You don´t have to cloth diaper if you are going to do elimination communication but honestly I do think it makes it a lot easier. Disposable diapers have a wicking mechanism or chemicals in them to keep the baby dry, which probably helps prevent diaper rash and is great and is why people use them. But for elimination communication you want the baby to feel wet. You want him to kind of know the consequences of his bodily functions. So you really do want cloth diapers so that he is getting the message that he has gone to the bathroom. A lot of times people will sort of use disposables if they are going out or they will use disposables at night so that the baby will sleep through the night, and that is sort of part time EC, which is fine to do. But if you are going to do it full time, cloth diapers honestly make it a lot easier. In my case, I am also a big cheapskate. And when you are changing diapers that often, I commented to my husband more than once my lord if we were using disposables and I had to throw this diaper out every day, I would have been so livid because you are going through a dozen or two dozen diapers a day when you are first starting out and trying to get the hang of their cues.