Before Zachary was even born, I knew that I wanted to cloth diaper but we didn't have a washer and dryer in our apartment and that would have made things difficult. Louis and I decided that we would start cloth diapering when we moved to a place with a W/D. There are several reasons I wanted to go this direction and not use disposables.
1) I didn't want to contribute to landfills. Diapers can fill up a garbage bag so fast and I wanted to be a little more green.
2) With Louis in school we are trying to save money any way we can. Cloth diapering is cheaper in the long run than disposables. Especially as the child gets older and less diapers come in a pack. Currently, all we have to pay for is the laundry soap and that last for months. Our water is paid in our rent and we hang the diapers on a drying rack so we don't use electricity for them.
It's also nice not having to worry about running out of diapers and having to go to the store to buy a new pack. The only times we use a disposable (plant based and chlorine free) are at night, he is a heavy wetter and tends to leak in cloth, and when we are out of the house for more than 3 hours.
What further persuaded me to choose cloth diapering is how much the disposables have irritated his skin. Ever since he was born the elastic on the inside of the disposables rubbed and made his skin really sore. At his 2 month check up the doctor had to prescribe a cream to help the skin around his crotch heal. After that, I had to put A & D on the inside of his legs on every other diaper change to keep him from getting another infection. It was becoming a pain to do this and I knew it wasn't comfortable for him. So, I switched to cloth when we got into the duplex and it has been wonderful. I have not had to use any of the diaper cream since and the disposables at night don't bother him because he's not wearing them all the time.
In short, it's not for everyone but it was the best choice for us.
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