Cloth v Disposable - price comparisons

Well, after showing mum & a friend my 2 pocket nappies I have, they didnt' receive the "ooh ahh how cute" response I was expecting. Instead I got the $23+ each??! thrown at me.

SO... DH asked me to do a cost comparison of my own. I have so far done disposables.. using huggies disposables.. and I have agreed with what other cloth sites say.. that disposables cost just under $1000 per year. I have come up with $2,390 for 2 1/2 years worth.

To be fair to disposables.. I've priced it at bulk discount prices.. found a site that sells boxes of 200. eg Huggies Newborn - 200 for $74.10 (is this a good price??)

Will do my cloth combo next (hard to price as depends what I get!) However, I'm kinda convinced I won't break the $1000 mark throughout the 2 1/2 years. (we'll see) Does anyone know how much they've spent on cloth so far?

PS. I also worked out over 2 1/2 years... you get through about 5,500 disposables! LOL. It's a wonder we're not being overrun with dirty nappies! Where do they all go??

Hi Ivana!

I think you may be interested in reading this thread HERE... It goes into a lot of detail about the price of cloth vs disposables.

Hey wow... that thread started exactly the same! LOL. Thanks Ambah. Altho my disposables seem a LOT cheaper. I must have stumbled on a nice cheap site :) And I used 12 a day for newborn, going down to 7 per day, then 5 per day.

Newborn nappies are cheaper..... they put more in the box for the same price. That might be where you are missing it?

From what I understand its about $500-$1000 for modern cloth to TT, and about $2500 for disposables over the same amount of time (although babies may be in sposies longer as they may take longer to TT)

The real savings start when you reuse your clothies for the next bubby.

Fi

I priced it on varying sizes. These are the prices on the site I found:

Huggies Newborn 0-5kg - 200 for $74.10
Huggies Infant 4-8kg - 200 for $86.35
Huggies Crawler 6-11kg - 192 for $88.76
Huggies Toddler 10-15kg - 192 for $107.45

I didn't realise you could get bulk over 100. But I haven't really looked before either :)

Yup.. I'm looking forward to the savings.. especially with #2. It's not really us that needs convincing.. but it'd be nice to have a few facts up my sleeve to combat people screwing up their noses at the price of the pocket nappies I wanna get :)

Ivana,

I can definitely see the savings over time with the cloth nappies you're talking about. It's funny how people just look at the initial purchase price without further consideration of other factors. Those nappies are so well made too and you're right ... it will work out a lot cheaper for the second baby.

I was thinking about using the cloth fitted nappies myself but decided in the end to go with disposables and use a recycling service that we've got here in Melbourne. The deciding factor for me was only that my son will have to go into childcare when I return to work after 12 months and I can't see them wanting to use my cloth nappies when they can just grab a disposable.

Enjoy your clothies! They sound great.

Mel

Ivana, also don't forget that you don't have to use all the new fitted cloth nappies ALL of the time. You can mix and match with the old fashioned way. my girlfriend ONLY used the flat terry & flannelette sqaures with snappies or pins and plastic pilchers over, ans is still doing so. It cost her bugger all and the only complaint she has is that sometimes it is hard to get pants to fit, as they are just that bit bulkier than the fitteds or the disposables.

Disposables are great but they do cost a fortune whichever way you look at it and Huggies are by far the most superior of the brands, some of the el cheapo disposables are not worth the hassle as the leak, tear, etc.

I use the old terry style & flanny ones...

I guess my 40 odd nappies 20 of each cost about $60, I then got a big bucket from work, I do 3 loads of nappies, bedding clothes etc for Indah a week in my front loader, to fill up the machine if its' only half full I add Maddy's stuff & anything else I can add, I use some baby amolin in the wash & bought 2 bottles before she was born & am yet to empty the first bottle.

I have recently been given 2 bags of disposable Huggies & they are only just fitting so am trying to use them up before they dont fit anymore 7 then will go back to cloth.

