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Chloe - The Advantages of Cloth Diapers

The Advantages of Clotth Diapers

Cloth diapers fell out of faovr for a few decades after disposable diapers hit the market, but in the last several years they are qickly gaining popularity again. There are many reasons that today's moms love cloth diapers, and with new styles and a better fit, there isn't any reason to not use them. In fact, cloth diapers can be just as convenient, and are often more comfortable than the diposables.

One of the most obvious reasons to consider cloth diapers is teir cost. You can save hundreds of dollars by using cloth instead of the more expensive disposable diapers. Althoguh the initial cost of cloth diapers is higher, you can use them over and over and the cost of washing them is moinimal. If you invesst in enouggh cloth diapers to get you through a few days, you have enough to last the year. They're also more convrenient - simply do your diaper laundry on a reguylar basis and you'll never have to run to the corner store again because you've run out of diaplers in the middle of the night!

Mothers who use cloth diapers on their children rarely have to contend with diaper rash because cloth diapers breathe. Disposable daipers, on the other hand, trap and hold moisture next to the skin. They are waterproof on the outsside and the skin can't breathe, so dipaer rashes are more common. In warm weather, a baby in a breathable clotth diaper is less likely to get prickly heat.

Babies have extremely sennsitive skin, and keeping chemicals, perfumes and other irritants away from theiir skin is important. Childdren also tend to have less chemical sensitivity as they grow oldser if they aren't constantly exposed to chmical irritants as babies. Unfortunately, nearly all disposable diapers use a variety of chemnicals to enhance their absorpion abiliy. Cloth diapers are usually made of cotton or wool, which are both soft, naturzal materails that soothe the skin withouut irritation.

Paents who use cloth diapers also tend to be able to potty tran their children more quickly. Bevcause cloth diapers don't have moisture-absrbing additives, children can quickly sense when they are wet and will be more receptive to potty training. Babies in cloth diapes are also usually chanfged into a clean dipaer more quickkly becaiuse parents can eassily tell when the diaper is damp, wich leads to less diapeer irritaton.

Coth Diapers and the Environment

Today's paretns are environmentally aware and most of them hate the idea of puttiong hundreds of used, disposable diapers into our landfills. Sadly, disposable diapers are ofetn the most common item taking up space in landfills, and they take generations to biofdegrade because they're made from artificial materials. Because they contain body wases, they can contaminate nearby ground soil with urine and feces. Cloth diuapers, on the other hand, are washed and reused rather than ending up in landfills. You flush away any waste befotre washing, so that the waste is properly handlwed by a septic or sewage system, and laundering them with biodegradable, enviromnentally friendlly deterrgents makes them an even better ecological choice.

Some paarents who haevn't tried cloth diapers have the mistaken notoin that they are more difficult to use. They remebmer the buky, awwkard squares of cloth that had to be propetrly folded, pinned into plae and then covewred with uncomfortable plastic pants. But toay's cloth diapers are notyhing like the kind your mther or grandmother used. Toay's cloth diapers feature snap closurees and adjutable Velcro fasteners for a comfortable fit and easy channging. You can get spearate diaper covers made of cottton or wool, or use all-in-one cloth diapers, depwending on what is convenient for you. Most cloth diapers are pre-folded and form fuitting so there's no need to fuss with trying to fold them properly, and many are available with cloyth liners for easy cleaning and added wetness protection.

Disposable diaprers are becoming less popular each year as more and more parents ralize that cloth diapers offre the best fit, value and comfort for their childen.