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The Facts on Cloth Diapers

Did you know? Going Green is great – CHEAP and EASY!

Got Fluff? More and more families are going green these days. Between the state of the economy, and the state of our planet it isn't hard to figure out that something has to change.

Did you know?

The average American family makes between $16,000-35,000 per year, and it costs $2,694.54 on average to diaper ONE baby! That is already an 1/8^th of your family’s income- 1/4^th if you have TWINS!  Cloth diapering (CD) can save your family anywhere from $2300 to upwards of $5000! Thousands more if you CD more than one child!

Sadly that is a CONSERVATIVE estimate. It isn’t unusual for a child to sill be in pull-ups or a diaper during the evening hours to keep sheets dry. Children in single-use type diapers tend to not feel wetness, and therefore also in turn tend to take longer to potty train. Obviously, your child’s individual sleep pattern, body functions and time frame for toilet training success will determine the number of actual diaper changes required.

But Cloth diapers are such a hassle-right?

Wrong! These aren’t your Grandma’s cloth diapers. Today cloth is easy, cute, and “In”.  Many diapers on the market like Butzie Covers™ and KCK™ diapers have PUL (polyurethane laminate) outers. Basically, there is no need to add “rubber pants” or any type of cover at all for that matter! Diaper inners have soft stay dry linings to pull moisture away from baby’s delicate skin, while the PUL outer comes in both beautiful solids and a variety of awesome prints. Velcro and snap closures on these diapers have made pins a thing of the past for parents. Making summer a breeze, diaper baby and just add your favorite matching shirt and you are out the door!

On the flip side for those looking for more natural fibers for baby such as cotton or bamboo, diapers such as Daddy Flats™ are simple to use and can be worn alone or with  shorties or longies (wool shorts and pants) to keep sheets dry and baby comfy all night. Daddy Flats can be used with pins, snaps or even Snappis™ (little rubbery pieces that “bite down” on the fabric to hold diapers together)

Check out Diaper Pin’s Cloth Diaper Calculator to assess just how pricy disposables can be,(and how much you can save by using cloth!)

Be Eco!

Numbers don’t lie! For arguments sake, let’s say you purchase 36 cloth diapers (which is a lot of fluff) these diapers are used over and over again. –My son is using some that were given to me by a friend, and she used them for 3 children before passing them on! But if I use single use diapers, I would have used on average 7,349 diapers by the time my dear son (DS) finished with diapers! That is a TON of poo to put in the landfill for one little bottom PER YEAR

Did you know? It is agreed by many objective reports that so-called “disposable” diapers are the worst environmental choice: Environment Canada, The Recycling Councils of Ontario and BC, The BC Medical Association, The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC), The Worldwide Home Environmentalists’ Network (WHEN) and The David Suzuki Foundation.

More than 4 million disposable diapers are discarded in Canada per day (1.6 billion per year). Disposable diapers are not biodegradable and make up a significant amount of municipal waste. A landfill site does not provide the conditions necessary for the single-use diaper to biodegrade. The “Diaper Genie” now mummifies single-use disposable diapers into our landfill sites for eternity. Consider the cost to operate additional landfill sites and the depletion of our natural forests.

Cloth is convenient!
Today’s cloth diapers require no folding. All it takes of my time is for me dump my entire diaper pail –water and all (a handy 5 gallon bucket with lid) into the washer of hot water then come back and toss into the dryer. If you are one of those super moms like on TV you can nicely fold them into your diaper stacker etc; Personally, I pull my from the clean laundry basket most of the time straight into the diaper bag or baby’s bottom!

After CD this baby, you honestly couldn’t PAY me to use disposables again! I remember going to change the baby before bed and finding that my husband forgot to pick-up diapers on his way home and having to bundle the baby up and run out to the store at 9:00 at night in rain or snow!  If I realize I am almost out of diapers now… I sit baby in the highchair, grab my pail and dumb the silly thing in the washer- while I send my husband out in the yucky weather for cookies! (Because after all I only spent about $.78 to wash the diapers I deserve the cookies right?)

You can dry dock (no water) or wet pail (with water) your diapers. Personally, I rinse my poo diapers in my diaper potty (I’m just not a swisher!) then drop it in the bucket of water with about half a cup of vinegar. NOTE: if you wet pail your diapers PLEASE make sure you ALWAYS have a lid that baby cannot pull off. Baby can drown in as little as one inch of water!

Diaper safety

In the News… some disposable, single-use diapers have been linked to suffocation. The plastic exterior of the diaper is removable to aid in disposal. However, it can also be removed by your baby and can be as dangerous as letting them play with a plastic bag. The super-absorbent padding presents a similar hazard. It can be pulled apart by your baby and stuffed into his mouth and nose. The sticky tabs are not always strongly attached and if removed, may be ingested. Never put your baby to bed clothed only in disposable diapers. Always cover the diapers with clothing.

Babies diapered in disposable diapers are exposed to far too many questionable chemicals contained in the disposable diapers. Newborn skin has an underdeveloped outer layer, and chemicals are more readily absorbed through the skin and into the fat cells than in adults.

The B.C. Medical Association warns of the danger of dioxins and encourages the use of cloth diapers. The absorbent chemical in disposable diapers, sodium polyacrylate gel, absorbs 100 times its weight in liquid.

Studies have shown that when these chemicals become wet, they become even more absorbent and pull moisture from the baby’s body, thereby diminishing the normal defenses of the skin. You can see when this is happening, since your baby’s bottom will look a bit shriveled.

Disposables linked to Infertility! Scientist have found a link between disposable diapers and both male infertility and testicular cancer! “Disposable, plastic-lined nappies (diapers) significantly increase scrotal temperatures and might be affecting future fertility. That’s the conclusion of a recent German study which measured the scrotal temperatures of 48 healthy boys aged 0-55 months. Temperatures were about one degree Centigrade higher when boys wore the disposable nappies compared to the old-fashioned cotton nappies. The study suggests that further research is needed to establish whether this affects future fertility but it is already known that warming the testicles in adults affects sperm production. If there is a link between disposable nappies and adult sperm production, this could help explain the decline in sperm counts and semen quality over the past 50 years.”  –Source : www.menstuff.org/kidstuff/urgent.html and BBC News

 Here are some great sites for diapering info:

Diaper Facts http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php