Plastic Diapers vs Cloth Diapers

Can you imagine wearing plastic pants with elastic throughout the day, 24*7? I know no one would be comfortable wearing the same clothes as we rush to change our denim/ pants immediately after reaching home so as to have comfort. Then how can we expect our little bugs to stay in diapers throughout the day? I understand every mom tries to do their best for their baby but still, using plastic diapers for the baby for a complete day will result into a cranky baby and you can imagine the kind of discomfort that they would feel. As a new mom, every mother always comes across this question: whether they are doing best for their babies by using plastic diapers or not. But we have to stop judging ourselves and trust that every mother is doing great for their baby. 

Females can understand it better as we use pads during periods and we are so uncomfortable just in a few days then how can we expect our babies to wear these diapers every time. I know there are multiple brands offering comfortable options with different variations but still it will keep rubbing the skin which will make them uneasy. Disposable diapers are made of breathable material so they can be safe for your baby’s skin but you have to take proper precautions so that your baby doesn’t have any side effects. 

My baby has sensitive skin so she easily gets rashes on her skin even with baby wipes which made me explore different other alternatives available to solve my problem. Some of the things which I have been doing to make sure that she is comfortable are,

No rashes

Nowadays, there are numerous brands in the market offering cloth diapers which are waterproof. They are very soft from inside which will prevent your baby from any rashes while providing a dry feeling. Wet cotton with warm water can be used to clean the delicate area in place of wet wipes if the baby has super sensitive skin or if they have rashes as it will provide timely relief. Waterproof cloth diapers available can be used at a stretch of 3-4 hours and best thing is that the baby will not feel any discomfort. 

Cost effective

If you compare the long term cost of cloth diapers and disposable diapers then cloth diapers are less expensive as you don’t have to buy in bulk. Just buy as per the number of nappies needed as per the baby’s need while you may have to buy a bulk of disposable diapers and there may be wastage if there is size change. Using cloth diapers also makes toilet training easier for the babies.     

Choosing best disposable diapers 

It’s practically very difficult to use disposable diapers while travelling. When you are looking for disposable diapers then you need to make sure you are taking care of some pointers while choosing the best one. There are some which are made of breathable material, choose proper size to avoid leakage. Don’t wait for rashes to apply rash cream but coconut oil or rash cream can be applied before wearing diapers so as to avoid rashes. Keep checking the diaper after small internals as wet diapers can also harm the baby's skin. 

Environment Friendly

Cloth diapers are environment friendly as there won’t be any plastic wastage. These diapers are not designed for recycling as they contain materials like plastic and absorbent material which are contaminated with human waste. Most of the brands claim certain things as they don’t disclose the correct constituents of the product. Multiple layers of diaper are made with plastic cover and synthetic dyes and even they produce emissions that infants can inhale resulting in harmful effects for the baby. 

Time consuming

One of the main drawback of using cloth diaper if that it’s time consuming as you may have to wash a lot of nappies and waterproof sheets on daily basis. 

If you choose to use disposable diapers for your baby then you have to take care of certain things so that it doesn’t have much harmful impact on the baby’s skin. You need to keep an eye of the diaper regularly so that check if it’s wet or not or if they have rashes. If baby poop is there then you need to change diaper immediately. Always carry extra diapers in bag while going out. Always choose a little loose size to prevent rashes. 

Using these nappies may make your life difficult as you may have to wash clothes daily but trust me when you will see smiling face of your baby then it will all be worth. When your baby won’t have any discomfort or uneasiness then they will spend more time in playing and growing while performing different developmental activities. It’s better to invest in good cloth diapers for a better nourishment of the baby but still that’s completely a mother’s choice whatever is best for their baby based on pros and cons of both. 

Ruchika Kinger is a new mom with a cute and adorable daughter of 5 months. She is around 9 years of experience in HR based out of Gurgaon location. She believes that "Nothing is impossible and you can achieve anything if you work for it". She is fond of travelling, photography and cooking.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mom Store.