Raising a baby provides moms and dads with wonderful rewards and some challenging moments. Since our children live their first few years wearing diapers - and they require a lot of changing we are looking for the right decision about what kind of diapers to use - both from a convenience perspective and from a what-is-right for my baby point of view.

We are all more and more concerned about the health of our world. When we as parents make the choice to use cloth-style diapers for our baby we are choosing - improved health for our baby, better comfort, and we are doing our part to make our earth healthier.

Here are 7 Reasons to Choose Cloth Diapers over Disposable Diapers

1. Healthier for baby - disposable diapers are made with the super absorbent chemical, sodium polyacrylate, which absorbs and holds fluids in the diaper. This chemical has been linked to toxic shock syndrome. Another chemical concern is Dioxin. Traces of the carcinogen Dioxin have been found in disposable diapers. Dioxin causes liver disease, immune system suppression and genetic damage. It is a by-product of the paper-bleaching process used in the making of this type of diaper.

2. Reduces risk of diaper rash - baby rash is very rarely a problem when using cloth diapers - our boy Holden is over a year old and has never had a rash. Disposable diapers because of their super absorbent chemicals can fool parents into thinking that the baby is not wet, and as a result changing the baby will take place less often. Cloth diapered babies, on the other hand, are changed more often, as the diaper starts feeling damp after 4 hours or so. They are also more breathable - where disposables become much hotter allowing for rapid bacterial growth which can cause baby rash.

3. Baby’s comfort. Cloth-style diapers are made from layers of breathable, soft-to-the-touch cotton. Plainly stated cotton just feels better next to baby’s skin. Cotton is breathable which means that it is cooler next to baby’s tender skin. Especially on hot, humid days cotton clothe diapers are much cooler than the disposable alternative.

4. Less expensive. Studies have shown that during a baby’s diaper-wearing years they will wear about 7500 diapers. If you choose to use cloth diapers over disposables the savings to your household will be in the magnitude of between one and two thousand dollars. And that’s when you include the costs of purchasing disposables versus the cost of buying and laundering the cloth baby diapers at home. Saving money is important to our family. Our experience with our first child, in his first year we saved over $800 by using cloth diapers. Using cloth makes sense on a number of different levels - but if you only use cloth because you want to save money - you will save money.

5. Better for the environment - it is probably obvious that cloth diapers are better for the environment since they are reusable. Here are some more issues to consider. A good quality cloth diaper can be laundered at least 100 times. If you are having more than one baby they can be used for your second and third child. It does take energy to launder the baby diaper, but the energy used is a small fraction of what a disposable diaper does to the environment. It is estimated that a disposable will take 400 to 500 years to decompose in our landfills. The companies that make today’s disposables will use over 1 million metric tons of wood pulp and 75,000 metric tons of plastic each year. What a cost to our environment.

6. No fuss changing. Cloth diapers are built with snap closures (no more pins). They are adjustable so that they provide a great fit for your baby. Many of the cloth diapers are made with a built in outer liner making it easy for anyone to change a baby - even a grandpa.

7. Built in outer cover. That means just change the diaper - don`t worry about having to pull an outer cover over top of the diapers. It makes changing baby a breeze.