Are cloth or disposable diapers better for babies?
Cloth diapers are MUCH cheaper than disposables, even factoring in the cost of the detergent, water, and energy to wash and dry them. They are more work, though they’re not that inconvenient when you set up a good routine and stick with it. There’s an environmental cost to both kinds of diapers, though I personally think that disposables are worse for the environment. But none of that answers your question. Which is best for babies? It partially depends on the baby. Some babies react to the chemicals in disposable diapers and get horrible rashes. Others get rashes in cloth because they are less absorbent (cloth diapers need to be changed more frequently than disposables for this reason). I’ve read that mice exposed to the absorbency chemicals in disposable diapers developed asthma-like symptoms; I’ve never heard of any studies correlating the rise in the incidence in asthma in kids with the increase in the use of disposable diapers, but there may be a relationship. Kids in cloth diaper