For us its' heaps cheaper!

Ivana,

the prices you got from the website are not really that cheap. I'm not trying to convince you to use disposables instead of cloth however you can ALWAYS get the Huggies nappies on special from Coles, BiLo, Safeway, even IGA or Ritches supermarkets. Each week someone will have them on special!

The prices range from $29.99 to $33.99 (this week) for the bulk box on special as the RRP is $39.99.
Sizing is newborn = 104 nappies (I think)
Infant doesn't come in bulk box at the supermarket, only bulk bag
Crawler = 90 nappies

So... for 200 newborn or infact it would be 208, you can get them on special for anything from $60 - $68

Crawler would be 180 for $60 - $68 on special

It's worth shopping around and reading your junkmail to decide where you buy the nappies.

HTH.

Thanks Rachel. I admit I haven't shopped around, but I thought being an online store and selling in such bulk the prices there might be ok to do the comparison with.

Just in looking up various cloth nappies.. I'm starting to go cloth nappy crazy! LOL. I just love em and can't wait to use them. (Of course.. I haven't dealt with washing them yet!! so I won't speak too soon about sticking to cloth :) ) But the economy & environmental stuff makes me want to try to stick to cloth. Just the fact that I'd use about 5500 nappies from birth to TT, I just don't think I could throw that many nappies away.

The recycling service sounds good in Melbourne (but if they don't take pooey nappies... there'd still be a lot being thrown out).

Anyway... I'll see how I go. Thanks for the tip to keep an eye out for specials.

They do take pooey nappies as well as breast pads, wipes and tissues.

If I can get the little wiggle bum to sleep I might post some other costs to take into account when doing price comparisons, there is more than just the cost of the nappies, water, electricity etc. But if you love cloth, then it does not matter anyway. I looked into it, but my preggie brain at the time couldn't cope with all choices and terminology.

Astrid

The hidden costs are those for manufacture. Cotton is incredibly bad water wise to grow I believe, so cotton nappies actually get a bit of a pummelling when it comes to that. However I still think that there is more water used to make a disposable nappy than a cloth one - especially when you consider how many times a cloth nappy is reused (all about life cycle). So while more water is used to make one cloth nappy, its much less over its lifecycle.
Power, water and chemicals are negligable. We have a swimming pool, and I was shocked to find out that our power, water and gas is still less than other people we know. I have a front loader and dry pail, so water for me is next to nothing as a cost for cleaning cloth. I dont use disposable wipes or breastpads (all cloth) so I also save money there.

Using cloth is certainly a money saver - regardless of whether you use flats or fitteds. Its more a matter of being able to budget up front and save the weekly costs I think. Cleaning them is a breeze, and SOOOO much better for the environment. How many people actually scrape their poo off 'sposies into the loo. All Jenna's waste goes through the sewerage system - where it should go. Not into landfill where we risk creating superbugs and infecting rubbish workers.

Anyway - enough harping. At the end of the day, people are happy doing what they do. Disposables are so much better than they used to be, but so is modern cloth. :D And its very addictive......

Yes there are social and environmental costs to consider in any decision, but I think with nappies they have been done to death. Also most data presented is generally biased towards the agenda of the presenter.

The cost I was referring to was something called the "oppurtinity cost", which can be applied to any situation whether there is money involved or not.

:

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It is the benefit that you forego by choosing one course of action over another. If a farmer plants trees over an area, he or she bears the direct cost of seed, fertilizer, machinery, etc., but also the opportunity cost of not being able to use the land for other purposes (e.g., wheat production).

---

So for nappies the argument could be that a cloth nappy user spends 1 hour more per week dealing with nappies (I am guessing this figure for the example, it is not up for argument) So what else could be done with that 1 hour? Could a greater amount of money be saved, or could money be earnt. Is there something really enjoyable that could be done instead? This of course differs person to person. For some the enjoyment of seeing their bub with a cloth covered bum is worth it all, but for others it is not.

