6th February 2010

I haven't been able to make any diaper covers for SweetPea and IF you can find plastic pants at the store (good luck, it is a disposable society anymore), her legs were not chubby enough to actually 'seal' the legholes in the plastic pants. When my friend "C" got back to Canada, she found a great diaper/diaper cover company and sent a couple down for us to try out. So far they work great.

I have wanted to be eco-friendly from the get go and it has been difficult with sizing, moving and not having our own home, so I have to admit I have been using some disposables, but this is to change now that I can use the cloth ones and be able to wash them. These gDiapers will even work with the flannel diapers that mom made for her. Not only will we be helping the environment, but money as well.

How many Diapers Will your Baby use is the First Year?

age

diaper changes
per day

number of
diapers

cost*

0-1 mo

10-12

320

$64.00

1-5 mo

8-10

870

$174.00

5-9 mo

8

870

 $174.00

9-12 mo

8

728

$145.60

*based on an average price of 20 cents per disposable diaper

In a baby's first year, new parents will have brought home an average of 2,788 disposable diapers for a total cost of $557.60.

Why choose cloth diapers?  There are so many reasons.  Cloth diapers are soft against your baby’s skin.  Cloth diapers are also free of the many chemicals contained in disposable diapers. Our common sense tells us that cloth diapers are the ultimate in recycling because they are used again and again, not entering a landfill until they are nothing but rags.

Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process.  It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals.  It is banned in most countries, but not the U.S.

Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. A similar substance had been used in super-absorbancy tampons until the early 1980s when it was revealed that the material increased the risk of toxic shock syndrome.

It is estimated that 27.4 billion disposable diapers are consumed every year in the U.S.

The instructions on a disposable diaper package advice that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system.

Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.

In 1988, nearly $300 million dollars were spent annually just to discard disposable diapers, whereas cotton diapers are reused 50 to 200 times before being turned into rags.

No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.

Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste.  In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.

Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby EACH YEAR.

Diaper rash was almost unheard of before the use of rubber or plastic pants in the 1940s.

For cloth diapering, each family will probably need about 6 dozen diapers.  The cost of cloth diapering can vary considerably, from as low as $300 for a basic set-up of prefolds and covers, to $1,000 or more for organic cotton fitted diapers and wool covers.  Despite this large price range, it should be possible to buy a generous mix of prefolds and diaper covers for about $300, most of which will probably last for two children.  This means the cost of cloth diapering is about one tenth the cost of disposables, and you can spend even less by using found objects (old towels & T-shirts).