The Diaper Decision
by Rebecca Mack

After two children and a lot of money and waste in disposable diapers, I finally began thinking about cloth diapering for my third. Two of my siblings had already started doing so and found the benefits to far outweigh anything anyone could say about disposable diapers. Before this endeavor started, I thought that the cloth diaper-ers of the family were crazy. I used to get links from my oldest sister that would take me to pictures of diaper covers and along with the links would come descriptive words for these diaper covers like cute, adorable, amazing, wonderful...etc, etc. She talked about her sons’ cute puffy butts in their layers of diapers under those decorative covers. I never really could imagine why anyone would be so excited about diapers and their covers, let alone their sons’ puffy butts! My younger sister would talk about breathing in the clean diapers right out of the dryer and how great it was....

Um....what??

Diaper covers with duckies on them? "Yummy" smelling diapers right from the dryer? Hello, what planet are you living on?

Then I started cloth diapering. I have to say, I’m totally in love!

For my husband and me, it’s not just about the myriad of diaper covers and accessories, which can definitely become an obsession. First we considered the cost-effectiveness of cloth diapering. Then we thought about the impact on the environment our use of disposable diapers was having. We also thought about our child’s health, particularly her skin. We hadn’t decided whether we were going to switch our potty-training toddler to cloth diapers. We were not using pull-ups, as they seemed to be a waste of money. But he was going without a diaper a lot of the day and only went through an average of about three per day anyway, even when we kept him in a diaper instead of having “air time,” as we like to call it.

Not all parents believe that diapering is an issue. Some are content with sticking with what they know, i.e. disposables, having no problems while using them. Some started cloth diapering with their very first child. Others, like me, have made the switch from disposables to cloth for one or all of the reasons mentioned above. I’m sure there are even some out there that have made a switch from cloth to disposables. Each parent has to decide what is best for them and their families. I obviously lean on the side of cloth. There are many resources, discussion groups and other knowledgeable sources out there, both in stores and on the Internet, which are helpful for parents making the decision about which diapers to use, even if it’s just a debate over the different brands of disposables. Making an informed decision is definitely the best way to go.

In doing research on the damage disposable diapers cause to the environment and the health aspect of disposables, I found some alarming yet helpful information I did not know before. In considering the environment, I found that about 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper go into the landfill per year. Disposable diapers are estimated to take around 500 years to biodegrade, and that is if they are properly exposed to the elements needed for that process. I also learned it takes about 80,000 lbs of plastic and 200,000 trees per year to manufacture disposable diapers. Some argue that the amount of water and energy used to launder cloth diapers greatly affects the environment; some go as far as saying it affects the environment as much as using disposable diapers. I disagree with this for many reasons. Just to mention one, I have not noticed any increase in our water/sewer or electric bills since we began cloth diapering. We have learned to cut back in many areas of our daily living in order to budget in such factors both in our monetary spending and our environmental awareness.

In considering the health of my children, I found out some very alarming information about the chemicals used in disposable diapers. Disposable diapers contain dyes, sodium polyacrylate, which is an absorbent gel, and dioxin, which is a by-product of bleaching paper. Sodium polyacrylate has been linked to TSS (toxic shock syndrome), has caused allergic reactions in children and is also very harmful to pets. According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), some dyes and even dioxin are known to cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) reports that fragrances, which are often used in disposable diapers and other personal hygiene products, cause headaches, dizziness and rashes. My kids all have very sensitive skin and are very prone to irritation from many different sources. The chemicals in the diapers are known to aggravate the skin.

I have to say, this information alone really has cemented my decision to stick with cloth diapering and now we are even working on switching our toddler to cloth diapers while he tries to master the art of going on the potty. Since we began our adventures in cloth diapering, we have only bought one package of disposables for the baby, used for emergency purposes only.

Oh, and for the record, I do have to admit that my baby has the cutest puffy butt ever! We bought diaper covers with cute little sheep and ducks, froggies on lily pads and pretty bright flowers. And I have to say that I have never smelled a more clean and refreshing scent than warm diapers straight from the dryer!

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