Cloth Versus Paper Diapers: The Cost Is a Wash

Dirty diapers have been the scourge of parenthood since long before today’s baby boomers started to create a baby boom of their own. However, today, the ability to choose between cloth and paper diapers has caused environmental and financial dilemmas as well.

The environmental question is simply this: Which is worse for Mother Earth--millions of disposable diapers clogging landfills or the use of tons of water and detergent to clean the reusable kind?

Although we won’t attempt to debate the environmental question, this column will try to answer the secondary one: Which will cost you more?

As with the environmental debate, there is no easy answer. The finances of diapers largely depend on the child using them and the parent who is charged with that child’s care. But in an effort to provide some cost-benefit analysis, we’ll look at three diapering options and about what they would each cost.

The options: Using only disposable diapers; using cloth diapers and a diaper service; using only cloth diapers and washing them yourself.

First the disposables. The cost of disposable diapers depends on the age and size of your child--the smaller the child, the lower the per-unit cost. But, generally, they run 20 to 41 cents each.

Every child is slightly different, of course, but generally you change smaller children a bit more often than bigger kids. So, the differences in per-unit costs still tend to leave you with a relatively stable daily cost of about $2. (That’s based on 10 daily changes per infant and six changes for toddlers.) The weekly cost amounts to $14, which comes to $728 annually.

A diaper service, on the other hand, will deliver about 80 infant diapers per week for $12 to $15, depending on the service and where you live. (The per-diaper cost goes up slightly when the child is older and the diapers are bigger, but, again, the final price variation is slight because fewer diapers are needed.) Many families will also buy duffel or tote bags from the diaper service to store dirty diapers between pickups. Estimated cost: $5. Annual total: $629 to $785.

Buying and laundering your own cloth diapers is generally considered the cheapest option. However, the cost can vary dramatically depending on which kind of diapers you buy and whether you put a dollar value on the care giver’s time.

Here’s the rundown:

Standard cloth diapers cost about $13 a dozen at J. C. Penney. For super-absorbent diapers, the cost rises to $15 a dozen. Over a year, you’ll probably need about 100 diapers. Assuming a mix of regular and super-absorbent, that will cost $90.

The cost of plastic pants varies depending on whether you want the basic pant or something with a pattern. But, if you’re not looking for something too fancy, they’ll cost about $1 per pair. Assuming you need four dozen, that’s $48. Budget $10 for safety pins and other accessories for a total set-up cost of $148.

The cost to launder the diapers varies a bit based on where you live and shop. But an estimate of what you’d pay for water, electricity, laundry soap, pre-soak and softener gives you a rough cost of $1 per wash. You would need to do at least two full loads of diapers per week, for an average annual cost of about $104.

Sum total for budget diapering: $252 annually--assuming, of course, that you don’t account for the time it takes to soak, launder and fold.

If you want more convenience than standard diapers and plastic pants provide, there are plenty of products on the market today that furnish it. But they’ll cost you.

Kooshies, for example, are form-fitting washable cloth diapers that come in colors and patterns. An infant 10-pack costs $70. When the child exceeds 22 pounds, the cost jumps to about $8 a pair. (Prices are based on retail rates charged at J. C. Penney and Sears.)

If the Kooshies aren’t quite absorbent enough for your child, you can buy Kooshie Liners--10 for $9. And, if you want the feel of a paper diaper in a cloth package, you can buy Gerber paper diaper liners, which cost $8 for a package of 200 at J. C. Penney.

Let’s say you stock up with 30 infant Kooshies, a 10-pack of Kooshie liners and a package of Gerber paper liners. That’s $227. Add in your laundering costs, which now rise to three loads a week since you have fewer diapers, and your total cost comes to about $390.

Account for the cost of your time, though, and the economics of home-washing are blown out of the water.

If you figure each wash takes one hour to soak, launder and fold, you’ve spent at least 104 hours--156 hours for the designer diapers--doing laundry. At $5 an hour, that comes to $520 for the standard set and $780 for the designer. Add that to the cost of the diapers and your bargain set costs $754, while the price of the designer option soars to $1,170 annually.

The bottom line: Potty train your children as quickly as you possibly can.