Cloth Diapers Don’t Always Work

Changing diapers is one of the least favorite things to do as a parent - it is not like anyone loves the gross smell and cleanup that must take place as part of changing diapers. Outside of not sleeping at night, diapers are one of the not fun parts of raising a baby. Getting through the diapering phase will take a couple of years, but you will be glad when it is done - no more diapers to change, and no more poop to deal with.

The big rage the last several years among parents is to use cloth diapers. Cloth diapers used to be the only choice among parents years ago - you would always use cloth diapers for your kids because there weren’t disposable diapers. That has been the case for decades though, and many parents moved to using disposable diapers. Cloth diapers have made a bit of a comeback recently though, and they're becoming more common.

Cloth diapers have many benefits that are touted compared to disposable diapers. Disposable diapers obviously produce far less waste as you’re not throwing the diapers away, but washing them after each use. If you’re planning to have multiple kids, cloth diapers can end up being cheaper as you’re not constantly buying new diapers all of the time - you can also sell them after being done with them.

While there are certainly advantages to cloth diapers, there are a lot of drawbacks. If you go to a site that is trying to sell you on cloth diapers, they’ll make sure you know all of those great benefits, but will usually fail to mention the drawbacks. They obviously want you to go for cloth diapers, so knowing the benefits is great. Cloth diapers can be great for some, but you should know why they’re not great as well.

Cloth diapers are going to cost a lot of money up front. If you don’t have the money to be able to buy them outright, or you’re simply unsure about how many kids you’re going to have, it’s likely not worth getting into cloth diapers. Disposable diapers don’t have to be crazy expensive - buy the no-name brands from places like Costco, Target or Walmart - they generally work just as well if not better than the regular ones.

For some kids, cloth diapers will leak much more easily than regular diapers. While you have explosions and leaks in regular diapers, it seems that cloth diapers tend to leak more easily. Part of this is because they’re not as absorbent as disposable diapers. You’ll likely be changing diapers more often because of this than you would with disposable diapers. More messes, and more changing of diapers is quite common with cloth diapers.

Changing diapers is already not fun because of the smell, but with cloth diapers you get to deal with it even more often than with disposable diapers. Besides changing the diapers, you have to wash them as well - back to the poop filled diapers. You’re also going to be doing a lot of laundry as well. Diapers will take over your laundry completely and you’ll feel like you’re constantly washing them.

Finally, you may be able to sell the cloth diapers when you’re done with them, but you’ll be selling for pennies on the dollar. While it may make cloth diapers worth it (from the savings of disposable diapers), there’s no guarantee that it will. Don’t expect to get much money back when you’re done.

Cloth diapers may seem like a great idea when you’re preparing for a baby, but there are a lot of drawbacks as well. If you’re still interested, go ahead. Diapers aren’t fun in any fashion, so saving the world from some extra waste is always great.