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Diapers: Cloth, Disposable, Stinky Pails & More
Blog Of The Week
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
by Janelle Sorensen, Chief Communications Officer, Healthy Child Healthy World
I find it intriguing that diapers are such a hot topic of conversation among moms. But, I do remember when I was in the throes of the diapering years - you spend so much time diapering, wondering if it’s time to change a diaper, choosing diapers, disposing of/cleaning diapers, that it’s almost always on your mind.
I must admit, that while I don’t miss changing diapers, I’m envious of new parents today. There are so many more choices available and with the advent of social media, so many more conversations about diapers to tap into. So, if you’re dealing with dirty diapers, consider yourself lucky. (Easy for me to say, right?)
Still, oftentimes, extra choices and information only adds to the confusion about what you should do. We asked our Blogger Network for advice and here are some excerpts from their great submissions to us - I think you’ll definitely want to click-through each one to learn more. Enjoy!
Quiz: Are Cloth Diapers Right For You?
by Betsy of Eco-Novice
Betsy made a great quiz to help you figure out what kind of diaper is right for you. Here are two of the questions she asked with answers I really identified with.
Do you feel like you are flushing money down the toilet every time you change a diaper?
Cloth diapers are cheaper than disposables and can be significantly cheaper depending on what kind of cloth diapering system you use and how many children you diaper. Financial considerations were not enough to get me to switch to cloth, but I can remember days that I had to change my baby's diaper so many times that I was calculating the money lost in my head as I changed his diaper.
Are you daunted and confused by the choices out there for cloth diapers?
In many ways, the bewildering number of cloth diapering options is the biggest obstacle to using cloth diapers. Once I found a system that worked for me, I found that using cloth diapers was no more difficult or time-consuming than using disposable diapers. I also found there were many advantages to using cloth, so much so that when we travel (and use disposables for a week or so), my husband and I are both anxious to get back to using cloth. If you are thinking of switching to cloth diapers, I recommend asking a cloth-diapering friend or a local baby store to show you in person a few of your cloth diapering options, or you can use one of the many cloth diapering trials offered by online diapering stores to help you decide which styles fit your baby and your lifestyle. For a brief introduction to your cloth diapering choices described in terms any disposable-diaper-using parent can understand, read this post.
Making Cloth Diapers Work In A Busy Life
by Michelle of Simplify, Live, Love
Michelle wrote about cloth diapers, too - with a great, picture-loaded tutorial. Here’s a little about why she chose cloth diapers and then click-through for her tutorial!
Did you know that 28 BILLION disposable diapers are buried in landfills each year in the United States?! That’s a staggering number. I knew before I had my first child that I did not want to add to the trash heap. I was glad when my knowledgeable midwife was able to give me the low-down on cloth diapers and I used them from the get-go. As far as I can tell, the benefits of cloth diapers are many. They can be reused (over and over as I’ve proven by using the same diapers on 4 babies), they save money, and they are non-toxic.
by Jessica Anne, Adventures With Three Girls
Jessica points out that whether you use cloth or disposable, many people choose to keep a diaper pail, which inevitably gets a little (or a lot) stinky. Check out her awesome tips for naturally eliminating odors.
1. Flush the Poop
This is the simplest way to decrease diaper pail odor. If you’re using cloth diapers, you’re probably already doing that. It helps decrease the staining on cloth diapers as well. If you’re using disposables, maybe you’re just throwing it all in the diaper pail. Flushing helps two ways. First, no poop in the pail means no poopy diaper pail smell. Second, if we flush it goes through the sewage treatment system instead of just going into a landfill. That’s better for the environment.
2. Use Baking Soda
It naturally absorbs odor. You can take one of those refrigerator/freezer boxes and stick it right in the bottom of the pail.
3. Vinegar
Vinegar also neutralizes odors. Keep a spray bottle of white vinegar and spray it into the pail every time you empty it. Once the vinegar dries, there will be no more vinegar smell, and no more diaper pail smell. You can even add a few drops of an essential oil to provide a scent if you wanted, although I’m all for unscented.
4. Half A Lemon
This is my personal favorite. Take a used half lemon, scrape out all the flesh and fill it with sea salt. Place it in the bottom of the diaper pail. The salt absorbs the odors. It needs to be changed when the salt gets all dry and cakey. Mine last a couple months. It’s a great way to use the leftovers after juicing a lemon for cooking.
5. Don’t Get a Diaper Pail
Just use the regular trash can and empty it for disposables or get a zippered wet bag to collect cloth diapers. The diaper pail is extra plastic that really isn’t that necessary when it gets right down to it. It’s just convenient. I’m not saying throw out your diaper pail if you already have one, but if you don’t have one yet, think about not getting one. If you’re like me, and you have a diaper pail, when your children are potty trained, find someone who can use your diaper pail or donate it to a charity that could use it. It’s one way to help reduce plastic production.
What kind of diapers did you use? What are your tips for new moms?
