The Great Cloth vs Disposables Debate;

Bringing up children is a minefield filled with the endless question of "Am I doing it right?" One of the choices made early on in the life of a child is which type of nappy to use.

Disposables have long been seen to have the advantages of ease of use and stay dry qualities, but they are not alone in this.

Cloth nappies now come in many different styles with endless choices from stay dry, breathable, organic, synthetic, natural, covered or all-in-one.

Cloth nappies are also very cost effective, saving you thousands over the nappy wearing years of your children's lives.

The cost of disposables;
Over the lifetime of a nappy-wearing child, you will use about 6,000 "disposables", at an average cost of say $0.45 = $2,700.
Plus the cost of rubbish bags ($1.30 ea) and your total cost is $2770.
If you chose to use a nappy wrapper and preserve your child's poos for eternity, the total cost escalates to $3,550.
If your child uses more nappies, the cost increases eg: 6,500 "disposables" will cost $4,050.

The cost of cloth nappies;
You will need overnaps (about $5 each) and liners (can be re-used as wipes $8 per box of 100), a couple of buckets with lids (about $10 each) and some napisan (about $5 a jar, you will use about 6 jars p.a.)
Nappies can be chucked in with the daily load of washing…but if you want to include the cost of washing, this is estimated at $50 p.a.
If you use a dryer, this will add to the cost. So the all up cost of nappies is estimated at about $665 (but for your second child, if you re-use nappies and covers, it would cost $400).
If your child uses more nappies, with cloth, the increase in cost is neglible.
So using cloth could potentially be 10 times cheaper than "disposables".
In addition, research points to toddlers potty-training approximately 6 months earlier if brought up in cloth nappies – the "wees = wet nappies" connection occurs with cloth much better than with "disposables"!

Cloth nappies are not hard to use, or wash, (they are also very cute, and can be quite addictive, just ask some of the nappy using mums on The Nappy Network forum)

If you'd like more information first hand from nappy using Mums (and Dads!) visit The Nappy Network, the forum is full of useful ideas, sewing help, and has a great section with feedback on different brands and styles of nappies.

If you'd like to see more information on this page, please contact us.
The cost of disposable vs cloth taken from the Zero Waste website