Astrid

Fi - I've been having fun telling people that they're sposed to be scraping the poo of disposables when they screw up their noses at the fact that I'll be cleaning nappies. LOL. They never knew that it was on the instructions for disposables. So if you've gotta deal with poo anyway... might as well go cloth and do the extra step of chucking it in the washing machine!

Even I didn't scrape newborn poo off sposies when rarely used. Just roll them upa nd chuck them out. You would have to wash it off the sposies - and you are right, by then you mayas well be using cloth.
I do have some friends that scrape the older baby poo of the sposies though. Saves stinking out the rubbish biin anyway.
Astrid - I understand your opportunity cost analogy. The 30-40mins we spend a week on cleaning nappies and hanging them out isn't so bad. Its a lot better than I think people realise.
A bit like washing dishes I spose. I sometimes find dishwashing to be theraputic - time to sit and reflect. I guess nappy time is like that too.

But it is all worthwhile to have Jenna in cloth. 8-)

Fi

I think it is great that people do love using cloth, it just wasn't for me. I do feel so much better using disposables since using the recycling service and yah I don't need to scrap poos!

I always get a bit sensitive about cloth v disposable threads, as I have seen threads in other forums that become really nasty and are full of cloth users saying how superior they are to disposable users. I just don't understand why people just cant deal with the fact some people use cloth and others don't. Life is hard enough at times without being judged on the type of nappy used. As disposable user I am the only one in my mothers group that uses Baby Love, where as everyone else uses Huggies and refuses to try another nappy.

I enjoy my time fold the nappies etc, I guess it is therapuetic too Fi.

I actually wish I wasnt given all these disposables, as I am using them up before Indah grows out of them, but I dont really like them.. I just love my cloth nappies, but I couldnt care who used what &/or why

PMSL Astrid!!! Nappy snobs!! Isnt that hilarious? Wouldn't you think that people would be interested in trying to save some money if something else worked??

I get interesting looks sometimes - cloth nappy, baby wearing, breast feeding, co-sleeping sometimes etc..... While alot of these things seem normal enough on this forum, out in the big wide world, people think I'm this "perfection attempting" mum, and thats not my intention at all. Some mums have a hard enough time getting through the day - they dont need added pressure from their peers to make them feel like they aren't good enough. In saying this - I have only spent 3 weeks at home by myself with Jenna. I have an amazing DP who has been off work on workcover long term, and he is totally into everything baby. Its great - so pressure off on me.

Tracey - I actually enjoy folding nappies...... 8-[ My SIL used to fold them for hours in NICU when her daughter was in there for 6 weeks. There is something satisfying about getting them all folded and put away.

My baby girl is almost 8 months old and most days she poos several times, she also feeds every 2 hours 24 hours a day and co-sleeps with me. There is no way I would use cloth....

Could you imagine the amount of cloth nappies she would go through in just one day? Ane the nappy rash...

Not only that I would then have to change her constantly through the night...

I wash almost every day as it is, I don't own a dryer and only have a small line which is under shade most of the time from gum trees...

I'd have to be insane!

I never had any nappy rash with DD#1 in cloth nappies, she never used a disposable including when we were in bali, I just hand washed in the village..
DD#2 hasn't had any issues with nappy rash either.
Have almost used up all the freebie Disposables, so am going back to cloth nappies today... Yippeee!

I can't remember where I read half the stuff I do (coz I read so much!) but someone said that nappy rash is caused by being left in a dirty nappy too long, regardless of whether it's cloth or disposable, so cloth being more prone to nappy rash isn't true. Very interesting.

Same with leaking.. if you've got a good cover over the cloth nappy it's meant to be very reliable leak-wise. I won't know till bubba's here tho which system is going to work best. Be nice if he just does little dribbles into his nappy instead of flooding! hehe. One can only hope ;)

Sherrie - I don't own a drier. I'm hoping the nappies I've chosen will be quick to dry. Our winters aren't bad anyway.. it's sunny most of the time. So I'm not too worried. On rainy days it can just be on a clotheshorse in front of the heater.

