# Diapering

**Should we use cloth or disposable diapers?**

Whether you use disposable diapers, cloth, or a mix, and whether you would try elimination communication, where you watch for the baby's cues and offer a potty instead of a diaper.

In short: Parents choose between 5 main approaches: Disposable; Cloth; Hybrid; Part-time elimination communication; Full-time. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: during pregnancy.

- Area: Everyday baby care
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: During pregnancy
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/everyday-baby-care--diapering

## Diapering: what are the options?

1. **Disposable**: You use throwaway diapers.
2. **Cloth**: You use washable cloth diapers.
3. **Hybrid**: You use cloth at home and disposables when out or at night.
4. **Part-time elimination communication**: You sometimes hold the baby over a potty when you notice their signals.
5. **Full-time**: You rely mainly on reading the baby's signals and use few or no diapers.

## Diapering: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

The UK Environment Agency's lifecycle study (2008, the most rigorous public comparison found) put disposables at about 550 kg of CO2-equivalent over a child's first 2.5 years and cloth at about 570 kg on average washer-and-dryer use, and concluded that reusable nappies can come out higher or lower depending on laundering: full loads and line drying cut the footprint by 16%, adding reuse on a second child cuts it by 40%, while tumble-drying everything adds 43% and washing at 90°C adds 31%. The AAP calls the environmental comparison a wash and notes that cloth advocates claim fewer rashes while switching to disposables is a commonly recommended rash treatment. Research on elimination communication is limited

Sources:

- [Environment Agency](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/an-updated-lifecycle-assessment-for-disposable-and-reusable-nappies)
- [HealthyChildren.org, 2021](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/diapers-clothing/Pages/Diapers-Disposable-or-Cloth.aspx)
- [Pediatrics](https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/140/1/e20170398/38046/Elimination-Communication-Diaper-Free-in-America)

## What else is worth knowing?

Disposables are convenient; cloth costs less over time and needs washing. Elimination communication means learning the baby's signals and offering a potty, sometimes from the first months. Daycares and relatives may have their own preferences.

## Questions to ask each other

- What matters most to us in this choice: cost, convenience or environment?
- Would we ever want to try elimination communication?
- Who will wash cloth diapers if we use them?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=everyday-baby-care&topic=everyday-baby-care--diapering