Cloth Diapers

This post is part of the Real Diaper Facts carnival hosted by Real Diaper Events, the official blog of the Real Diaper Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to cloth diaper education. Participants were asked to write about diaper lies and real diaper facts.

Have you heard about the new line of Pampers that are allegedly causing chemical burns on the little bums of little ones? If you haven't, here's the story.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100515/wl_canada_afp/usconsumercompanyprocter_20100515002953

Now Proctor and Gamble has posted a ridiculous page on their website pitting "truth" against "myth." I'd like to take a minute to give you some real facts. However, before I do this, I feel like I should disclose that I did use disposables 100% of the time on my first daughter. We never had a problem and I never thought to research what was in something that seemed to be working well. So, no offense to those of you wonderful Moms that still use disposable. Personally, I am not anti-disposable (I even still use them from time to time). I just have to speak the truth about cloth and can't let Pampers get away with what they are doing.

Pampers says:
"Myth: Cloth diapers are better for my baby.

Fact: Disposable diapers like Pampers were developed to offer babies benefits that cloth diapers could not meet. That goes beyond convenience to helping keep babies' skin dryer and more comfortable by reducing leaks and locking wetness inside the diaper in a way that cloth doesn't. As a result, doctors and parents simply don't see the same level of diaper rash that used to exist before disposable diapers."

The real facts are:
"Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process. It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals. It is banned in most countries, but not the U.S. Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. A similar substance had been used in super-absorbancy tampons until the early 1980s when it was revealed that the material increased the risk of toxic shock syndrome. In May 2000, the Archives of Disease in Childhood published research showing that scrotal temperature is increased in boys wearing disposable diapers, and that prolonged use of disposable diapers will blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis."

For those not particularly into the science (like me) I feel I should add that the whole reason I changed from disposable to cloth is because disposables were giving my daughter a nasty diaper rash. I'm not going to say she never gets a rash in cloth, but it is usually my fault (sat in poop too long). When she wore disposables, she got a rash for no apparent reason at all. ALL.THE.TIME.


Pampers says:
"Myth: Cloth diapers are better for the environment than disposables.

Fact: In October 2008, the United Kingdom's Environment Agency published an update to its 2005 Life Cycle Assessment study on cloth versus disposable diapers. The update confirmed the earlier study's findings that there is no clear winner in terms of environmental impacts between disposable and cloth diapers in the U.K., once all factors such as water, energy, detergent, and disposal are considered."

The real facts are:
"The instructions on a disposable diaper package advise that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system. Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill. No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone. In 1988, nearly $300 million dollars were spent annually just to discard disposable diapers, whereas cotton diapers are reused 50 to 200 times before being turned into rags. Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste. Disposable diapers generate sixty times more solid waste and use twenty times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp. The manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth."

I know that generally people think that using cloth diapers is time-consuming and/or financially infeasible, or maybe just plain gross. I get it. I thought the same thing. Hey, who really likes change? I don't. When disposables were working for me, I wasn't as apt to change. I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? The fact is that cloth diapers are so easy to throw in the wash and not so much by way of financial investment (unless you are like me and obsessed with trying every type in every color). Even still, with all my obsessive compulsive diaper buying, I've still saved a sustantial amount of money over disposable. Once the initial cost of buying the diapers is met, the rest is only what it costs to do the wash. Think in terms of the long run what disposable diapers cost over the span of 2 1/2 to 3 years of diapering. I think I figured out that we paid aproximately $500 a year for diapers (based on a conservative 5 diapers a day). I do realize the choices and the washing routine can be overwhelming, but it takes such little time to get the hang of it. My goal here is not to change your mind but simply to provide a few facts and help squash the rumors perpetrated by this ginormous institution. That's all. Cloth diaper rant officially over and back to food. :)