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No Shit: Propaganda of a Self-Proclaimed Cloth Diaper Nazi
Disclaimer – The author fully acknowledges that her views may be tainted by having been raised by dirty hippies, as well as a genetic predisposition to cheapness that is encoded deep in Scottish, German & Russian DNA.
Let’s cut to the chase, people. Every time you pull a Pamper out of that plastic bag, you’re flushing your money down the toilet. Literally. You are spending your hard earned dollars on something that is going to be filled with crap, and is going straight for the trash. There is no way to recoup that financial loss, and like a bad gambling habit, it only becomes more and more expensive with time. These days, kids are in diapers longer and longer, and generally speaking, you’re looking at at least two years of wasting money on single-use receptacles for bodily fluids. Sure it’s easier to pull out a nicely folded Huggy and plop it on Junior. Sure it’s easier to rip the foul smelling mess off and simply toss it in the trash. Easier doesn’t mean smarter. Easier doesn’t mean better.
I lean heavily on the crunchy granola side when it comes to parenting. If you didn’t know me, and listened to me for a while, you’d be surprised to discover that I inhabit a big beige suburban home and drive a new domestic mini-van to and from the kiddy cheer-leading practice while choking back my 4th venti caramel machiatto of the day. You’d be more apt to assume I live on a kibbutz somewhere, rolling my own tampons from organic dandelion fluff and tandem breast-feeding my college honors students. Like most hippy-dippy parenting advocates, I decided that cloth diapering was an important reflection of my values and ideals. Admittedly, I harbor a smidgen of of self-righteous contempt towards my counterparts who opt to empty their wallets and flood the landfills with the festering plastic poo packets of their progeny. I do realize that diapering is not a one-size-fits-all decision, and not everyone is coming from the same angle I am – and that’s okay too. Your kid. Your wallet. Your choice.
So, Tia. Why should I choose cloth?
I’m glad you asked, my friend! Shall we walk down the granola trail? Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Cloth Diapers: Your Wallet Will Thank You
North American babies use about 5,840 disposable diapers in two years. Using an average cost of 25.5 cents per diaper (according to the Real Diaper Assocation), you would fork out approximately $1,500 for the first two years, or about $62.50 per month. This is if you are fortunate enough to have your children potty trained by 2 and get decent prices for your crap traps. Keep on adding if you have a late trainer. Do it again for each child you birth. Ouch.
The cost for cloth diapering can vary considerably, from as low as $300 for a basic set-up of prefolds and covers, to a much higher price if you opt for more frills and doodads like organic cotton fitted customized sets. You can lower the price by making your own, or buying second hand. I have found e-Bay to be a veritable treasure trove of cheap cloth diapers. Bear in mind that you can re-use these for subsequent offspring, which drives the cost down 50% or more. When you’re done birthin’ babies, cloth diapers also make kick-ass cleaning cloths.
I hear the plastic proponents getting ready to hurl the old “It costs a gazillionty-one dollars to wash all of those stinking cloth diapers and then dry them!!!” Wrong! Consumer Report advises that the most inefficient washer and dryer system costs approximately $0.78 per load. More efficient models cost approximately $0.44 per load. Assuming you wash your own diapers twice a week, you’re looking at $0.44-0.78 (this figure takes water, hydro and detergent into account) each time you run a load.
Hmm. Hardly a price tag to keep you up at night. $16.94-$22.05/ week for single-use disposable diapers is far more hefty.
Cloth Diapers: Better for the Big Green Spinning Sphere We Call Home
Consider the numbers. On one hand we have 36 cloth diapers that are used over and over, most likely for more than one child. On the other hand, we have an average of 7,349 single-use diapers per child if they’re in them until 3.
One-time use, throw-away diapers are the single largest non-recyclable component of household garbage – creating one ton of garbage per year per child. Once in a landfill, plastic will never fully decompose. Over time it goes through a process of photo degradation and breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. These substances cannot be converted by any known organisms and as such remain as plastic in landfills, rivers and oceans. I know THAT is the legacy I’d want to be responsible for leaving behind. We’re all such special little snowflakes right?
Cloth Diapers: Friendlier On Tender Baby Bits
What do dye, fragrance, plastic, chlorine, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, dipentene, sodium polyacrylate have in common? They make up the material that is a disposable diaper. Mmmm. Carcinogens! Skin irritants! Just what I want to swath my tender little baby buns in! Thinking forward – your baby will one day be a grown up. Research has shown that disposable diapers can be linked to male infertility and testicular cancer. One more reason to play it safe and go natural – for the sake of your future grand-babies!
On the contrary, cloth diapers don’t have chlorine or toxic chemical gels in their make up. The additives found in conventional diapers are not being absorbed up into Junior’s skin if he’s wearing Fuzzi Buns or MotherEaze. All natural fibers. Breathable. Soft.
Cloth Diapers: Proven to Aid In Earlier Potty Training
Kids who wear cloth get cold and wet when they fill a diaper. Cold and wet is not something most tots enjoy. They recognize the wetness early on, and are apt to vocalize the need for a change. They become more in tune with their body functions young, and largely respond to early potty training favorably. Soaking and stinking sucks! There is a reason your grandma, mother, and mother- in- law crow that they had all of their kids out of diapers by 18 months – they AND the kids were sick of diaper changes, and pottying was pushed early. Disposables make it easy to put this off. Consider when factoring in costs – the sooner your kid is using the john on their own, the less money is flying out of your pocket.
Cloth Diapers = Funky Options
Damn. There are some mighty cute diaper covers out there! If you can dream it, it’s probably a diaper cover. White plastic is boring.