In regards to nappy rash the reasoning with this is cloth nappies are typically less absorbant even more so when you compare to huggies brand which is why they're so popular. Some of the cheaper brands though are no different to cloth.

Yes changing asap will help heaps but you arn't always going to get them straight away. When sleeping this is even a bigger issue especially for me as how does a babies skin stay dry all night in cloth when she feeds every 2 hours?

Heck sometimes she wets my bed in the morning with a huggies on and I change her late at night, sometimes once more!

Sure I could change her after each awakening but apart from the fact it would mean even less sleep for me it would bring a huge risk of waking her up too much plus how would I change her in time to avoid rashes if she does her wee early into the sleep? Make sense?

Secondly shes a breastfed baby so still does those newborn runny type poos and she does them ALOT (luckily not at night time!). I have to be vigilant as it is as even just the days where she poos more then a few times irritates her skin despite changing straight away.

With leaking, in regards to my daughter even huggies arn't reliable when she poos as she does it with huge force lol

With my first born he never leaked in a huggies and never had nappy rash. She hasn't had nappy rash but shes been very close, I really don't think she would handle cloth well at all.

I would have to go through a dozen cloth nappies through the day easily (I have days where I go through that many disposables), that would most likely be atleast one load in my washing machine per day not including any other laundry.


I didn't mention this before because I didn't want to come across as if I was against anything pro cloth as its not that at all but with my first born I did try those fitted ones that fasten with velcro and he would wet through them straight away even with the nappy liners and he would be saturated all through just from the one wee. Mind you that was years ago so they may be better now.

Anyway as I said I'm not trying to be negative just wanted to share my experiences as every baby and situation is different.

Cheers

Its interesting different concepts from people re cloth and disposable. Jenna has had nappy rash a few times, although every single time its been from a poo we missed - not wees. So it wouldnt have mattered if it was cloth or sposie. The best thing I've found is a gentle barrier cream - makes the world of difference.

I've only ever had one poo blowout, and Jenna was pooing 4 times a day until about 3 months ago, and then it went to twice a day, and that was in a huggies that I had left on for too long (thus no absorbancy left in it to cope with a big booby poo!!).

Also I've found that huggies when used leaves a chaffing rash on her legs that cloth doesn't.

Some of her cloth ones wet through pretty quickly, and others I know I can leave on for ages. So I have some for 2hrs, some for 10hrs overnight, no problems. And she was often fed through the night.

You are right - every baby is sooooo different, wee and poo wise.

No probs Sherrie - we won't take you as anti-cloth :) I haven't even tried any of these out yet on bubs, so it's kinda good for me to hear that it doesn't always work for everyone, so I won't have too high expectations on these nappies. I'm getting the impression I'm going to have to persevere to find out what suits my bubby best. No doubt I'll have some leaks/overflows etc as I learn which nappies are best for him. I'm pretty convinced tho that it is possible for cloth to contain the mess and that the liners will keep him dry. Just gotta find the right ones. I've been getting lots of trial packs of lots of different nappies.. so hopefully one of em will work!

WOW, I guess I have a different baby then?
Indah is Breastfed & she poos probably twice a week..
They are huge poos, but they pretty much stay confined to her cloth nappy, maybe two blow outs thus far.

But never even a red looking bum, but she did get a fubby red mark where the disposable nappies rubbed on her now chubby legs..
But finished all the diposables now & back to cloth...

Yeah I assume my babies skin is very sensitive to moisture and acidic conditions. I don't think her skin would tolerate a less absorbant nappy where her wees are a concern. Her poos they are just a freak of nature, theres no describing them LOL I say its because she has her dads big butt hehe

Anyway I do use a barrier cream, I use Amolin every single time I put a nappy on her no matter what. I tried others from those samples you get and none of them were any good, she was much worse then.