I keep thinking, "wouldn't it be nice if I could just be normal?" Life would be a lot easier if I didn't think... if I didn't question everything... if I just registered for the travel system stroller like everyone else does for example without questioning "why?", or if I just went with a nursery-in-a-bag theme, or even if I didn't question what has become "normal" childbirth.... As a friend's dad more or less put it, "leave it to Diane to take something so simple and make it so complicated". And yet, again, here I am pondering over another question...
Disposable diapers? Or cloth diapers?
Jason and I try to do our part to be green. We recycle (even at our inconvenience, like when we had no recycling service at our apartment), we use cloth bags at the grocery store (when we remember!), we use electricity-saving light bulbs, we try to save water and energy.... we're definitely not doing everything we could do, but we do try to do our part. That being said, it greatly disturbs me that my child's dirty diapers will be in landfills for 500 years to come. Not to even mention the chemicals and natural resources used in the processing and distribution of these diapers. Now, I know that cloth diapers use water and chemicals to be washed, so they aren't perfect either, but 500 years is 500 years! If my great-grandparents had used disposable diapers they would still be around today!!
So I started considering the idea of cloth diapers. Here is my list of pros and cons of cloth diapering:
Pros:
Earth friendly
Money-saving (they're reusable, you don't have to keep buying more)
Cons:
Inconvenient (you have to wash them) or pricey if you want convenience
Gross (wouldn't you rather throw away poop than scrape it into a toilet??)
Leaks (thereby needing plastic covers)
There are some ways to make cloth diapers more convenient. (Keep in mind, an economy-size box of Huggies from Sam's Club costs about 13 cents per diaper....)
- Opt for a cloth diaper delivery service. They pick up the dirty diapers and deliver clean ones. They do all the washing. BUT, the price-per-diaper cost is more than disposables (about 23 cents per diaper). These services proclaim to be cheaper than disposables, and to be honest, if you're buying diapers at Babies R Us or even Target you may spend easily 26 cents per diaper (priced on the exact same brand and style of Huggies, just a smaller box)
- Get a mid-way cloth/disposable diaper like the "gDiaper". It is basically an outer "shell" that you put a lining in. Changing the diaper is as easy as changing the lining which means less washing and faster changes than a normal cloth diaper. You can either use a cloth liner, or they have disposable liners that you actually flush and are completely biodegradable. But again, the price-per-diaper is much higher than disposables. These run about 37 cents per refill and that doesn't include the cost of buying the "gPants".
Nature Babycare Diapers are 100% chlorine-free, based on natural and biodegradable materials,100% GM free, and OK Compost certified. The film used as a back sheet is a biodegradable film, not only waterresistant but also more breathable, resulting in an airier, drier, and more comfortable diaper. The packaging is 100% biodegradable and OK Compost certified, based on natural chalk. The ultra-thin construction makes for a non-bulky fit that is comfortable for your baby.
Once again though, these are a more expensive option. These run about 38 cents per diaper.
I know that if I were to choose cloth diapers I would have to use disposables every once in a while. I'm not going to make people who watch our child deal with cloth diapers. Nor am I going to carry dirty diapers around with me if we're on vacation, or even out shopping for a while. But again, my idea is to be "more" earth-friendly and to do my part as best I can.
I guess it comes down to 3 Cs:
- convenience
- cost
- conscience
Yes, life would be much easier if you didn't question everything, but then you just wouldn't be my lovely big sister. :) Nobody else would have been able to convince me to read a blog entry about different kinds of diapers. I have to say, I think the cloth diapers are a good idea for general at-home use like you said. But I'm pretty sure you would have to give me like a 5-hour lesson on how to get a cloth diaper to stay on a baby if you wanted me to look after the Floodling (in which case I will probably be using disposable or compostable diapers). The compostable/biodegradable diapers may not be as sturdy as you would hope. We have compostable "plastic" bags that tear when you put like 3 napkins in them. I would hope they would make diapers more sturdy than that, but you might want to check on it before you commit. Anyways, those are my thoughts on diapers! (I now see why you might actually need a diaper stacker if you're not just planning on using the usual disposable diapers.)
ReplyDelete~Bad Awnt Laura
I actually liked your comment about the diaper stacker before... I have a cup sitting on my counter for q-tips and cotton balls that usually sits empty while I reach under the sink each morning for the items I need... but yes, if we go with cloth diapers a diaper stacker might be nice.
ReplyDeleteI was concerned about the compostable diapers myself... my thoughts were that if they are supposed to break down in water (the inserts for the gDiapers for example are emptied into a toilet then flushed), then what would they do when peed on??
Jason's says cost wins, but also says that we'll use disposables for the first little bit because the messes infants make are supposed to be pretty horrible... once the poops are a little more solid he thinks we would go with a diaper service but still have disposables for when people are watching him.
They actually have "prefold" cloth diapers that are already folded to fit a baby and usually are velcro instead of pins... so that at least would make things easier!
I've done it both ways. Disposable diapers definitely win for convenience. Cloth diapers have a heavy environmental cost when you add in the cost of laundering them, especially drying them. (We were fortunate in St-Jean that it was windy enough that I could line-dry them and they still came out soft.) I also used a diaper service for a while - sort of convenient, but we did have the occasional problem of running out...
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