COST:

There are countless reasons to use cloth diapers instead of single-use paper diapers. Among them are health and developmental, environmental, economic, convenience, and practicality reasons. Cloth diapering is a viable alternative to the short-sighted and wasteful practice of using single-use diapers. Cloth diapering holds clear and significant health and developmental, environmental, and economic advantages over single-use diapering. Additionally, the convenience of modern cloth diapering rivals the convenience of single-use diapers. Click here for detailed information

Here is a breakdown of the savings:
In 2.5 years of diapering...
Cost of disposables: $2000
Cost of disposable wipes: $800
Total cost disposables: $2800

Cost of cloth diapers (high end name brand): $840
Cost of cloth wipes (24): $42
Total cost of cloth: $882

Savings: $2000! And this is with the high end name brand diapers! You save even more with SmallSprout™!

Figure washing time as 15 minutes every other day. That adds up to just over 60 hours a year. With a savings of $800 a year, the time you spend laundering diapers equates to an earnings of $17.50 an hour.

If you hang dry your diapers, you are spending more time...but saving more $$ in utility costs.

Source: http://www.diapernet.org/whycloth.htm

HEALTH:

In 1955, before modern disposable diapers were sold and consumed, it was estimated that 7% of babies and toddlers had diaper rash. In 1991, long after plastic disposable diapers dominated the market, the number jumped to 78%.

Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paperbleaching process. It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals. In small quantities, dioxin causes birth defects, immune system suppression, skin and liver diseases, and genetic damage in lab animals. It is banned in most countries, but not the U.S.

Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) a toxic pollutant know to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

Disposable diapers contain Sodium Polyacrylate, a type of super sbsorbant polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. This chemical can cause skin irritations and severe allergic reactions including vomiting, staph infections, and fever.

ENVIRONMENT:

Cloth diapers are kinder to the environment than disposables. Consider these facts:

* Disposable diapers generate sixty times more solid waste than cloth.
* Disposable diapers use twenty times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp
* No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years under optimal circumstances, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.
* Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposable make up 50% of household waste.
* Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.
* Throwaway diapers use twice as much water as cotton diapers, mostly in the manufacturing process.

We encourage you to check out The Real Diaper Association for full detailed information on all of the above!