Why We Cloth Diaper

When was pregnant, I spent a lot of time doing a lot of research and this lead me to come to a lot of conclusions.  One of those conclusions is that I want to cloth diaper.

We decided to do this for the following reasons:

1. It's healthier for the baby.  The chemicals and substances in a disposable diaper is not good for baby's sensitive bottom.  The disposable diapers are super absorbent.  This is good in some regards as it will soak up all the baby's poop and pee.  On the other hand, this will dry out the baby's skin and can lead to diaper rash.
2. It is WAY cheaper.  I have probably spent about $300 to $400 in purchasing cloth diapers and supplies.  I have purchased all the diapers I need until my son is completely potty trained.  I have heard estimates that using exclusively disposables would cost over $2,000.  If you have a second child, you don't have to spend that much money for cloth again.  If we have another child, we already have our diaper stash. If we change him  more, it costs us no more.  
3. Your child is more aware of wetness.  You have to change him more often, as no one likes to sit in their own filth.  That can be a pro or con depending on your point of view.  For us, we consider it a pro, while it's more work, I feel it is healthier.  It is also easier to potty train as they are more aware of their wet diaper (our son is mostly potty trained at less than two-years old!).   Admittedly, once Jaxson turned 18 months, we have started to put him in disposables at night.  We think the wetness caused him to wake up.  So using both disposable and cloth is a viable option.
4. Cloth diapers are way cuter than plain ole disposables.  They come in different colors and designs.
5. Better for the environment.  We buy them once, and we re-use.  Our footprint is much less.  And since we are the parents, we are saving this planet for those sweet little hineys we are diapering.
6. If you use prefolds or flats (I will cover this in my next post), you can re-use them as rags.  I know my husband's parents have uses his old diapers for years.  In fact when we got our first batch of prefolds, he laughed because he thought those were rags for washing cars.  He never knew they were his old diapers.
7. They are great at keeping leaks at bay.  Yes, we have had some leaks, but none like I have heard of from other parents.  We have had little bit of poo that got on his leg, or just on the outside of the diaper, but that has been rare.  We have never had a blow out that resulted in a mess covering more than just a spot.  This is hard to believe, but it is true.  These diapers just work better.   We used disposable diapers on a trip we took to Florida.  We were amazed at how much better our cloth ones work.

Fun cloth diapers!