Back to my Earth Day posts....I think most of you know that we use cloth diapers. I'll be perfectly honest. When I decided to use cloth before I was pregnant, it had nothing to do with environmental concerns. My #1 reason for using cloth was my concern for my children's health. Also, saving a ton of money was a great bonus. It has only been recent that I have begun to feel that cloth diapering is very important for the environment.Cloth diapering is really quite easy. Many people comment that I must be a super mom or something. I think those people are thinking that I'm using the same diapers that their mothers and grandmothers used. There are no rectangle diapers and pins in this house {though I know some people that prefer them}! There are dozens of cloth diaper brands. Some are in the picture above...clockwise from top left: bumGenius {a one size pocket diaper}, Bummis swim diaper, MotherEase {a one size diaper with a seperate cover...we use these}, and some prefold diapers.
There are also great tools available. These sprayers {similar to these ones at your kitchen sink, but much stronger} attach to the back of your toilet. All you have to do is lift the toilet seat and spray any solid into the bowel. And FYI, if you read the disposable diaper package, you are suppose to dump any solids into the toilet before throwing them away. Human waste is not suppose to go into landfills. It is dangerous for our water supply and wild animals.There are many other "green" benefits to using cloth. Every child that uses disposable diapers puts 1-2 TONS of diapers into landfills. That 1-2 tons of trash takes 200-500 years to decompose. There are many great resources online that talk about all of the health and environmental benefits of cloth. You can find some here and here.
5 comments:
I applaud your decision and am NOT second-guessing you. But there are other factors you might have to consider in the future.
I gave up on cloth diapers after four years for the following reasons:
1) The cloth diapers and plastic pants we used (starting in 1983) either leaked OR didn't breathe at all, in which case the baby got a rash. I fought diaper rash on babies all the time, and never had one rash in the five years after I switched. Perhaps technology is better on this now. I hope so.
2) Babies had to be changed immediately because of the urine against their skin. The paper diaper technology changed in 1985 and took urine and turned it into a gel that doesn't touch the skin. I don't know that cloth diapers can do this yet. Whereas I had been changing the baby a dozen times a day, I could now cut back to three or four since the urine neither smelled nor irritated the skin.
3) Diapers that leaked, leaked onto something that also had to be washed. I found I was constantly washing couches, carpets, etc. I had piles of towels around the house to pick the child who had had an explosive bowel movement. I changed the clothes at least six times a day because they had been leaked onto. With disposables, we needed far fewer clothes! Before disposables, I needed changes of clothing for me as well as the babies available.
4) Not only was it much more difficult to pack the diaper bag, but I hated it when I didn't have something to wrap up the diaper and take it home and was stuck throwing away a diaper! Disposables bag: diaper and wipes. Cloth bag: diapers, plastic covers, plastic bags for dirty diapers, wipes, changes of clothing, plastic bag for clothing. Not to mention the work when you got home and the bag itself stinking when the plastic bags leaked.
5)Even when I ran the washing machine with all kinds of chemicals, extra rinses and an empty load between washes, I found that our clothing still always smelled like baby poop. My husband even had co-workers comment on his smell.
6) Once I had three kids in diapers at the same time, I had to be honest that the diapers could NEVER be sterilized 100% and therefore I was sharing germs between the kids.
It really broke my heart to admit defeat and go to disposables, but bottom line of total costs of soap, water, electricity, time, smell and disease made it no longer feasible for me in 1987. I agree things have changed and if I had a baby today, I would revisit the question. But if I did, I would have a separate diapers-only washing machine.
The 1-2 ton landfill figure includes the heavy weight of the urine, which evaporates over time. The savings in my water and electric bills alone paid for my diapers.
Ok, first..i love your "green" tips. not that i havent already heard them from your mouth...but hopefully someone will catch something they didnt already know {not everyone gets to talk to you 5 times a day!}. i think you should post about heather millers questions today...about what to look for with cleaning products {just maybe leave out the principle part :) }
BUT..i read the comment that someone left about cloth diapers and wanted to put in my 2cents...
1) if you have a problem with leaking diapers than switch to cloth! i know abot mother ease the best....and i dont know anyone who uses mother ease and has EVER had a leak. they are completely leak proof.
2)i'm not sure if they still make plastic pants...its not what we use. our covers are called "airflow"...give you an idea of how breathable it is?
3) one reason i have heard not to use disposable is some believe that it can cause fertility problems in boys bec they get too hot in their diaper. you do not have this problem with cloth.
4)the idea of the disposable turning pee into gel...thats my biggest push for cloth. something that turns pee to gel...sounds like a CHEMICAL. i would rather have pee against my childs skil than some chemical gel. plus they have cloth liners that wick the urine away from the skin so its not even an issue.
