Cloth Diapering for a Modern Momma

This week, I ventured into the world of cloth diapering. I was previously a virgin to this momma movement and had not really seriously considered participating in it. I had used one brand disposables that worked great for us since the day my daughter was born. The idea came to me after a shocking reality of how much diapers for two young babies will cost me (I have a 13 month old and another one on the way in a month) I ordered two cases recently in preparation for my daughter’s birth, one newborn sized and one size fours for my one year old. Buying by the case saves some money, but not much. It was $80, $100 bucks with wipes.

Yuck! $100 bucks every month or so? That’s 280 diapers at $80. Twelve months of diapers for two kids is $960.00 plus wipes put you well over $1,000 for diapers, per year!

Now let’s talk about waste. Here’s a little environmental tangent: If you are going through about 280 diapers per month (2 kids), that is 3,360 diapers that you are putting into a landfill a year! Putting this in a landfill creates hazardous waste (human urine and feces), creating an immediate public health hazard. Diapers containing viruses from human feces (including live vaccines from routine childhood immunizations) can leak into the Earth and pollute underground water supplies. In addition to the potential of groundwater contamination, air-borne viruses carried by flies and other insects contribute to an unhealthy and unsanitary situation.

Material waste is yet another consequence of reliance on single-use diapers. From the time a single-use diaper is put on a baby, it may have a useful life of a few hours at most. Since there is no other application of the single-use diaper, use of this product in the U.S. alone wastes nearly 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of pulp derived from trees.

Add to these material losses the cost of collection and disposal. With the average U.S. landfill tipping fee about $27 per ton of material (some landfills are over $100 per ton), and the average transportation cost to landfills about $48 per ton, we pay an average of $75 per ton or $350 million annually in the U.S. to get rid of single-use diapers! For every consumer dollar spent on so-called disposable diapers, an additional, hidden cost of $0.10 on average goes to pay for disposal.

Few quantitative studies are available that provide numbers on the amount of diapers and fecal matter that end up in landfills. However, assuming that approximately 18 billion diapers are sold year each, and that over 90 percent of this end up at landfills, this translates into more than 4,275,000 tons of disposable diapers trucked to landfills each year. Add the remaining 10 percent that end up in resource recovery plants for a total of 4,500,000 tons of single-use diapers thrown away this year!

Okay, these numbers are a bit startling and we all wish we could “do our part” but it seems like something that so many of us don’t even consider.

A friend let me borrow a stash of different diapers to try. It took me a couple of weeks to ready myself to use them. I was worried, like most moms are about the convenience of use. I was worried about the washing process and specifically dreading cleaning up the poop.

I have to say that after just two days of use, the diapers won me over. It really is easy to wash them. The cloth diapers that I tried are All-In-One – AIOs are fitted diapers that have a waterproof outer layer. This layer usually consists of fabric that has a PUL (Polyurethane Laminate) backing, fleece or wool. These are the closest in similarity to disposable diapers since they are a one-piece diapering system. The absorbent soaker material is often sewn into the diaper; it may also be detachable.

There are many different cloth diapering options that allow for flexibility and affordability. Here is a cloth diapering terminology reference:

http://www.diaperjungle.com/cloth-diaper-terminology.html

When the diaper is wet, you simply take it off and put it in a diaper pail or a waterproof bag if you are away from the house. If it is soiled, you should shake or scoop the poop off into the toilet and then rinse the diaper before putting it into the diaper pail (garbage pail with liner or garbage bag will work). If you are away from home though, it can wait until you get home to be taken care of, you can just stick them in the waterproof bag. The rinsing is to prevent both stink and staining.

These diapers go through a pretty easy wash cycle and the cycle’s directions vary according to the make of the diaper. For the diapers that I purchased, it is recommended that they go through two washes (cold, than hot) and a double rinse with 1/4 the recommended amount of detergent. Then you can just stick them into the dryer or line dry them. Once a month, it is recommended that you add bleach to a load to sanitize them.

There is a recommended detergent list for cloth diapers. This is because it is better for the diapers to be free of any added perfumes, dyes, or other additives. This can prevent absorbency, be bad for baby’s skin, and do some wear and tear on the material.

Detergent list: http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html

So far, my experience has been really positive. As a mother of a one year old and another baby on the way within the next month, I can gladly say that I have no hesitation that cloth diapering will work for our family. It really does not seem like extra work to me, saves us a ton of money and helps out our mother earth.

Thanks to those who have supported this life change! I believe we’ll be happier and healthier because of it.

Amy