Why Use Cloth Diapers?

We've put this information section together to help you with your "diapering decison". It covers the topics "why use cloth diapers" and "what's so bad about disposables anyway?". We have provided links to some interesting cloth diaper articles and cost calculators. We hope you find it useful!

Why Use Cloth Diapers?

When we first told people that we were going to be using cloth diapers we got all kinds of weird looks and the general comment of “you’re crazy”. But since we’ve started, we couldn’t be happier with our choice. As well as being environmentally responsible, we’re saving money! And it’s much, much easier to use cloth diapers than we ever could have anticipated! Being busy moms, we wouldn’t have stuck with it if it were any other way.

We wanted to share with you some of the reasons why we decided to use cloth diapers.

Environmentally Friendly
Using cloth diapers helps to reduce the amount of disposable diapers that end up in landfills. Landfills also weren’t designed to contain the human waste deposited in a disposable diaper. You can make a difference by choosing to use cloth. There are some great links to cloth diapering and environmental impact information from Environment Canada here:
Environment Canada's EnviroZine

Cost Effective
Did you know that in the first two years of life a baby will use between 5000 and 7000 diapers? That’s a lot of diapers – and a lot of money that gets “thrown away” if using disposable diapers. Your wallets will thank you for choosing to use cloth diapers. The savings are unbelievable and well worth the added laundry! Click here for a cloth diaper vs. disposables “Cost Calculator”.

Keep Baby Dry
Baby stays much more comfortable in cloth diapers as they stay drier than in disposable diapers. A happy baby = A happy Mommy.

Reduce Diaper Rash
The design and fleece inner material of cloth diapers keeps moisture away from baby's bottom, minimizing the occurance of diaper rash. Cloth diapers can eliminate the need for creams, gels and goops to treat diaper rash, and baby’s bum will thank you.

Adjustable Sizes
Unlike disposable diapers, cloth diapers cover a wide range of sizes in one diaper. You won’t have to worry about buying one size of diaper only to have baby out grow them a week later.

No Leaks
You won’t have to change baby’s outfit every time you change their diaper. Cloth diapers are specifically designed to keep the poop in and keep your baby’s outfits stain free.

Why NOT disposables?

What's so bad about disposable diapers anyway? Well, probably a lot of things you may not have
thought of...

What disposables are made of:

- Disposable diapers are made from super absorbing hydrophilic polymers called
polyacrylates. What does this mean? Basically, these are water loving materials that can
absorb hundreds of times their weight in water. A large disposable diaper can hold half a
gallon of water. These polymers don't dissolve in water, but solidify into a gel.

What's so bad about this stuff?

- Published studies have found that mice exposed to the materials in disposable diapers suffered
from eye, nose and throat irritations (much like an asthma attack), this was attributed to
gases emanating from the chemicals in the diapers.
- It is estimated that 300 million pounds of polycrylate polymers are used in disposable products (diapers, feminine pads, etc) per year (in the U.S.A). This results in a large amount of the material being discarded. With so much of this material making it's way to landfill sites, it's important to understand the effect the chemicals have on the
environment.
- Very little work has been done to determine the behaviour of these materials in environmental systems (ie. what happens after they are disposed of, how are groundwater and surface water systems affected? What are the long term environmental implications?).

The Waste Factor:

- It is estimated that over 4 million disposable diapers are discarded in Canada EVERY DAY! That is a lot of diapers (that's about 1.6 billion per year!). Babies are estimated to require between 5000 and 7000 diaper changes in their lifetime.
- The manufacture of disposable diapers in Canada consumes approximately 65,500 tonnes of pulp, 8,800 tonnes of plastic and 9,800 tonnes of packing material annually (source: Environment Canada/Raven Recycling).
- Landfill sites are not designed to handle human waste (dumping diapers threatens the health of sanitary workers, water supplies and wildlife).

Other things to consider:

- Recent studies have suggested that plastic lined disposable diapers may cause an increase in scrotal temperature in boys - it is thought that this might be one of the factors contributing to decreased male fertility.
- Disposable diaper manufacturers do not need to disclose materials used (the article I read this in was from Great Britain, but an American article I read also stated that "diaper contents are a highly guarded secret".) Research by Greenpeace has found levels of Tributyl Tin in disposable diapers up to 3.6 times the World Health Organizations estimated daily tolerable intake.


References:

Heal, C. and Hooper, C. 2001. Other Implications of disposable nappies, in Letters,Arch. Dis. Child, vol. 85, p. 269.

Martin, J.E., 1996. Environmental impact studies of the disposal of polyacrylate polymers used in consumer products, in The Science of the Total Environment, vol. 191 p. 225-234.

"Superabsorbers", Scientific American, Dec. 2000, p. 100-101.