I LOVE the concept of saving money whenever I can. When I found out that I could save money on diapers by sewing my own, I knew that I had to try it. After sewing and using cloth diapers for the last 6 months, I wanted to review my experience with them and whether or not I think its worth it to use them.
Our Experience:
I actually really like our cloth diapers. I have a pretty good system of cloth diapering during the day, but we also use disposable diapers when we go on road trips, hiking trips, and at night when my daughter goes to bed. Ella is a morning pooper (sorry for tmi), so it works out for us that we rarely ever have to deal with soiled cloth diapers. When we do get that occasional soiled diaper, it is pretty simple to clean: you just shake the diaper out in the toilet, scrape the diaper with a scrub brush, and throw it in the diaper pail. I rarely have to touch anything icky with my bare hands.
BTW, there are these handy little tools that you can buy that hook up to your toilet to spray off soiled diapers. I never bought one, but I have heard that it makes cleaning messy diapers a WHOLE lot easier!
As far as leaks, we hardly have any with our diapers; we did have leaks in the beginning because Ella was too small for the diapers I made and the pee leaked from the leg opening, but she's grown into them and we don't have that problem anymore. The type of soaker (the fabric pad that is inserted into the diaper and holds in the pee) really helps with this, and buying quality soakers is key. I will get into what soakers I use later on in this article. We have 16 diapers that I have made total, and wash and dry them about 2-3 times a week.
The Benefits of Using Cloth Diapers:
Financial
We have saved a LOT of money by cloth diapering Ella. (We could save a lot more though if we chose to exclusively cloth diaper our daughter, but our active lifestyle doesn't always allow us to do that.) After you make the initial investment of sewing or buying your own cloth diapers, the only cost from there on out is just the cost to wash and dry the diapers.
Environmental
Cloth diapers have very little environmental impact. Disposable diapers, on the other hand, do. A child can potentially go through 9,000 diapers in the course of 30 months if you are exclusively using disposable diapers (that's 10 diapers everyday for 30 days for 30 months). That's a lot of trash to sit in a landfill somewhere! For me, this is not the main reason why I chose to use reusable diapers, but it is kind of like the cherry on top knowing that I can help cut down some of the environmental waste out there.
Health
It is not just a myth that cloth diapers help prevent diaper rash! My daughter rarely gets diaper rash now that we use cloth diapers.
Cuteness Factor
I love cloth diapers because they are so much cuter than disposable diapers. You can make them in whatever pattern you want, and can mix and match diapers with tops to make cute outfits! Plus, you don't need a diaper cover when you have such adorable diapers!
Resale Value
One nice thing about cloth diapers is that they hardly lose their value. Once your child has outgrown them, you can resell them to recoup some of the money you spent, which adds to your overall savings. This also provides environmental benefits as the diapers would be reused and recycled, instead of being thrown into a landfill.
We have saved a LOT of money by cloth diapering Ella. (We could save a lot more though if we chose to exclusively cloth diaper our daughter, but our active lifestyle doesn't always allow us to do that.) After you make the initial investment of sewing or buying your own cloth diapers, the only cost from there on out is just the cost to wash and dry the diapers.
Environmental
Cloth diapers have very little environmental impact. Disposable diapers, on the other hand, do. A child can potentially go through 9,000 diapers in the course of 30 months if you are exclusively using disposable diapers (that's 10 diapers everyday for 30 days for 30 months). That's a lot of trash to sit in a landfill somewhere! For me, this is not the main reason why I chose to use reusable diapers, but it is kind of like the cherry on top knowing that I can help cut down some of the environmental waste out there.
Health
It is not just a myth that cloth diapers help prevent diaper rash! My daughter rarely gets diaper rash now that we use cloth diapers.
Cuteness Factor
I love cloth diapers because they are so much cuter than disposable diapers. You can make them in whatever pattern you want, and can mix and match diapers with tops to make cute outfits! Plus, you don't need a diaper cover when you have such adorable diapers!
Resale Value
One nice thing about cloth diapers is that they hardly lose their value. Once your child has outgrown them, you can resell them to recoup some of the money you spent, which adds to your overall savings. This also provides environmental benefits as the diapers would be reused and recycled, instead of being thrown into a landfill.
The Cost of Making the Diapers:
For me, I spent about $137 on everything including fabric, soakers, tools, etc. If you want a breakdown of what those costs were, read below. If not, feel free to skip to the next section!
Initially, I spent $60 on materials to make cloth diapers. I got all of my supplies 40% off at Joann's (they were having a promotion) and used a $5 off coupon. Everything I bought included:
- $20 on plain, white waterproof "Outer" fabric (2.3 yards)
- $10 on Dri-Wicking "Liner" fabric (2 yards (we got the end of the bolt)
- $6.59 on plastic snaps
- $12 on the snap pliers
- $7 on the Fold Over Elastic (don't buy it, its only decorative, and I haven't even used it yet)
- $6 on an instruction/pattern book
- $3 on flannel fabric to make Soakers (1 yard total)
I could have made 16 white, plain cloth diapers from just the above materials, but I made a couple and realized that they were BORING! Actually, my husband and I saw some cute fabric on the clearance rack at Joann's, and he convinced me to make some cute diapers that had a pattern to it. Also, I didn't have a waterproof diaper pail liner, and I couldn't wait a month to buy one on ebay from China, so we bought some more stuff. We spent about $27 extra on:
- $9 on plain, white waterproof "Outer" fabric (1.3 yards)
- $18 on an arrangement of cute, patterned fabric (about 8 yards total)
I made the diaper pail liner out of the waterproof fabric, and still have extra to make a few more diapers with. Likewise, I have a few yards of patterned fabric that I am waiting to use for when I have to make a larger size of diapers when my daughter outgrows the ones she's using.
Other costs:
- $50 for 24 charcoal bamboo, 5 layer antimicrobial soakers
I made a few soakers with the flannel fabric that I had bought during my initial trip to Joann's, tried them out, and they FAILED MISERABLY. So, I ended up buying bamboo soakers on eBay and LOVE them! They are extremely absorbent and do exactly what they are meant to do! You can find soakers anywhere online - amazon, ebay, etc. Sometimes you can find them in maternity consignment shops as well. They come in a variety of materials and layers, but I suggest buying the soakers with the most layers as possible.
Is it worth it?
The question you are all probably wondering is, is it worth it to cloth diaper my child? And to that, I would say, it depends! Cloth diapering is not for everyone, and that's ok! I don't find it much different than using disposable diapers, except it is a little less convenient to have to wash out soiled diapers in the toilet and launder them. Because I had the opportunity to save money, I love to sew, and I have no problem cleaning the diapers, it was a no-brainer for me to try to make and use the diapers.
Alternatively, you can buy cloth diapers on-line or at maternity consignment shops, but they are more expensive that way. I say if you want to try them out, buy one or two and see how you feel about using them. If its not what you want to do, then you haven't spent too much money, and you can probably re-sell them online pretty easy.
If making cloth diapers sounds like something that you would like to give a go at, there are pattern books at any craft store and there are free diaper patterns on pinterest. I had a lot of fun making my cloth diapers, and will be making more in the future when my daughter gets bigger!
Alternatively, you can buy cloth diapers on-line or at maternity consignment shops, but they are more expensive that way. I say if you want to try them out, buy one or two and see how you feel about using them. If its not what you want to do, then you haven't spent too much money, and you can probably re-sell them online pretty easy.
If making cloth diapers sounds like something that you would like to give a go at, there are pattern books at any craft store and there are free diaper patterns on pinterest. I had a lot of fun making my cloth diapers, and will be making more in the future when my daughter gets bigger!
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