Cloth diapers are economical, environmentally friendly, much healthier for babies, and we don't want to forget to mention that modern day cloth diapers have become very convenient.

Today's cloth diapering systems are much easier than what our mothers or grandmothers did. Modern day cloth diapers do not need pins with their Velcro or snap closures (fitted diapers have these handy closures, the old fashioned prefold or flat diaper usually do not, however, the old fashioned prefolds can be held closed with out pins with the modern day wraps or snappis) and Velcro or snap closure diaper cover wraps.

The All-in-one, also known as the AIOs, are available. What are AIOs? They are fitted cloth diapers with the waterproof cover sewn onto the diaper. AIOs are as easy and convenient to use on a baby as a disposable diaper.

We started cloth diapering because it was an economical choice compared to using only disposable diapers. We was also were concerned with all the waste that disposable diapers produce. We will talk more about the waste issues further down on this page.

It costs between $2,000.00 and $3,000.00 or more to disposable diaper a baby for 2 years. It costs between $300.00 and $500.00 to cloth diaper a baby for the entire time they are in diapers. You can reuse your baby's cloth diaper on any other babies you have. This brings even bigger savings! There is a handy information page that will calculate the math we just gave you on how much money for cloth vs. disposable located at www.diaperpin.com. This terrific website even adds in how much the water bill is in the total for you if you like.

• Cloth diapers are healthier for your baby for many reasons and we have listed here just a few.....There has been a huge rise in childhood asthma and in Louisiana more than 15% have asthma. It is interesting that this is very likely linked to a study in the Archives of Environmental Health that carries information stating that the plastic and other materials used in disposable diapers emit toxic gases, such as, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, dipentene, isopropylbenzene,trimethylbenzene, and anisaldehyde. These gases can create acute respiratory toxicity.
• Cloth diapers do not have artificial chemical absorbents such as acrylic acid polymer salts which turn into gel when they come in contact with moisture but these chemicals are found in most leading disposable diapers and baby's can have allergies to these chemicals.
• Baby's skin breaths better in cotton diapers and covers compared to disposable diapers. Scientist's studies found that disposable diapers can raise the scrotal temperature of a baby boy and that is something to be concerned about since this could be an important factor in the decline of semen quality and the increasing incidence of testicular cancer in adult males.
• Cloth diapers are also known to help toddlers potty train faster because they are aware that their diaper is wet if they do not have an inexpensive fleece liner in their diaper during the potty training time.

Okay, we said that we would get back to this part. Cloth diapers are better for the earth, especially, if organic material is used since organic cotton is grown with out using any chemicals or pesticides. Cloth diapers are not adding to the large amount of waste that disposable diapers create and disposable diapers, as you may already know, are not biodegradable. The human waste in disposable diapers are often not properly disposed and can leak into the drinking water causing serious illness germs in our water supply.

We hope that this information is helpful. You can find more information on this subject on The Diaper Jungle!

Please email me at LDukeK@aol.com if you have any questions you would like to send our way about cloth diapers and other natural parenting items. We will do our best to answer them.

Happy Cloth Diapering,

Lynda and Jenna