First, if you are visiting us for the first time, thank you! Cloth diapers have widely been forgotten since the introduction of the typical throw away diapers. Nowadays cloth diapers can be just as easy as disposables. There are many environmental and health reasons to consider cloth diapers. Here are some facts to consider;
Baby's Health & Wellness
While this is not widely published, disposable diapers contain dioxin which is a highly toxic by-product of the paper bleaching process conducted by manufacturers. Dioxin is a carcinogenic chemical that is listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals. This chemical is so toxic that in most countries it is banned. However, in the USA this is still legal.
There are several other pollutants in disposables diapers. We encourage everyone to do your own due diligence on this topic. Some additional by-products involved in disposable diapers are Tributyl (TBT) and sodium polyacrylate.
While you will rarely hear about health issues related to diapers there are in my opinion from my research direct health risks.
Baby Diaper Rash
Diaper rash is typically caused by excessive moisture on the skin. With cloth diapers the moisture is wicked away from baby's skin causing more dryness and less diaper rashes. My son has not had a diaper rash since I switched to cloth and with disposables he ALWAYS had a sore bum!
· Disposal diapers are one of the top 5 largest items in landfills.
· Cloth diapers can be reused throughout your child's infancy and toddler stage and on to the next child to save even more money. If you take care of your diapers properly they will last. (Check out the washing instructions page.)
For each baby who uses strictly disposal diapers these resources are used (PER YEAR);
o
Over 250 pounds of wood
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45 pounds of petroleum feedstock
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18 pounds of chlorine
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Newborns: One disposable diaper Every hour
o
Toddlers: One disposable diaper every 2-4 hours
Cost
At 8 diapers a day you will use 2,688 diapers a year x 3 years 8,064 disposable diapers total. That's not including pull ups for potty training and nighttime diapers. At $60-$80.00 a month on diapers depending on the brand you choose disposables will cost $960.00 a year x 3 years $2,880.00 just on diapers!!! You can invest as little or as much as you would like on cloth diapering depending on what kind of cloth diapering system you use and how many you plan on having in your cloth diaper stash. The more you have the longer they will last because you will be rotating them less often. I myself have 32 in my stash and do wash every 2-3 days. I recommend line drying as much as possible because this helps save the life expectancy of the cloth diaper. I must say it's a shock when you add the numbers that you have to invest up front for cloth diapers but you will have your money back in a few months time. Cloth Diapers defiantly pay for themselves, especially if you plan on using them on another child.
When I started researching the impact of cloth diapers on our planet I couldn't believe my eyes on the information I was finding! This is what made me switch to cloth diapers. I have 3 wonderful children and I decided I needed to do what I could to help preserve our planet for them, and I feel like I am helping with that in using cloth diapers. You don't even need to cloth diaper full time to make a difference it's not all or nothing. Every bit helps. Just think if you had 100 people and each person only used 1 cloth diaper a day that would be 2,800 diapers a month x 1 year that would be 33,600 disposable diapers we would be keeping out of the landfills! WOW! That is a pretty staggering number! So do as little or as much as you choose as you can see every little bit helps.
