The great nappy divide: Cloth or disposable?

1) Ease of use

Disposable
Disposable nappies are pretty straightforward to use. They don't require any folding and fasten easily with sticky tabs. After use they need to be wrapped in a plastic bag and put in the bin.

Cloth
There are many different types of cloth nappy nowadays and in terms of ease of use, some of them work much the same as disposable nappies. Pre-shaped nappies (available in different sizes) don't require folding and usually fasten with Velcro strips. Some pre-shaped nappies require you to put a pair of re-usable and washable plastic pants over the top, others are all-in-one nappies, these are the most like disposables in usage terms. Non-shaped nappies will need to be folded, but this is really very quick and easy. It's a good idea to use disposable liners with cloth nappies so that you can dispose of most of the soil down the toilet and leave less of a mess for washing.

Which wins?
With modern cloth nappies shaped much like disposable ones this one is too close to call, both can be easy to use.

2)Disposal

Disposable
You'll need to wrap up the used nappy in a plastic bag and put it in the bin. Disposables are particularly useful when you're out and about with baby so you don't have to cart used nappies around with you.

Cloth
This is where the work comes in with cloth nappies. If you use nappy liners you may find that you don't need to soak your nappies first. You can soak them in a nappy bin until you're ready for a wash, or dry pail nappies (you can get waterproof laundry bags that go straight into the washer with the nappies) and disinfect the bucket with tea tree or lavendar oil, which also banishes the pooey smell. Many modern nappies recommend washing at 40 degrees, but you might find you need to run a hotter wash or use some kind of nappy sanitiser to avoid a lingering smell. You'll then need to dry them of course, which will require space and time if you don't have a drier or prefer not to use one.

As ThinkBaby member Kim points out, in some areas you'll be able to find a nappy service where they wash the nappies for you and deliver clean ones.

Which wins?
There's no arguing with disposable nappies being easier on this count. On the plus side for cloth though, if you use liners and flush most of the soil down the loo then you'll have less of a problem of stinky nappies sitting round in a bin or bucket than you do with disposables.

3) Cost

Disposable
Cost ultimately depends on how long your child stays in nappies, but disposable nappies don't come cheap and you're going to use LOTS of them, even if you potty train early.

Cloth
Cloth nappies aren't cheap either, but it goes without saying that you'll be able to use them over and over, and for the next children if you plan on having more. You'll have to weigh up the costs of washing your cloth nappies too, and that will vary depending on how efficient your machine is and what size loads you put on.

Which wins?
Unless you're very inefficient with washing cloth nappies should be substantially cheaper than disposable nappies, particularly when you have more than one child.

4) Environmental cost

Disposables
There's no doubt that disposables have a high environmental toll. Once your nappy is finished with and sent off to a landfill it's going to be around for a long, long, time. There's also a possibility of pollutants from the nappy waste making its way into water sources and causing infection. Before that there are all the raw materials and resources required for production (energy, paper pulp, chemicals, absorbent gels and plastics), and when you think how many nappies your baby is going to need… More than eight million disposable nappies go into landfill sites every day in the UK alone.

You can now get 'green disposables' designed to biodegrade far more rapidly, but these still have the production demands of other disposables.

Cloth
Cloth nappies also have an environmental cost when it comes to washing them, you can minimise this by: using disposable and biodegradable nappy liners to cope with most of the soiling (they can be flushed away), using the most environment-friendly washing liquid you can find, being economic with your washing cycle, using an efficient machine and line drying rather than tumble drying. However uneconomic you are with your washing though, you won't be contributing to the enormous problem of waste and landfills.

Which wins?
Cloth nappies win the environmental points: There are several things you can do to minimise the environmental impact of washing and you won't be adding to the toxic waste mountain.

5) Space

Disposables
Disposables are bulky, which is something you need to bear in mind as you'll need lots of them. You'll need good storage space and you'll have to get them home from the supermarket.

Cloth
Once you're set up with the number of nappies you need you won't have to keep hauling bulky nappy packs back from the supermarket, and the cloth nappies will take up a lot less home storage space too. Where cloth nappies take up space is when you line dry them as you'll have nappies drying more or less constantly.

Which wins?
This is a close contest but we think the cloth nappies have pipped it with the storage space and not requiring regular lugging home from the shops.