Cloth and Disposable Diaper Cost Comparison
Written by Jill // October 18, 2011 // Babies // 11 Comments
Many people say that the diapers you begin with are the diapers you will use until toilet training. We would have to concur. Our hospital made us use cloth from day one (it’s easier to see signs of urination and make sure baby is getting enough to eat). We could have done without the diaper pins (ouch!!), but now that we have cloth diapers with snaps and velcro, we feel pretty confident. How many people do you know bought cloth and then returned them after using disposables at the hospital? Here is a Cloth and Disposable Diaper Cost Comparison sheet.All we can say, is – discuss the options carefully, and make a commitment to your decision. For both health and financial reasons, you will want to weigh the choices.
Many people can’t imaging washing diapers, but there are services available. Speaking from personal experience, we’ve been washing diapers for 4 years straight and it doesn’t really phase us. We use a dry pail, throw liners and waste in the toilet, and then put the whole works in the washer with detergent and borax or Oxyclean. In the summer it is terribly satisfying to see a clothesline full of clean diapers, and in winter the dryer makes them soft and fluffy. Our grandmothers didn’t have the option and they never complained.. (expect when speaking of that walk to school in the snow – uphill both ways..). Before you make your choice, check out our Cost Comparison: Disposables, Hybrids, Diaper Services & Cloth Diapers.
Disposables (based on mid-range priced brand name diaper) + Accessories
0-3 months 12 changes per day + wipes + diaper Genie/refills: $479
3-6 months 8 changes per day + wipes + diaper Genie/refills: $320
6-30 months 6 changes per day + wipes + diaper Genie/refills: $1930
30-36 months 4 trainers + 2 diapers per day + wipes + diaper Genie/refills: $562
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TOTAL of 7200 diaper changes for 3 years: $3291
Hybrid Flushable/Compostable Diapers for 0-36 months (No Accessories): Covers, Waterproof Liners & Flushable/Compostable Pads: $3069
Diaper Delivery Service – Two Services available in Vancouver
1. 0-36 months of weekly diaper delivery service + Wipes + Covers + Diaper Pail: $3557
Mixture of Prefold and Contour Diapers & disposable wipes
Purchase your own covers & diaper pail
2. 0-36 months of weekly diaper delivery service + Wipes + Covers + Diaper Pail: $4128
Fitted Diapers & disposable wipes
Purchase your own covers & diaper pail
Service charges to 30 months, then free if not potty trained
Cloth Diapers + Accessories (Pail Liner + Tote Bag + 36 reusable baby wipes) for 0-36 months
48 Organic Cotton Prefolds + 8 Covers + 4 Snappis + Accessories: $415
or..
30 bumGenius One Size Pocket Diapers + Accessories: $825
or..
48 Kissaluv Cotton Fitted Diapers (24 sm, 24 med)+ 8 Covers + Accessories: $910
or..
40 Fuzzi Bunz Pocket Diapers (24 sm, 16 med) + Accessories: $1010
plus..
Home Laundering (based on 15 loads/month, including washer + dryer + detergent) = $533.88 (61% of cost is dryer use)
See also:
Cloth Diapering Basics
gDiapers
All stats and figures provided by New and Green Baby Co. For more information on Cloth Diapering Solutions for your family, visit www.newandgreen.com
Jill Amery is a mom of 2 monkeys/stormtroopers and Editor and Publisher at UrbanMommies Media. Though she's based in Canada, her palette is mostly French and her fashion sense is decidedly Italian. When taking a break from her busy travel schedule, she can be found hosting complicated dinner parties or surfing ebay for obscure vintage gowns.
11 Comments on "Cloth and Disposable Diaper Cost Comparison"
This looks pretty cloth biased to me. We go through about 5-6 disposable diapers per day for our 3 month old and don’t use any special refill bags for our diaper champ. I’d guess that cuts your cost estimate in half – making disposables far cheaper.
