Think about this: Cloth diapering is all pros and no cons.

Did you know that cloth diapering is cheaper than purchasing your regular run-of-the-mill plastic diapers? According to The Stork, a local diaper delivery service in Charlottesville, VA, even a cloth diaper service such as this can guarantee diapers at a cost of 33 cents/unit, which is the same as a unit of Huggies. This fee, to top it off, includes the diaper service itself. All one needs to do is throw a dirty diaper into a bag and wait for it to be picked up by The Stork at home. And what does this person get in return? Clean diapers, of course. Imagine how much less the cost is if you own your own cloth diapers and are washing them yourself?

And just how easy is it to wash cloth diapers? For a newborn who is nursing, it’s as simple as throwing them straight into the washing machine. For an older baby, diapers need only be rinsed in the bathtub or sink, then washed in the washing machine.

And how might we decrease the costs of cloth diapering even more? Instead of purchasing from a company that sells pre-fabbed diapers, send a cloth diaper sewing pattern to a mother, mother-in-law, or friend of a friend who sews. In all cases, offer to reimburse for all fabric costs and labor, unless of course, your friend or family member wants to offer these cute little white ones to you as a shower gift proxy. You could even ask them to modify the pattern to include a fold-over feature or a small dip near the front of the diaper for baby’s healing belly button.

Check out popular patterns here!

My mom is currently working on my diapers and I can’t wait to put them to good use!

Also, for you really easy breezy hippies out there, Gerber makes really cheap cloth diaper panels sold in packages of 4-6 that are so multi-purpose that you’re going to want them in your baby repertoire no matter what. Use them for spit-up clean ups, burp cloths, blankets, and babies who need an emergency diaper change or who are in-between sizes. Do keep in mind, though, that the sewing patterns offered above are very close to a one-size-fits-all baby, at least at the beginning. One pattern can fit a baby anywhere from 6-30 pounds!

Lest we forget that the best news to cloth diapering has got to be the next-to-zero waste factor. I think both baby and parents and sleep and breath easier knowing that their diapers are not sitting in a landfill somewhere.

Also, cloth diapered babies are less likely to develop diaper rash, as the outer layer of the diaper is made of cloth, not plastic. Plastic locks in moisture while cloth allows baby’s bum to breath!

One final tidbit: did you know that cloth diapered babies are more likely to potty train earlier than plastic-diapered babies? It’s because cloth diapers do not wick away liquid as magically as the infinite layers inside plastic diapers, therefore teaching your children a very important lesson: If they don’t like to feel wet, then they will learn how to remedy their situation naturally by using the toilet instead of the diaper. The average cloth-diapered baby is potty trained by age two.

woohoo!