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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.

The choice of diaper type that we as parents make can have a positive or negative influence on our child's health, their comfort, and the health of the world that we live in. And there is a great deal of money to be saved when people choose cloth diapers over disposable-style diapers.

Here are 7 great reasons for choosing cloth-style diapers over disposable-style diapers.

1. Improved health for your baby. Take a look at what makes up today's disposable diapers. They are made with a chemical that makes the diaper very absorbent - but this chemical (sodium polyacrylate) has been linked to toxic shock syndrome. And that's not the only dangerous chemical. You will also find in disposable diapers traces of Dioxin (this is a carcinogen) and it can cause genetic damage, immune system suppression and even disease of the liver.

2. Lower possibility of diaper rash for your baby. Disposable diapers are made of very dense material, while cloth diapers are made of breathable cotton. This means that you baby will be cooler, thereby reducing the build up of bacteria growth which lowers the possibility of a rash. Babies that wear cloth diapers get changed more often because they will feel wet to the touch when the baby is wet. Disposables on the other hand are so absorbent that even when the baby is wet the diaper may not feel wet and therefore the baby will not be changed as often. This will result in a greater chance of the baby developing a diaper rash.

3. More comfortable for baby. We all know how comfortable cotton is to wear. Layers of cotton are what make up cloth diapers - and this means that it feels better against your baby's skin, they will be cooler than their disposable counterparts (especially in the middle of the Summer).

4. Reduce the cost of raising a baby. We have two boys. In the first 18 months of our first child's life we figure that we have saved about $1200 by using cloth diapers rather than disposables. This is taking into account the cost of purchasing disposables versus the cost of purchasing and washing cloth baby diapers at home. Independent studies have been taken which shows that over the time that a child wears diapers (2.5 years approximately) that a baby will wear about 7500 diapers and that by using cloth you can save between $1000 and $2000.

5. Do your part to improve our world - cloth diapers can be used over and over again making them better for the environment. Consider some other items. A high quality cloth diaper can be washed a hundred or more times. And if you have or plan on having more than one child the cloth diaper can be used for your 2nd and 3rd child. And sure it use up energy to wash cloth diapers. This energy use cost is very small when you compare it to what the cost to the environment caused by the use of disposables. We can expect a disposable to take at least 400 years to be fully decomposed in our already crowded landfills. Also consider that the manufacturers of diapers that are disposable in a year will use more than a million metric tons of wood pulp and 75,000 metric tons of plastic each year.

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. Diaper and outer cover built together. If you are looking for convenience in a cloth diaper look for ones that are called all-in-one diapers. This means that the diaper and the outer waterproof cover are built into one item. This makes for quick changes of your baby.