Dressing Your Baby’s Bottom

When considering how to dress your baby’s bottom – in the attempt to keep them dry and clean – the question of disposable diapers versus cloth usually comes up. Knowing how to weigh the options accurately is very helpful. What is important for one mother may not be as important for another. You can find a wide array of cloth and disposable options that readily meet any baby’s needs. The key will be finding the diaper features that meet you and your family’s lifestyle.

The types of concerns that a mother faces, when making the cloth versus disposable decision, range greatly. A few of the concerns surrounding the disposable versus cloth debate are: environmental, allergic, cleanliness, containment, safety, daycare, performance, and especially concerns about cost.

There really is a lot of information out there that can help guide a mother through this process. Let’s consider a few of the few key points.

Environmental concerns: Cloth diapers require resources in order to be cleaned and reused. Disposable diapers require materials to be made and do not break down well in the environment. (Though there are some better for baby and environment diapers available these days…YAY!)

Allergies: Some babies may be allergic to certain perfumes and materials in disposable diapers. Also, some babies may not tolerate plastic covers that go over cloth diapers very well (although not all cloth diapers require plastic covers).

Cleanliness: Making sure your baby is clean and dry is top priority. Understanding the functions of a cloth diaper and the disposable diaper are very important regarding this topic. There are both cloth and disposable options that do a wonderful job in keeping your baby clean. The technology in both types of diapers has come a long way.

Containment: Knowing how to contain cloth diapers – after being soiled – and how to clean them correctly is important. There are containers that store soiled diapers (both cloth and disposable) until you are ready to dispose of them or clean them (but don’t wait too long!).

There are cleaning services that will pick up and clean cloth diapers for you. There are portable containment bags that keep odor and soiled material away from clean items in the diaper bag. But, washing cloth diapers doesn’t have to be such a chore. There are much better ways to keep diapers nice and fresh than there ever have been!

There is the consideration of time. Some moms don’t feel that they have time for cloth diapers. Others feel that it is worth commiting the time it takes for the environment’s sake and to keep chemicals away from their little one’s bottom. Others find cloth less expensive and want to save money by using them. I’m kind of middle of the road. I use both at different periods depending on the goings on in my life. I used cloth more strictly for the first several babies and became more lax as I became more overwhelmed with the duties of motherhood. Using disposable when traveling has been a life saver and now with more eco friendly diapers available, I don’t have to fret about a thing.

Don’t feel bad if others don’t approve of which choice you have made. You need to consider what’s best for you and your family.

We have covered just a few areas here, but there are many more areas to explore. Taking the time to consider all of the options – when deciding whether to use cloth versus disposable diapers – is the key to finding the right fit for you and your baby.