass.
The first thing I noticed about the disposables is that they hold a lot more liquid than the cloth diapers. I typically change our son about once every two hours, but I found that even after three or four hours a disposable diaper would still feel completely dry on the inside. So the package we bought lasted for the whole trip, and we even have a few leftovers that we’ll give to a friend.
It was nice to have the convenience of disposables on our trip. But I must say, I’m thrilled to be home and have our little guy back in his regular mama-made diapers. For starters, the 7th Generation diapers still use the same crystalline absorbency technology that other disposable diapers use. I like the fact that they don’t use bleach to whiten the diapers (they’re a light brown color), but I do feel better with plain old cloth on my baby’s behind… even if it isn’t as absorbent. And no matter how convenient the disposables were, they didn’t come close to dispelling the guilt I felt about the bag full of diapers that we sent to the landfill this morning before we left. There is no way I would be able to do that for two straight years.
I’ve always liked our homemade cloth diapers. We’ve spent barely any money on them, they’re a cinch to use and keep clean, and I have no concerns about what’s in them. And each week we just dump a tiny amount of trash into our outdoor bin (still using that same garbage bag we were using in January!) Now that I’ve tried disposables too, I’m still just as sold on my cloth diapers.