When I decided I wanted to go the route of cloth diapers for our baby, my husband thought I was crazy. Legit crazy. I mean, dealing with POOP on a daily basis? In truth, it’s NOT bad, and he eventually came around. Ask hubby about cloth diapers now and he’ll tell you he LOVES it and he’d “never go back.” (I love being right!)
People still think we are a bit crazy, but I’m here to tell you TEN reasons why I love cloth diapers.
1. Smart Bottom Cloth Diapers Cost Less …. (in the Long Run)
Yes, it is an investment UP FRONT which seems like a lot, but in the long run it’s MUCH cheaper. A typical family can spend between $2000 and $3000 for two years on disposable diapers whereas cloth diapers run about $500 to $1000. That seems like a no-brainer, right?
Again, initially it was a lot to spend on cloth diapers, but it was worth it.
2. Rashes are Less Frequent
The rashes we had with our first baby (who wore disposables) were wicked. We’ve only had a few rash incidents with our cloth diapers, but it turns out we’d been washing our diapers wrong. Mom fail.
Getting a rash with cloth still does happen, but way less. You need to figure out what works for you and your child’s bottom. We started out using “cloth safe” diaper creams, but our babe needed something stronger. What finally ended up working for us what fleece liners and a disposable liner. These liners absorbed the diaper cream that was unsafe for our cloth diapers (Desitin) and the disposable liner was simply because we were lazy!
3. Blow outs are NON-EXISTENT
What blow outs?
With my first daughter I was literally changing a blow out several times a day. It was SO gross, but a disposable has nothing to contain anything! Cloth diapers have elastics around the waist and legs, so nothing can escape! It’s glorious. I won’t lie to you and say we’ve never had small leaks, but we have NEVER had to clean up a blow out. Praises be.
(This was actually the main reason I wanted to switch to cloth diapers. I’m not kidding when I say I was cleaning up blowouts on the daily with my first. It would always irritate me that the blowout meant a new outfit and I’d have to treat and wash that outfit fairly quickly. So, in my mind, I’m already dealing with poop, but if I was dealing with poop IN diapers instead of ON clothes, I’d be much more understanding. Maybe that only makes sense to me though….)
4. Smart Bottom Cloth Diapers Come in the CUTEST Prints
Guys, the struggle is real. You can find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING on cloth diapers. At first I didn’t understand how people got so obsessed with their “fluff” – because a baby only needs so many diapers! But once you start…it’s kind of an addiction. I’ve only splurged a few times and bought a cupcake diaper and a donut diaper (ironic, right?). Some of my other favorite diapers are Harry Potter, galaxy, and faux sparkles.
5. Smart Bottom Cloth Diapers Stink LESS
I can’t explain why…but in my house, cloth simply stinks less. The smell is masked – without the smell and the disposable line (to tell us the diaper is wet) we are on a pretty good schedule where we change regularly. But less stink is a happy mama.
6. Smart Bottom Cloth Diapers FEEL Better when Holding
You know the feeling. Your kid has sat in a soggy disposable for TOO long and as you’re holding them they’re all slimy and EW. Yeah, I know. Gross. Granted, when we’re talking about poop none of this is super glamorous, but a nice fluffy cotton or microfiber cloth diaper is much easier to hold that a soggified disposable.
7. Smart Bottom Cloth Diapers Don’t Disintegrate
Ok ok, so you’re finally changing your disposable diaper and it’s TIME. You’re dealing with soggy diaper and you feel like a total fail, and as soon as you open the disposable you see that it has totally disintegrated. It’s crystalized and falling apart – how was it even still on your wee one?
8. You can Use the Same Smart Bottom Cloth Diapers for any Additional Children
Assuming you take care of your cloth diapers, more than one child can wear them! With girl #2 I have loved pulling out outfits from girl #1 and seeing how cute the clothes still are. I imagine it would be the same with cloth, plus, refer back to #1. MONEY SAVED.
9. Smart Bottom Cloth Diapers are Better for the Environment
I’ll admit, this one wasn’t huge for me. It’s a good side bonus, but my main concern was #3. Do you know how long it takes a disposable diaper to decompose? I don’t, and actually… no one knows how long for sure. It is estimated that it takes about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.
10. FLUFF is KING!
If nothing else, believe me when I say a little baby with a HUGE FLUFFY bum is SO. DANG. CUTE. Their large bum being so disproportionate to their body is hilarious, and they have the CUTEST waddle. Plus, who needs to fuss with diaper covers? Your cloth diapers are so cute, they don’t need covers! I’ve also just put my babe in a cloth diaper with a shirt and leg warmers… needless to say, it’s adorable. Also, your cloth diapers can double as swim diapers! You can remove the inserts or leave them in – either way, the elastics will keep anything that needs to be contained…CONTAINED!
Yes, the idea to use cloth diapers was crazy at first, but the hardest part was GETTING STARTED. Trust me! I probably won’t have you convinced to switch over to Smart Bottom cloth diapers after reading this, and that’s ok! It’s not until you jump in and see how easy it is – that’s when you’ll change your mind!
Be sure to check out all of my cloth diaper essentials in this post – here are a few of my faves!
Charlie Banana OS diapers
Logan and Lenora wetbag (large)
Spray Pal
Cloth wipes
A great list! I would add that they are also healthier… no chemicals against baby’s skin for 98% of their lives for the first few years has to have an impact I think!
Did you colour your own diaper (the doo-dle me I see in your pics)?