Before we even had kids, we were convinced that cloth diapering was the only way we would ever diaper our children. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that cloth is more environmentally friendly than disposable diapers. 21 billion disposables end up in landfills every year in the United States alone. All of these diapers will still exist in a landfill long after the baby who soiled them grows up and has children of their own! Cloth is also far more economical. And don’t forget natural – no nasty chemicals against the skin.

A quick change for Harper on a weekend tour last summer

However, cloth diapers require laundry facilities to remain convenient. So, while undertaking previous bike tours with our toddlers, we have always chosen to use compostable diapers. We were not ready to cope with the added weight and bulk of cloth, not to mention the washing of diapers while on the road. This choice has always bothered us, since even compostable diapers are still disposable, and if thrown in with the regular garbage, will never properly decompose in a landfill. However, the choice made sense since we were only switching to disposables for one or two weeks at a time.

Laundry Day can be a big deal while cycle touring

While planning our Big Adventure we faced the reality of 12+ months on our bikes with a diapered toddler in tow. During that time period, Harper would be using five or six diapers a day, or almost 2,000 diapers in total. The idea of producing that much landfill waste was too much for us, so we began to consider using cloth once again. After a little research, we discovered a cloth diaper system that would potentially weigh less and be less bulky than the pocket diapers we already have. We had found Little Beetle diapers made by Better for Babies. …continue reading this post »