Diaper Dilemma - NW Mom Magazine

o h
b a b y !
confronting the
Diaper
Dilemma
?
By Mark Stief
T h e c h o i c e o f what type of diaper to use to
diaper your new baby is a question every new
parent faces. On the surface, the choices seem
simple: cloth or disposable. But the decision
can be more complicated. Should you a) pay a
professional cloth diaper service, b) wash your
own diapers, or c) use single-use disposable
diapers (and then what type or brand)? It may
seem like a rather innocent decision until you
stop to think about all the facets of this choice.
Over a child’s ‘diapering career ’, you’ll use up
to 8,000 diapers before potty training, already
contributing to your baby’s carbon footprint.
Most of the waste these diapers contain stays
with the diapers, threatening public health and
groundwater supplies. Laws in our area require
that parents rinse the waste from the diapers
before putting them into the garbage can.
Are some types or brands of diapers better than
others? Is a compostable diaper better? Are
there chlorine-free brands? The answer to these
questions is debatable, at best.
So what can a parent do? You can wash diapers
yourself, but that means you will be using a
lot of water—enough to fill a swimming pool
in 2½ years! Another option may be to use a
professional diaper service laundry. You can find
one of these services by using a browser search.
The use of a diaper service is simple and comes
with trained staff to answer all of those new
parent diapering questions.
Once the diapers, diaper pail, deodorizer,
and some really cute diaper covers have been
delivered to your home, you simply drop used,
unrinsed, unwashed diapers into the deodorized
pail. On the morning of your service, put the
bag of used diapers on your front porch and
a delivery person will replace it with your next
week’s supply. Did you know that diaper services
have been called “America’s Original Curbside
Recyclers”? It’s true; they have been saving
millions of disposable diapers from entering the
waste stream annually, not to mention the trees
and barrels of oil that are saved.
Professional diaper services also understand that
as a busy mom-on-the-go, you may not always
be able to use cloth diapers on your baby. Diaper
services put the control in your hands by allowing
you to order just the number of diapers you
need, whether it’s 20 or 120 per week.
Are there times when disposable diapers make
sense? Sure. It’s never a bad idea to have a
package on hand when you are traveling with
your baby or perhaps running errands.
Many daycares also use diapers from a
professional diaper service to provide an
alternative to disposable diapers. Washington
State law allows daycares to use diaper servicelaundered diapers in their facilities, requiring that
soiled diapers be tossed into the lined diaper
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o h
b a b y !
·
diaper dilemma
hampers (no rinsing required). Ask your diaper
service for a list of their daycares; you might get a
discount on your home service!
We all want what is best for our children, and
as parents we go to great lengths to insure our
child’s safety. Jill Richardson of Alternet reports
that disposable diapers may contain chemicals
which can become trapped against your baby’s
skin. A baby’s skin is only one-fifth the thickness
of an adult’s skin and is more porous and
absorbent, exposing their bodies to unnecessary
chemical exposure such as
dioxins, sodium polycrylate,
dyes, fragrances, and
phthalate. (http://www.alternet.
org/personal-health/toxicAccording to National Geographic*
diapers-your-childs-disposable(channel.nationalgeographic.com/
diapers-contain-endocrinevideos/diaper-disaster/):
disruptors) Studies have shown
A single child using disposable diapers
a connection to asthma triggers
will account for:
and male infertility in young
4.5 trees harvested
men whose testes were unable
to develop properly due to
5.5 barrels of oil
the heat trapped in disposable
715 lbs. of plastic
diapers. The same is not true
for cloth-diapered boys. (See
This is just to manufacture their
source list below.)
diapers for the first 2½ years.
CONSIDER
THIS
Used disposable diapers end up in
landfills where they will remain for an
estimated 250-500 years; this is true
also of ‘compostable’ diapers.
In the US, 1,816 tons of diapers are
used every day; that’s 663,294 tons per
year for an average of 17,600 garbage
train cars. Worldwide, the figure is
18,238 diapers used per second.
Some day every parent will
celebrate when their baby is
potty trained. Why not have that
day come sooner? Did you know
that there is some evidence that
children in cloth diapers tend
to become potty trained 6 to
12 months earlier than those
diapered in disposables?
(Editor ’s Note: While research is
slim regarding cloth diapers and toilet training,
many speculate that babies in cloth diapers may
become toilet trained earlier because of the
discomfort felt from a wet or dirty diaper. It also
has been suggested that toilet training too early
can be physically and emotionally detrimental
to children. Do your own research to make an
informed decision.)
We all want more convenience in our lives,
and manufacturers of disposable diapers have
done their best to accommodate this. It’s up to
you as the parent, to decide if cost outweighs
convenience. When you use a diaper service, you
are teaming up with a partner who shares your
family’s values about the environment. In fact,
Baby Diaper Service, local since 1946, delivers its
diapers in an efficient fleet of diesel vans. They
use state-of-the-art equipment to launder the
diapers and are water efficient, using three times
less water than disposable diapers, according to a
Landbank Consultancy Study.
Let’s not forget about style! With cloth diapers,
you have a choice of your favorite trendy diaper
covers. With hundreds of fun patterns to choose
from, your baby will never run out of headturning options, and best of all, you will be joining
a new revolution of fashion mavens.
Good luck and happy diapering. For more
information, you can go to babydiaperservice.net
or call 206-634-2229 for some terrific help from
local people. nwm
Sources for additional reading:
Asthma: webmd.com/parenting/baby/
news/19991018/disposable-diapers-linked-toasthma-like-conditions-in-mice OR
Anderson, Rosalind, and Julius Anderson.
“Acute Respiratory Effects of Diaper
Emissions,” Archives of Environmental Health,
54, October 1999.
Male infertility: Partsch, Aukamp, and
Sippell. “Scrotal temperature is increased in
disposable plastic lined nappies.” Division
of Pediatric Endocrinology, Department of
Pediatrics, Christian-Albrechts-University of
Kiel. May 2000
Editor’s Note: If you would like to read more about
environmental comparisons for diaper use, we suggest
starting with “Which Diapers Are Better for the Planet?”
by Alan Greene, MD, FAAP: pregnancy.org/article/
which-diapers-best-environment
*channel.nationalgeographic.com/videos/diaper-disaster
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