Thanks for this! I agree with the lady above (saying it is cloth biased) but I think that is a good thing! It’s amazing how much we spend on diapers.
Our family uses gDiapers (the Hybrid alternative). You can cut the cost of these down by using cloth inserts at home, or when your child gets a bit older to help with potty training.
Also: What’s wrong with being cloth biased? Even though we didn’t go with cloth I think that people should really be considering environmental impact and not just price.
We had a garbage strike in Toronto 2009 for 6 weeks through the hot sweltering summer; my husband was bragging to the neighbours that we didn’t have any garbage to take to the drop off site despite the fact that we have a 6 mos old baby. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I heard him championing the use of cloth diapers when there was so much initial resistance. I am CHEAP and for no other reason that we chose use cloth, however the reduced environmental impact, and health benefits are a bonus.
If you’re going to include the bill from the water to wash the diapers then you also need to include how much water is used in manufacturing a cloth diaper. That is not an equal comparison.
My son is now 2.5yrs old and we’ve only spent $600 on cloth diapers, total. He’ll be in these diapers until he’s trained in a couple of months. So that’s even cheaper than these stats! I bought the Mother-Ease one-size complete package (335$ + tax), plus some extra covers and prefolds. These stats are also based on laundering every 2 days, I launder every 3 days. Besides the obvious environmental benefits, cloth is a no-brainer cost benefit. (and let’s not forget #2 can use these diapers as well!!)
If you are going to include the water used in manufacturing a cloth diaper, you also need to include the water used to make a disposible diaper, and the gas used to get the pieces of the disposable together (3 factories, in 3 cities are used to make many disposables) and then the gas to get them to walmart and then to your home and then the garbage truck to take it to sit in the dump for hundreds of years.
I think this is a great comparison!
I love how defensive Mom’s get about the choices they make with their children! Wow!
I am a huge environmentalist, but I am also a realist when it comes to my life and what I can accomplish. My husband owns and operates his own company, we own two rental properties, I work part time as a recruiter, I volunteer for two food banks, and I have an 8 month old.
When my son was born, I had to make the decision to go disposable, because in reality, i don’t have the time to deal with washing and drying diapers!
I think all Mom’s should be supportive of the decisions each other has to make when it comes to their family, and leave the judgements elsewhere:)
I agree with Kate. What works for some might not work for others and there’s no need to get defensive about the choice you made, it was the right one for YOU. Lets stop being judgemental of one another.
I love the idea of cloth diapers but we decided to go with disposable. This is our first baby and we had no idea what to expect and disposable seemed the easier option and this stage.
That being said, I often toy with the idea of getting one or two cloth ones to try out, our son is only 7 months old so there’s still plenty of time to switch if it worked out.
For now, we’re sticking with disposable 100% :)
I’m expecting twins in a few months and have been researching this topic for months. My reasons for wanting to go with cloth are a combination of cost, environmental and health for babies (not necessarily in that order, in face I’d always put health first). Information does differ somewhat from site to site but I don’t think anyone can dispute the overall benefits of cloth diapers over disposable. What disposable does win at likely is time commitment and that’s just a realistic fact of life. We’re not finished our research yet, but are likely going to start with disposable when they are newborns and the try to shift into cloth or at least a hybrid. Not only are these our first 2, one has some considerable health risks and for the first few months anyway my choice of diaper is going to be weighed heavily towards convenience. I think if we all do what we can when we can environmentally, it will make a considerable difference. Even if that’s picking up a few cloth diapers and using them when we can. That being said, I support the choice you have all arrived at based on your personal circumstances.
If you have the time for, I recommend looking into infant potty training. I started with my son around 6 months and he’s getting pretty good at it. I’ve done cloth diapers since his birth and we find ourselves laundering once every 4-5 days now rather than 3. I imagine it will get better with time as we keep it up.
I wish I could see more modern articles about this topic.
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