Cloth or Disposable Diapers?

I know a lot of you will find it strange that a man is writing an article about diapers. But let's face it, if you're a good, hands on dad, you will find yourself in the predicament of having to change a diaper. I found myself in that predicament many times, too many for my liking if the truth be known.

Compared to how many times my wife found herself in the same predicament, I really can't complain. We had two boys in diapers at the same time so diapers were a hot topic in our house.

The year was 1971 and we had a 17 ½ month old and a newborn. Disposable diapers, Pampers especially, were all the rage back then. The era of the cloth diaper had long passed with our parents' generation. Fortunately my wife's mother, and my mother were huge proponents of cloth diapers, as were all the women of their generation and they passed on the wisdom of using cloth diapers to us. We listened.

Of course our parent's generation used cloth diapers because they had no other choice. I'm sure many of them would have gladly switched to disposable diapers had they been invented then.

My wife's girlfriends who all had babies at the same time as we did, looked at us as if we had three heads when we mentioned we would be using cloth diapers. "Why?" they asked with a look of pure astonishment on their collective faces. They could not understand why anyone would want to save a soiled diaper and wash it. This was the beginning of the throw away society and throw away diapers they did, at an alarming rate.

Prior to the 1970s there was very little diaper waste. From the 1970s on, our landfills have become saturated with disposable diapers and the product of these diapers - feces! Not many people are aware of this, but feces are not supposed to be tossed into the landfill. Read the fine print on the package of the disposable diapers.

Another reason for using cloth diapers is that there are no chemicals in them, no irritants for baby's delicate skin. Some people have argued that it is just as expensive and harmful to the environment to wash and dry cloth diapers, polluting the water with feces. This is simply not true.

All feces are supposed to be flushed down the toilet, whether you use a cloth diaper or disposable one. How many of you disposable diaper champions actually flush the feces in the toilet? I'd venture to say not many. It's so easy to just toss the diaper in the diaper pail without a thought for the environment.

Cloth diapers will save you money in the long run because obviously you can use them over and over again. Cloth diapers are becoming tres chic now with the young, hip generation discovering their benefit, and wanting to be "green." Suddenly, the environment has become the cause celeb.

For whatever reason you choose cloth diapers, I applaud you for thinking of your baby and the environment first and yourself second. After all this is what we parents do...we make sacrifices.