Monday, November 5, 2007

Cloth Diapers - A Smart Choice

Just as proper nutrition is important for your baby's welfare, so is hygiene and cleanliness. Babies have little or no control over their bodily functions, so they expel a lot of waste, and keeping them clean can be a daunting task.

Less than thirty years ago, disposable diapers were considered a luxury, so the only option was cotton diapers, which require a ton of laundry work. Nowadays, an increasing number of people use cotton diapers, and people that use these diapers for their babies are considered to be odd. There are several reasons that the parents of today might want to use cotton diapers instead of disposables, and, believe it or not, cloth diapers are starting to make a bit of a comeback.

The biggest personal reason that a parent may opt to clothe her baby's bottom in cotton diapers as opposed to disposable diapers is financial. Cloth diapers are simply cheaper than disposable nappies.

The greatest concern for parents is to keep the skin of their babies dry, healthy and free from diaper rash. A cloth diaper is soft against your baby's skin. They are also free of the many chemicals contained in disposable diapers. A baby can be very sensitive to the ingredients used in disposable diapers.

It is estimated that cloth nappies only take around six months to degrade in landfill site, while disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product in landfills today, and they may take up to 500 years to decompose.

Gone are the days of complicated folding methods and misplaced safety pins because today's cloth diapers are pre cut and shaped to cover baby's nether regions quickly and easily. Now, they also come with Velcro fasteners or snaps for ease in fastening. The best feature of all is that many now have a flushable, biodegradable paper lining that will catch solid waste, allowing it to be easily disposed of in the toilet, so soiled and smelly diapers don't sit around, and there is no messy job of rinsing the solids away.

Another advantage to cotton diapers is that they usually lead to earlier toilet training of elder babies because the child actually knows when he or she is wet.

Only a very small percentage of parents are currently using a cloth diaper but they are still out there and available. Any parent concerned with the cost or environmental impact of disposable diapers should seriously consider going with cloth diapers.  Inexpensive Maternity Clothes

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