Cloth or disposable? That's the question, especially with birth to death diapers now available, and potty training delayed for years.
In my opinion, disposable diapers have contributed to the trend to keep toddlers in diapers for longer and longer times, what with those "pull-ups" and "big kid" diapers. There's a diaper size for everyone except the smallest preemies. Those preemie diapers are often huge on the smallest preemies - my 2 youngest were premature and potty trained before they were large enough to wear the disposable premature pampers. That's why they wore handkerchiefs as diapers before they graduated to the birds-eye flats.
Personally, having babysat for several hundred children and raised my own, I lean very very heavily towards cloth diapers, whether one uses handkerchiefs as I did (because regular cloth diapers might as well have been cocoons), pre-folds, snap ons, or other types of diapers (and ye ghods, some of those can be expensive!).
I am a fan of the birds-eye cloth diapers, with the snappi fasteners or the traditional diaper pins and these diaper covers, I only spent maybe $20 on all their diaper supplies (today, I'd probably spend about $50 for the same supplies).
Even though my youngest is nearly 30 years old, I still have the 2 dozen birds eye flat diapers and the 6 diaper pins I bought for them. Not one of them has gone into a landfill.
Back then, disposable diapers cost about 10¢ a diaper (today, they cost about 25¢ - if you buy in bulk, you can get that price down to around 15¢). The cloth diaper system I used cost $1.20 for one change, but was infinitely re-useable. The dispoable was a one-time use.
If I'd used disposable diapers, with changing them 6 - 10 times a day, I'd have spent between 60¢ and $1.00 a day on diapers. Over the course of their babyhood until they were potty trained (approximately 540 days if the baby is potty trained by 18 months), that would have worked out to $432 in disposable diapers instead of the $20 I spent. Adding in laundry expenses (I hand washed and line dried), add in another $2.00 for laundry detergent and bleach. $22 as opposed to $432 - it was a no-brainer for me. I used cloth.
If I were to care for a baby today, I'd use the exact same system I used on my children - birds eye flat cotton diapers, diaper pins, and the re-useable diaper covers. It would cost me about $50 to get set up ($100 if I was being luxurious) and then a bit more for laundry detergent, but in the end, I'd be spending hundreds less than if I used disposables. And since the average age for potty training is now much older than it was (12-18 months when my children were born, and 29-38 months now), disposable diapers will cost about $1,814. Compared to $100.
I would not use the fancy-schmancy fuzzibunz or bumgenius diapers that cost $10 - $20 each because hte flat birds eye diapers are just fine. You need at least 12 to get through a day, and 24 is good to have on hand in case of issues like diarrhea. Of course, $250 - $500 is still much cheaper than $1,814, so if you have the funds to spare for the fancy ones, go for it. I don't know how they'd hold up 30 years from now - the birds-eye ones I bought diapered 2 babies and are starting to wear a bit thin now, and have been used as burp cloths, diapers, polishing cloths, doll clothes, pootie and woozle wraps, bandages, dolly diapers, tea party tablecloths, pirate hats, bandanas, sweat cloths, toddler swim suit cover-ups, and over-sized hankies. Try that with a fuzzibunz!
Birds-eye flat fold cloth diapers for the win!
Back then I wasn't as concerned about the environmental costs of diapers. Most people preferred cloth diapers as disposables were just getting popular.
Today, I'd go with cloth diapers because of the environmental and social factors.
Social?
Why yes.
Do you realize how disgusting it is to see used diapers clumped on the roadside? To be driving along and have a person in a car up ahead toss a used diaper out the window and have it slap against your window, smearing baby poop on your windshield so you have to pull over and clean it off before you can drive on? Used diapers left on the floor of the restroom (even though there's a trash can not 2 feet away)? Parents who change the diaper on the dining table in the restaurant and leave the used diaper with the dirty dishes?
It's as bad as the smokers who leave their cigarette butts wherever they feel like dropping them.
I loathe people who use disposable diapers almost more for their inconsideration than I do for their obliviousness to the environment.
Please note - I still have and use (as polishing and cleaning cloths now) every diaper I bought. When they do end in the landfill, because they are 100% cotton, they will become compost, not a clumped plastic problem. And they will be clean and sterilized so they don't spread bacteria and germs like disposable diapers.
20 billion diapers find their way to landfills a year. 200,000 trees are used to make disposable diapers. 3.4 billion gallons of fuel oil are used in manufacturing disposable diapers. It takes 500 years for disposable diapers to degrade (I know, they are supposed to be "environmentally friendly, meaning they will decompose when exposed to oxygen and sunlight - but realistically, how many are wrapped in plastic and disposed of so they never see the light of day or receive the needed oxygen?). As they decompose, they release chemicals that are not pleasant because they are composed of those chemicals. Every part of a disposable diaper is treated with chemicals and nowadays, with cutesy dyes that are also not kind on the environment.
Cloth diapers still take a toll on the environment to manufacture, but they come from renewable resources (cotton), last for decades, and will decompose quickly in a landfill or long term compost (especially if they've worn to threads by the time they are tossed out).
If they'd had this device back then, I'd have bought one. How much easier it would have been to launder the diapers! And bonus - it can be used as a bidet.
I think it's a no contest when it comes to cloth vs disposables.
Obviously, I am on the losing side, as disposables are so ubiquitous. The convenience comes at too high a price for me, and I can't seem to convince anyone that cloth is superior to disposables.