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Ready for more? This was just a sampling of submissions we received for this week’s Blog of the Week (a series where we feature posts from the Healthy Child blogger network). Here are some other awesome submissions about all things diapering:
- “The Dirt On Diapering” from Waughmadness
- “My Life In Cloth” from Down To Earth Mother
- “The Health Impact Of Disposable Diapers” by Charise of I Thought I Knew Mama
- "Holy Crap! I'm Sold On Cloth Diapering" by Paige of Spit That Out
Great submissions everyone! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and advice! Interested in being a part of this program? Sign-up here!
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of Healthy Child Healthy World.
Posted by thriftygrrrl on 09/15/2011 at 12:24 PM
MJ and Janelle - thanks for the followup. My little guy potty-trained at 2.5, so thankfully we’ve been out of diapers a year now, but will definitely check into it if/when we have another. I very much wanted to do it, but hit a roadblock. I tried convincing them something like GDiapers was as easy as a diaper, but still no dice. That was a few years ago, so hopefully with more awareness, it’ll be easier for other moms. Sorry I vented - I think the post just reminded me of how frustrating it was back when I was searching!
Posted by Bethany Gonzalez Moreno on 09/14/2011 at 05:47 PM
I wish I would have seen this!!! I just joined the blog program.
I have a huge section on cloth diapering on my site! It is very comprehensive.
http://www.b-ecochic.com/cloth-baby-diapers.html
Posted by MJ on 09/07/2011 at 05:58 PM
Hi Thrifygrrrl! You created a great conversation! It is sooo true, what you say, about the difficulty of finding what you REALLY want in day care services. And, no, do not feel guilty, I agree. It sounds like you hit a road block finding care that offered cloth diapers. So sorry this happened to you. I too, use a day care for my kids. It took me 3 daycares to find one that used cloth, thankfully. In the mean time, I used cloth at home and 7th Generation at day care until I found the right place! I still saved money by using cloth at home. Actually, the more you look and ask around the more you will find cloth friendly day care centers…I only know this because I volunteer my time to teach cloth diaper classes in my community. I hear a lot of recommendations by word of mouth. I just never found these great places with a web search. For cloth diapers, there are great, thin, flushable or disposable liners that allow the day care centers to flush or toss the solid waste just as they toss a soiled diaper. The more moms you meet, the more you hear about day cares that use cloth, both big places and privately owned places. The issue is usually that these places do not advertise. If you (or anyone!) still have a lingering interest in cloth diapering, you can find someone in your area to guide you at http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/directory/. Who knows, maybe I live near you and I can help or maybe I know a cloth diaper advocate who lives near you : ) The nationwide resources for cloth diapers are growing, as well as the day care centers that accept them : ) Diaper on! Be it eco diapers or cloth : )
Posted by Janelle Sorensen on 09/06/2011 at 03:56 PM
Thriftygrrrl - I’m sorry if this blog made you feel guilty - we NEVER intend to do that. Each family has it’s own obstacles, priorities, and personal issues to deal with and we all do the best we can. Thanks for pointing out that cloth isn’t always feasible and that that definitely does not make you a bad parent or eco-irresponsible!!
No one can do everything. Everyone can do something.
Etak - I was hoping someone would chime in about elimination communication! Thanks for bringing it up and I agree that even if you don’t adopt it in your own home - it’s an interesting concept and practice to be aware of!
Posted by Heidi on 09/06/2011 at 01:09 PM
Hey, thriftygrrrl
Do not feel bad. I also use disposables at daycare too. Same as you, I chose a more eco-friendly brand. I still use cloth at home though.
In my sons facility there are 1 teacher to every 3-4 children, in a class of 12. I can’t imagine the trouble of changing all those diapers. It would take a major revolution to get care-providers to use cloth. I do not blame them one bit.
As a working mom I made the choice; Cloth at home and eco-friendly at daycare. Its the only balance I could be happy with.
Posted by Etak on 09/05/2011 at 09:26 PM
Before my second child, I also began to think which was better, plastic or cloth, and decided to use both, as I did with my first child.
Then the midwife mentioned that more than 2/3 of the world go diaper-free from birth, and that our western culture has lost the ability to read the baby’s cues for when it has to pee. Strangely enough, though, we still try and learn the cues for hunger and sleepiness…If we watch out for those two, what’s the trouble in adding another one?
I would love to spread this around, this Elimination Communication. I have been doing it part-time for only one and a half weeks for my 2-month-old, but in this time his frustrated crying has almost ceased, and his diaper rash is history. I feel a lot more in tune with him, and am back to laundering 1x a week, instead of 3x. Thank God. We live on the 6th floor, no elevator, and the laundry room is in the basement… Another added benefit is seeing my 1st child holding her stuffed animals over her little blue potty and saying, “Try going potty, pss-pss-pss!” like I do with her brother. (Okay, perhaps that last benefit is more for my future grandchildren than for me, but it’s worth mentioning if only for cuteness’ sake.)
The URL I posted is that of DiaperFreeBaby, a very comprehensive resource for us diapering parents. This URL below is a simple list of 75 benefits of Elimination Communication with baby. Take a look, please, if only for fun. It’s worth knowing about, even if one chooses not to take the path.
