CEDAR FALLS -- For some the decision to use cloth diapers is financial.

Others cite the health and environmental impact.

For most, it is a well-researched and well-planned endeavor. It has to be. Unlike disposable diapers, which can be bought readily at any area discount store, moms say purchasing quality cloth diapers must be done in advance.

"The local 'super-center' stock an entire wall full of disposables but only carry the traditional cloth prefolds many parents use as burp clothes," wrote Misty Holmes in an e-mail to the Courier. "One mentions cloth diapering and people immediately think of folding, pinning and rubber pants and close that off as an option. But that is the stone-age era of cloth diapering."

Most moms will agree today's cloth diapers can be funky and fashionable, but most importantly -- easy to use. Katie Schmitz, mother to 11-week-old Martin, said experimentation is important, but once you get the hang of it, using cloth is just as easy as using disposable diapers.

Schmitz used disposables for the first month because the cloth diapers she bought were too big for Martin's little bottom. She said the only pitfall to cloth diapering is shelling out the money up front for an ample supply. Her son has about two dozen small Fuzzi Bunz diapers and one dozen mediums, which she spent about $500 for.

"I call them the Cadillac of cloth diapers," she said. "The inserts make them really easy because you don't have to scrub or wash them off. I just throw them in the washer … and then wash them again on a warm cycle."

Kelly Pint, a Jesup mother of five with another on the way, said the process doesn't have to be that expensive. She said families can get started with two-dozen prefolds for about $36, and that same set can last through several children.

"I started with the prefolds from Kmart. Then I made some of my own, but for the sheer convenience I have switched back to the ultra absorbent Chinese prefolds," she said. "For me, experimenting was fun for the first one, but I wanted ease of wash with the rest. The diapers I have will fit from about 3 months until they are potty trained."

According to the University of Michigan Health System, the average cost of a disposable diaper is 20 cents. Cloth diapers from a diaper service cost about 12 cents each, and when you wash them at home the price drops to just 3 cents per diaper after the initial purchase. Using that math, a diaper service saves families about $500 per child, while washing diapers at home saves about $1,200.

And, those diapers are contributing to the ever-growing landfills, said Christine Sexton, a mother of one cloth-diapered little girl.

"We've been very happy using cloth diapers and feel very good about the way we are treating the environment so we can preserve it for our children," she wrote in an e-mail to the Courier.

However, finding cloth-diaper friendly child care can be difficult, these moms said. They opted to stay home with their children and said the extra money saved on diapering helped them reset their budget for just one income. Melissa McClure was lucky enough to have a set of four dozen cloth diapers given to her when her first child was born.

McClure's only other purchases were a 5-gallon bucket and a container of Borox. Wet diapers go directly into a mixture of Borox and water in the bucket, Soiled diapers are washed out and then placed in the bucket. McClure wrote in an e-mail to the Courier that she only did one extra load of laundry a week with one child.

"Now that I have three children in diapers, my bucket can only hold two full days of diapers before I need to wash them," she said. "Even still it only generates a small wash load. I then hang the diapers on a clothes line outside to dry. … All it costs me is a little water, soap and a few extra minutes. … We are still using those same four dozen diapers my mother bought five years ago."

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1520 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.