Whatever Happened to Diaper Services?

I remember the diaper service truck being a frequent visitor to my street when I was a kid, but I don't think I've seen one in at least ten years. However, diaper service is still available in most areas, though certainly not as popular as it was when I was a child. Whether you should choose to go with a diaper service or not depends entirely on your reason(s) for cloth diapering. If your reason is to save money (as mine was), it's not the way to go. Diaper Service typically costs about the same as using disposable diapers. If your reason has to do with protecting your baby's sensitive skin, it still might not be the best option. Commercial diaper services usually use a more chemically rigorous wash routine than you would be likely to at home. If you truly have concerns regarding which chemicals potentially touch your baby's skin, you're probably better off laundering at home so you know exactly what goes on your diapers.

If you choose to cloth diaper because of environmental concerns, then diaper service is probably the best option.  The amount of water and electricity it takes to launder cloth diapers at home ends up being significantly less than the water and electricity consumed to manufacture disposables for the duration of your child's time in diapers. The amount used by a professional diaper service is even less. By washing many more diapers together, the amount of resources consumed to wash the diapers commercially is even less than the amount you end up using to wash them at home.

I chose not to use a diaper service because it's more expensive, and because I wanted to be able to use a gentler detergent and wash routine. I have sensitive skin, so I figured it would be likely that my daughter would as well. As it turns out, I was right. Diaper service probably wouldn't have caused any skin problems, but I wanted to be on the safe side. Diaper service also limits you to using only prefolds and covers, and I wanted to be able to use all-in-ones and pockets as well.