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/index.php?module=article&view=10&MMN_position=251:14
Posted by thriftygrrrl on 09/02/2011 at 08:10 PM
Im a pretty ecosavvy mama, but onesided articles like this leave me sad. Not a single caretaker I interviewed allowed cloth diapers, from inhome providers to larger centers. Only a nanny (who I couldn’t afford anyway) would “consider” them. In the end, I used 7th gen and earths best disposable and my baby went to the center at my workplace so I could visit/nurse several times a day, feed him my homemade organic meals, etc. If I had the luxury of not working, I may have made the choice to cloth diaper, but I had to work and the best childcare arrangement that allowed me lots of face time with my child, required disposables. I refuse to feel guilty about that, and wish articles like this would recognize working moms need options, not advice on how “easy” it is to do something few paid providers actually allow.
Posted by MJ on 09/02/2011 at 07:32 PM
Cloth diapering moms and dads are alway willing to share information and advice with new cloth diapering families. Look around your community for cloth diaper stores or classes or cloth diaper advocates. They are popping up all over the nation! Here is a place to begin your local search for support….......http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/directory/
Our favorite brand is Bamboozles by Tots Bots. The bamboo material absorbs quickly and dries quickly and feels like a soft spa bath towel. It is a fitted style. I have tried all other styles and think that fitted is the best! We use ProWrap covers with them.
My advice is to enjoy the cloth journey but don’t go it alone.
There are so many great tricks of the trade that you will want to know them all to see what works for you. My trick is to use non-fuzzy cloth wipes as liners. They keep the poop off of the diaper and make it easier to dump the poop into the toilet.
Posted by Kelsie on 09/02/2011 at 03:10 PM
I love cloth. I started out trying to use up the disposables people bought us when we were expecting before ordering some Indian prefolds, econobum one size covers and pull up diaper pants, and some birdseye flats. I usually trifold and lay them inside of the cover, but I snappied when my son was younger. I hate disposables. They leaked every time! I was changing diapers constantly (just a part of the newborn stage), but with cloth, I did not have to change my clothes and my son’s clothes every time he needed a diaper change. The fact that cloth works so much better should be reason enough for anyone to choose cloth, even if they are not sold on the environmental impact, the cost savings, or the health effects of disposables with all of their chemicals sitting against your baby’s skin 24/7. To me, it is more convenient all around. I cd exclusively. While at home, while traveling, while camping. I will handwash if I have to and that does not bug me as much as the leaks with sposies’. I would still cloth diaper if I lived in an apartment and it was not as convenient to wash. With my very simple diaper system, I have not paid much to diaper my son and intend to use cloth from the start with my next. I gave away what was remaining of my disposables, which was a lot. Boxes full of different brands that could not compare to cloth. To me, the cloth vs. disposables debate is a no-brainer. As far as the pail goes, I add a little baking soda to the bottom of the pail, flush the poop, rinse and wring out the diapers, then rinse the pail on wash day. Odors are not an issue, but they were with disposables stinking up my house and porch until it was time to put out the trash.
Posted by Lizbeth on 09/02/2011 at 02:35 PM
I chose to use gdiapers. They make a bipdegradeable, compostable, flushable insert with a cotton pant you reuse for the outside. They worked really well for me. We composted the wet and flushed the dirty. No guilt! I might do all cloth next town around, but I wasn’t ready to make the comittment. Luckily with gdiapers you can use cloth inserts in them. It really is the best of both worlds. :)
Posted by Ben Cromwell on 09/02/2011 at 02:10 PM
Disposable diapers last 500 years or more in a landfill. They do not biodegrade. In 500 years, you can have your great great great grandchildren go and look at the diapers you used. It seems to me that because of this fact, it is unethical to use disposable diapers.
Posted by Zaira @ Living, Loving, Learning Naturally on 09/02/2011 at 12:33 PM
Loved our cloth diapers! I am almost sad that our son is not potty learned. Almost. We used them from 6 weeks to 3.5 years old, I am sure we saved a ton of money, and a ton of trash. No nasty chemicals either! We took them on month long international trips TWICE, wouldn’t change a thing, there’s nothing cloth can’t do! ;)
Posted by April @ ecoMomical Me on 09/02/2011 at 11:46 AM
Here is an article I wrote last month: The Doo Doo on Disposables
http://ecomomicalme.com/2011/08/25/the-doo-doo-on-disposables/
Posted by Heidi on 08/31/2011 at 02:03 PM
I chose cloth because (in order of priority) they were healthier for my son, cheaper on my budget and slightly better on the environment.
I travel with cloth. There is always a laundry mat around somewhere. I use a dry pail system but rinse and wring out every diaper, especially the poop ones. I clean the pail on laundry day. All of that cuts down on the odor a lot.
I have never once regretted cloth. In fact I don’t even resent changing diapers. It’s just a thing we have to do right now – whatever.
I use flat with pins and mother-ease diapers
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Posted by mj on 09/16/2011 at 03:48 PM
thriftygrrrl , venting is good! Especially to people who understand where you are coming from because they wore the same shoes : ) I support you!