I contend that disposable diapers have their place. They are a fantastic convenience when you’re traveling. If you’re running around town, and have things to do, sopping wet cloth isn’t always a joy to deal with. Other people who watch your kid may have an easier time slapping on a new Pamper rather than having to figure out how to fold a flannel cloth just so. I can get behind the occasional use. However, making plastic the primary choice for several years worth of daily piddle packaging isn’t doing anything for your wallet, your kid’s skin or the slowly dying planet. Really.
It’s time give pees a chance – in cloth.
Tia, you make me want to have another baby just so I can cloth diaper it. OK, maybe not, but I enjoy reading your posts anyway.
Oh, come on. You want another baby, because you have a built in work force of slave labor already. Actually, you’re pushing into Grandma territory, aren’t you? *Ducks*
Woohoo for self-righteous cloth diaperers! I have had so many people try to knock me down off of my cloth pedestal by saying that the energy used to clean them is worse than the disposibles!! Those people just want to make themselves feel better for being too unmotivated/unorganized/unenlightened to do cloth. Hip-hip-horray for us and the many other mothers who make mother nature a priority beyond convenience!
I’m totally down with all your reasons, Tia. If I ever end up with a caboose kid, I’d probably re-think my stance on cloth diapering. As it stands… well. I just can’t face it at the moment!
Good Article! It took me till baby #3 to go to cloth. And then I started making my own laundry detergent too, so ALL TOGETHER it costs me about 1 dollar and 4 cents a week. Since she is completely breastfed there isn’t even any rinsing needed until I start her on solid food. All in Ones are as easy to change as a sposies, so in short I am loving cloth:)
Tia, I hear you. It doesn’t work for us, but I hear you.
And Rachel, calling all non-cloth diaperers “unmotivated/unorganized/unenlightened” is a little much, don’t you think? I did my reseach and am probably one of the most motivated and organized people you’ll meet, but cloth diapering just wouldn’t work for us. I applaud you for finding a solution that worked for your family, but please don’t insult me for my decision.
Of course we all need to make our own decisions and I didn’t mean to say that all mothers who use disposibles are unmotivated/unorganized/unenlightened. But I don’t like when people aren’t informed and try to tear me down for MY decision. I am only saying…be informed…and then make a decision that suits your family.
I can hardly wait for this pregnancy to be over so I can switch back to cloth. As it is simply ripping off a poop-filled disposable is enough to get me gagging and running for the toilet. What can I say? I’m cheap.
At least newborn breast-fed baby turds are pleasant. The death stink of toddler crap is ungodly.
In “ancient times” (when disposable diapers first came out), I was the modern young mom of my first newborn so, of course, I bought them with glee – and then discovered my baby’s allergy to their deodorant. They litterally peeled the hide from his bottom. I went back to cloth and didn’t give a tinker’s damn when they came out with “no deodorant disposables” – once was enough for me. Never tried disposables again – not even with the next baby. Cloth diapers have a million other uses as well – and disposable diapers are only good for making stinky trash.
Tia — when I was pregnant I did SO much research on diapers because I knew that I did not want to use disposables as the main option, but was dismayed to see all of the evidence that cloth diapers were supposedly just as bad as disposables in regard to environmental costs (with all of the cleaning, production, etc.). I still don’t buy that they are quite as bad, but I did end up choosing to use Gdiapers instead and would encourage others to do so as well (they are pretty expensive however so this would be the option primarily for those whose main concern is the environment rather than money…). According to Gdiapers.com they do not create the same environmental probelems as either cloth or disposables since they consist of a cloth diaper cover and flushable/compostable/biodegradable insert.
yay cloth! i love my prefolds, pins and dappi diaper covers. so cheap and frill-free but awesome.
Lindsay – I noticed Gdiapers the other day while shopping. My kids are out of diapers now (thank heavens!) but I didn’t see them out there as an option for me when we were still in that mode. I think they would have been a happy medium for me on days when I was out and about, or at night, when cloth wasn’t the simplest solution.
Tia – You threw me off with your comments. I couldn’t recall when I last commented on this thread, and was freaked out when my name was down as the last commenter! I see you’re from Vancouver too! Cheers!
When my son was in diapers we used cloth and my wife was always checking his temperature in the diaper. If he was too warm she would open up the diaper to let him cool down. Now I have been doing research on testicular cancer and male sterility which has risen steeply since the early 1980s. The cause is obvious: testicles are supposed to be no warmer than 94 degrees, which is why they are on the outside of the body. In fact, if a boy has an undescended testicle, that testicle is removed due to the increased risk of cancer the increased temperature causes. The problems that the disposable diaper causes are serious for young men and boys. Testicular cancer is an often fatal, extremely fast growing cancer that usually strikes young men ages 16-35, a time when self-examination is the last thing on their testosterone-flooded minds. I believe these facts have been hidden from the public; how my wife knew this by instinct is still a mystery to me.
Tom
Thanks for the input, Tom. I didn’t really get deeply into the sterility issue, and didn’t even bite into the cancer link, but I have read that research does support the link between prevalence of plastic diapers, and both of these things. Who knew that something so simple was so much better, health-wise?
I am fascinated to hear peoples different opinions when it comes to raising children. 3 of my good friends are either pregnant or just had babies, and its all their first. All three swear that they will use cloth diapers. I can’t wait to find out how that works out for them. No kids for me yet…I figure I’ll take tips from them and hopefully benefit!
Great post Tia. you explain it all very nicely. I almost wish I had another one, now that J has been toilet trained for two months it’s time to let go of my stash. I need to find them a good home.
I rehomed most of my diapers by giving them to a friend who had a baby shortly after I did. That said, I still find the damn things floating around, even though I haven’t had a kid in diapers in over 14 months.