5) the diaper bag issue...well the change of clothes is the opposite...you dont need a change of clothes if youhave mother ease...unless your kid spits up...i dont think mother ease makes a spit up solver yet. and its really not that hard to have a zip lock bag to put the diaper into. my issue is remembering to take the dirty ones out at the end of the day. :)
i do agree it adds a couple extra steps to use cloth. however i would like to think that it is worth it for me. the biggest hassle to me was i would take the pale of diapers outside to wash them off in the hose b4 washing them. i hated this. but the toilet sprayer fixes this and i'm excited to get mine {hint hint gena!}.
now environmental reasons...i agree the 1-2 tons probably includes the pee. however i am pretty sure that the pee wont evaporate too quickly when the diapers and closed up, thrown into a plastic trash bag that is then closed up, and thrown in a HUGE heap of plastic trash bag, then covered with dirt. i'm pretty sure the pee is staying put...atleast for half of the 500 years.
6) there are a number of things you can put into your wash {that arent chemicals} that will help with any spell. if you put a touch of bleach just every once in a while {with an extra rinse} it pretty much solves that problem. and the best thing? hang them outside to dry. they will have no stains or smell. sun is amazing. plus you wont be paying to run your dryer.
i guess washer machines have come along way in the past 20 years as well cause i have never had anything else smell like poop {and you have never smelled like poop gena}. but i think one of your points of this post was to point out how far cloth diapers have come. {and washer machines?}
i'm way not as strong as you in a million ways. i'm just not as committed to green as you...yet {i'm sure youll get me there!}. but i thought it was sad that you WERE second guessed. you are doing something GOOD. and even if i am not dedicated enough to pack a bigger bag or spray off the diapers...i would hope i dont talk down on it. you arent a super mom bec you snap a cloth diaper on or run an extra load of laundry {cause thats really not hard}...you are a super mom bec you want whats best for the environment and your children. you look into everything and know what your talking about. you dont walk blindly through life trusting that some company puts the best intrest of your family first...cause they dont. i'm so grateful that i have you to help me not walk blindly!
I am sorry that you had such a miserable experience with cloth diapers. Mine has been quite the opposite, along with the dozens of other cloth diapering families I know. I'm glad that you brought these issues up and I would LOVE to address them!
1. Cloth diaper covers are no longer made of plastic, unless you buy the cheap ones at walmart. They breathe very well. Plastic disposable diapers don't breathe well at all. There are a few current studies out there now because there is concern that male reproduction is being compromised. {Everything gets too hot} Henry has had one mild diaper rash that went away in less than 48 hours.
2. I change Henry every 3ish hours and he does just fine. The chemicals that it takes to turn urine into gel are the same ones that I don't want to be sitting against his developing reproductive organs.
3. I have NOT had ONE leak using cloth diapers. That's actually a selling point for cloth diapers....NO blow outs.
4. I have no problem traveling or diapering in public. In my diaper bag I have...2 cloth diapers, 3 gallon size ziplock bags that I reuse and wipes. No change of clothes for me or Henry. No extra covers, I use one cover per day...like I said, the diapers don't leak. And I have never had the bag leak into my diaper bag. Maybe that's why I pay a few extra pennies for ziplock.
5. If you know me, you know that I am the Laundry Natzi. I don't let anyone do my laundry but me...it's been that way since high school. I certainly would not let my clothes smell like poop. His diapers don't smell like poop after they are cleaned, much less our clothes.
6. If diapers are the only way kids share germs, how does Henry get sick from his friends? And "he" washers do have a sterilization cycle. Isn't technology great?
I would be completely stunned if I found out that urine that is wrapped inside a plastic diaper, stuffed in a plastic bag, and buried in a landfill evaporates!
Our water and electricity bills are not higher than they were before Henry was born. Sounds like you had a very inefficient washer. Again, maybe that's technology. I do 2 loads of diapers per week. If anything, they are lower because we have become more energy concious.
These are exactly the concerns that most people have, and keep them from using cloth. I'm glad I was able to debunk them! :)
There was absolutely no offense intended, as I hope you realize, and you are living in a different generation with different technology. I don't worry about the gel being against his skin, but I must admit I DO think a lot of smells used on babies, especially the perfumes in disposables, are terrible for their lungs!
I truly was the last of my generation to switch to disposables, and you can see it is a decision I didn't take lightly. I am glad that technology is catching up some on the side of environmentalism. Especially getting rid of the plastic pant covers. They were so awful!
Hey Geneva,
Well I have been using cloth diapers for five years now and I love them. Mother ease is the way to go. I agree that they do not leak..but when I first tried cloth someone had given me some prefolds and diaper-wrap covers and they DID leak. So did bummis, and a couple of others. They were all older and just not good covers. I could not imagine having them as my only choice and continuing to use cloth. Mother-ease saved cloth for us.
As far as laundry goes my kids make more the older they get and with Greg's work clothes I do laundry just about every day so tossing in some diapers is not even noticable. Do we smell like poop? I hope not! Keep up the good work.
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