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This post is part of a series on choosing the best diapering option for your baby. First up, the pros and cons of using cloth.
Baby goes through a whole lotta diapers before she graduates to the porcelain bowl, (or, if you're like me, to that funny little plastic potty in the corner of the kitchen). And the type of diapering you choose has a huge environmental impact, plus, turns out, may have health implications for your baby, as well. Chances are, if you're in America you're using conventional disposable diapers.
Based on the latest data, about 95 percent of American tiny tushies are wiggling about in those. First let's look at the environmental impact of that choice: Disposable diapers make up 5 percent of landfill waste in the United States. About 18 billion disposable diapers were discarded in America last year, and the average American baby will go through about 5,000 changes before she switches to undies.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates it takes up to 500 years for a standard gel-filled disposable to decompose. A small, but significantly growing number of parents are forgoing the convenience of disposables either some, or all of the time in favor of Great Gramma's old standby, cloth. If you think cloth might be right for you, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Does your baby have super sensitive skin? Sixty percent of babies in the United States under 12 months wearing disposables get diaper rash, as opposed to only 7 percent of babies in cloth diapers.
2. Do you have the time, space, and patience to run frequent washes? If you choose cloth, you'll probably want to forgo a diaper service, they literally use tons and tons of toxic bleach-very bad on the environment and not to soft on baby, either.
3. Are finances a concern? As a general rule, you'll save about 30 percent if you choose cloth over even bargain disposables.
4. Is water a tight commodity in your area? If so, cloth may not actually be the greenest option.
Another added benefit to cloth? Babies that are cloth diapered tend to "toilet teach" themselves significantly earlier than conventionally diapered kids. Why? Cloth feels wet, and reminds kids when they have "released."
Finally, there's about a gajillion different cloth-diapering options out there. My personal fav (and also by far the softest) is the organic cotton all in one at Tiny Tush. There's also a vast selection at Baby Bunz & Company and Ecobaby. Bottoms up, baby! Later in this series we'll look at "hybrid" diapers, as well as dioxin-free disposables.
Lynda Fassa is the founder of Green Babies, one of the oldest organic-cotton clothing companies in the United States. She is also the author of Green Babies & Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby (2008, Penguin) and is currently writing Green Kids, Sage Families, to be published by Penguin in late 2008.
Difficulty level: Moderate
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