Cloth diapering classes
These locally owned shops offer cloth diapering classes where parents can explore the different products that are available and learn how to use and launder cloth diapers. Call stores for dates and times.
Cutie Patooties, 63 W. Franklin St., Centerville. 937-438-2884
Green Baby, 31 S. St. Clair St., Dayton. 937-469-8665
Diaper services
The following diaper services pick up, launder and deliver cloth diapers in the Dayton area:
Good Natured Baby, 513-348-2727 or goodnaturedbaby.com
Diaper Momma, 937-681-9908 or diapermomma.com
YOUR LINK TO THE LOCAL EXPERTS
The Saturday Life section connects you to practical know-how from local people who know.
You’re expecting a baby, and along with all the other decisions (baby’s name, nursery color, what to put on the registry), you’ve got to figure out what to do with baby’s bottom.
Should you use disposable diapers, which are widely viewed as the convenient choice? Or should you use cloth, which folks say is the money- and environment-saving choice?
Cloth is by far the minority choice. According to a survey conducted by DiaperShops.com, only 9 percent of parents with children in diapers have used cloth.
We talked with local experts about why they made the minority choice and how parents can get started if they’d like to give cloth a try.
The two experts we consulted didn’t choose cloth primarily to save money or the environment. Leah Cadek, owner of Good Natured Baby diaper service, didn’t even start using cloth until she had her third son, who suffered severe diaper rash when she swaddled him in disposables. And Gina Jones, owner of Green Baby, a Dayton store selling environmentally friendly baby products, said a “big motivator” for her was her desire to avoid the chemicals in disposable diapers.
Even when parents settle on cloth, their choices aren’t over. There’s a wide variety of cloth diapering products out there, ranging from “the old-school diapers like our parents and grandparents used,” Jones said, to one-piece, snap-on diapers. Jones said she recommends different products based on people’s reasons for using cloth. If they need to save money, she’ll suggest the cheaper old-school diapers. But if they’ve got money to spare, she’ll steer them toward the pricier but easier-to-use snap-ons, which come in cute colors and patterns.
One way to decide on products is to attend a cloth diapering class. Some stores, such as Green Baby and Centerville’s Cutie Patooties, offer classes where parents can get their hands on different kinds of diapers and talk with experts about their effectiveness. Cadek suggests that parents not buy all one brand of diapers at the outset. Just like disposables, she said, different brands of cloth diapers work better for different babies, depending on variables like body type.
Are cloth diapers truly cheaper? Doesn’t the high initial cost, plus the cost of all the repeated rinsings and laundry soap, negate any savings you’d get over disposables?
On her website, goodnaturedbaby.com, Cadek has posted a cost comparison that concludes that in most cases, cloth is less expensive. One point she makes is that cloth-diapered babies potty train an average of a year earlier than disposable-diapered babies. In her case, the difference was even greater: Her cloth-diapered son potty trained at age 15 months, about a year and a half earlier than his siblings.
And as Jones pointed out, cloth diapers can be resold once babies outgrow them. While some consignment shops might be squeamish about carrying used cloth diapers, Jones does accept them at her shop, and some Facebook groups allow moms to trade or sell old diapers, too.
If you’re just not sure about cloth diapering, Cadek noted that her diaper service doesn’t have a contract period and she provides all the supplies, so customers can try it out to see if it works for them. The diapers are laundered at Greene Inc. in Xenia, a nonprofit where individuals with disabilities are employed to launder commercial linens for hospitals and other organizations. Good Natured Baby is based in Mason and serves about 70 customers in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.
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