Why We Are Cloth Diapering Our Baby (and You Should too).

Caring for the world we’re leaving our little one is so very important and that’s why we are cloth diapering our baby (and think you should too).

I grew up in Cuba, and was raised on cloth diapering. When I told my mother I was planning on doing the same with our child she almost collapsed. She remembered days of banging cloth against concrete to try to remove stains. The truth is, cloth diapering has evolved. Today, not only do we have many options for cloth diapering, but most of them are so easy it’s hardly any different than conventional disposable diapering.

Thinking of the environment

We made the choice to do cloth diapering because of the environmental impact disposable diapers have on the planet. Diapers are made with toxic chemicals and plastic, and take a very long time to biodegrade. As travelers, we understand carrying a bag filled with poo stained cloth is not the most ideal of scenarios. But leaving a planet filled with pollution is far less appealing.

Read our blog post on Sustainable practices for digital nomad parents!!

Compromise

We’ve made a compromise of 90-10. We will cloth diaper 90% of the time, and have resorted to extremely eco conscious disposable diapers for the occasional outing. This way, if we encounter ourselves in a situation where we definitely don’t want to carry poop around, we can use bamboo diapers.

We are big fans of doing things that help, wether this is 100% of the time or only sometimes. We believe a little goes a long way. We’ve met so many parents who have given up on cloth diapering because it was “too difficult” so we figured by giving ourselves a break we can offset times when we simply don’t feel like (or are unable to) do laundry or deal with the cloth laundry load.

Wash often, avoid stains and odors

As long as you have access to a washing machine (which we almost always do anyway) cloth diapering is not all that different from its less eco friendly alternative. Aside from its earth friendly benefits, it is also a very pocket friendly alternative. It is estimated parents spend upwards of $2000 USD for diapers with the average kid. Cloth diapers cost a big to start up with, but then you never worry about extra costs.

Another super useful tool is to have a diaper pail that controls odors. This might seem obvious but a lot of diaper pails in the market do not conceal odors. We love our Ubbi diaper pail, as it really keeps all smells inside. We actually have two of them, one for disposables and one for cloth diapers.

Cloth Diapers that don’t break the bank

We have found an amazing cloth diaper company which is actually very budget friendly:  Wegreeco . You can find them on amazon, and one of their diaper sets costs less than $40. We added their diaper packs to our registry, and the best part is they come with inserts (bamboo) 6 diapers and a wet bag. We like to hang ours in our stroller when we take baby Alaska for walks. Then we can just add the dirty diapers there, and throw the whole thing in the washer when we get home.

We also love how they are perfect for newborns all the way to potty training. A lot of diapers say they are one size, but then the baby ends up with a diaper that hangs all the way to her knees. Worse yet, because they’re so big, everything comes out the side of the legs. Wegreeco diapers fold down to just small enough to actually fit a newborn and judging by how much extra buckles they have I am sure they will fit our baby for many months (and a few years) to come.

Aside from all this, they also make diaper pail liners, so us cloth diapering mamas can have an easy and eco conscious solution for storing dirty diapers.

Alternatives

We did a combination of new and used diapers and saved a ton of money this way. The used diapers are much more comfortable (inserts and diapers need to be washed several times to be ready for use anyway) and the convenience of all the money you save can be put towards a trip or two. (or anything else you’d like or need to purchase) Win Win!

Takeaway

With all the options available to us today, there simply is no excuse to not go the eco friendly route. We love the idea of doing better for the environment and the world we are leaving behind to our baby, and after doing some research and cloth diapering our baby so far, we really think it is doable. It’s not that much different from disposable diapering. The cost is much less even if you purchase brand new, and there are lots of cost effective companies.

What do you think, would you cloth diaper your babies? Why or why not?