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When looking for the best organic cloth diapers we need to be aware of a few things:
- Where is the diaper made?
- What material is it made out of?
- Is it easy to use?
- Does it fit well? No leaking?
- Are they readily available?
- Does it have high ratings?
- Is there a warranty?
What is the best fabric choice for organic diapers?
Organic diapers usually come in a few different fabric types: Organic cotton, bamboo, or hemp.
Now, you should know that Bamboo is not the greenest fabric in the world. It is a green plant to grow, but the process of turning it into fabric is a chemical-heavy process. Hemp is a wonderful green choice, the plant produces an abundance of usable material without the need for pesticides, and the fabric is easy to produce. Organic cotton is an excellent choice because it is absorbent, and soft. Conventional Cotton production takes a heavy toll on the planet so by purchasing organic cotton, you are helping to change an otherwise dirty industry into something much more Eco-friendly.
In my opinion, cotton, or cotton-hemp blends are the best fabric choices for cloth diapers. They are highly absorbent and natural.
I have used bamboo cloth diapers and I liked them at first, they were soft. But over time I found that they became less absorbent. My favorite cloth diapers have always been the ones made of cotton.
Remember the Money Saved
You may already be aware of the cost of throw-away diapers vs cloth diapers, but it is nice to be reminded why we are making our choices.
It is estimated that you will throw out 3000 disposables in your baby’s first year! Compare this to 24 cloth diapers used in the first year. These 24 diapers can then be used through year 2 and 3 and potentially be passed down to another child. You will spend between $1600 – $2300 on disposable diapers in 3 years. If you pay $22 per cloth diaper, you will only be spending $800, including laundry costs, in the same amount of time! $22 will get you a nice diaper. You can save even more money by buying cheaper cloth diapers.
Types of Cloth Diapers
There are a few choices of cloth diaper types:
- pre-folds: a piece of fabric that is folded around your baby and pinned in place, a leak-proof cover is then put over top. These are the most affordable option.
- single size cloth diapers: you have to buy these in various sizes to fit your baby as it grows. These are used with a cover.
- one-size adjustable cloth diapers: these often have a lot of snaps so that they size can be adjusted as your baby grows. They must be used with a cover.
- all-in-ones: These are often size adjustable and have built-in covers. These are the most convenient to use, but also the most expensive.
- pocket diaper: these have a pocket inside them for adding liners. You can add one liner for day use and two liners for heavy-wetters or night use. These are often size-adjustable and have a built in cover.
Pre-folds are the cheapest option for cloth diapering. They cost barely anything and take up very little space in a diaper pail, but they can be a pain to use, and you have to buy various sizes. I find that making something easy makes me more likely to actually do it. So for me, the one-size diapers with built in covers were the easiest and best way for me to consistently use cloth diapers.
I can’t recommend this enough, if you are going to purchase cloth diapers, it is best to purchase the ones that are size-adjustable. If you can, buy the one-size types with built in covers, this will save you so much time. If you can’t find ones with built in covers (all-in-ones), then buying diapers with separate covers is a fine choice as well. One-size diapers are great because they will fit most newborns up to toddler years, the initial investment is high, but you will save so much money over the course of your baby’s diaper-wearing time.
When it comes to closure types, I recommend snaps. Velcro will stick to everything in the wash and eventually wears out.
What about Diaper Covers?
Buying an organic cotton diaper is the ultimate green choice. Not only are you saving the planet thousands of diapers to try and degrade, you are also avoiding heavy pesticide and fertilizer use and supporting farmers trying to grow their crops in a sustainable way. Diaper covers are a bit trickier. It is harder to get away from synthetics with your diaper covers. Many of them are made out of essentially plastic. You can use wool covers as a much more Eco-friendly choice, but they require more careful handling.
I recommend buying adjustable-size diaper covers so that you can use them for the whole time your baby is in diapers. You can also get a few wool covers and see how you like them. Diapers with built-in covers are the most convenient to use and they are my diaper of choice.
The Best Organic Cloth Diapers
Criteria for the Best Organic Cloth Diapers:
- The best organic cloth diapers are made in the USA, this ensures that the diapers have been made with strict quality-control and not produced in a sweatshop.
- They are going to be made out of organic cotton for the best absorbancy and environmentally friendly choice.
- The best organic cloth diapers should be easy to use, meaning they have a built-in cover, as well as easy to use snaps and liners.
- They will be leak proof and fit well, which means they need a bit of stretch and elastic around the legs. They must also have adjustable sizes.
- They must be readily available.
- They must have high ratings with lots of positive reviews.
- They should offer a warranty to ensure they are high quality.
The Best Organic Cloth Diapers are BumGenius Elemental
The best organic cloth diaper is by BumGenius. Their Elemental model is an organic cotton all-in-one diaper. Let’s have a look at the questions we talked about at the beginning of this article and see how this diaper matches up.
- Where is the diaper made? – BumGenius diapers are made in the USA.
- What material is it made out of? – 6 layers of 100 % organic cotton on the inside, and a soft, waterproof polyester layer on the outside. The tabs are made from 95% polyester and 5% spandex.
- Is it easy to use? – These are as easy to use as disposables. The liners are attached, so no need for stuffing.
- Does it fit well? No leaking? – Yes, these diapers offer an exceptional fit because they have stretchy tabs on the closure. They fit baby’s from 8 – 35+ pounds. They are leak proof because the legs and back have elastic with rolled out casings.
- Is it readily available? – Yes, you can get them on Amazon and at various retailers.
- Does it have high ratings? – Yes, 70% of the reviews on Amazon are 5 stars.
- Does it offer a warranty? – Yes, they come with a one year warranty when purchased from an authorized retailer.
=> Click Here to Read Amazon Reviews <=
Here is a Video demonstrating this cloth diaper
Buying an organic cotton diaper is an Eco-freinldy and sustainable choice, and you should pat yourself on the back for caring enough to be part of a better change for our world. You are helping to keep diapers out of landfills and chemicals off of your baby’s bottom. What we decide to purchase has an incredible effect on the world we live in. Thanks for doing your part 🙂
BumGenius Elemental is Available on Amazon
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.
This post was originally published on March 1, 2020.
Hi Andrea, I’m learning about cloth diapers and the video in this article was very helpful. My reasons for wanting to use cloth diapers for my baby are environmental and health. The video in this article talked about the possibility of using stay dry liners which could be cloth or paper. All the paper ones I could find are made out of bamboo, but you mentioned that the process of turning bamboo into fabric is a chemical-heavy process. Is the process of turning bamboo into paper also chemically-heavy? What are your recommendations when it comes to stay dry liners? Should I go with fleece or paper? Any concerns with fleece? Which are your recommendations for both? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, thanks for your questions. I would say that bamboo paper is not going to be any more chemical heavy than creating paper from trees. I would say bamboo is a better choice environmentally than fleece 🙂