The Truth About Disposable Diapers
Why Not to Use Them!!
Disposable diapers are a common household thing when there is a baby in the family. Not too many people are using cloth diapers anymore. They are coming back into play though in recent years but more parents than not are still using disposable diapers. Babies are in diapers from the time they are born until they are potty trained, somewhere between two and four years of age. In that time, a child will go through an astonishing eight to nine thousand diapers. That number is per child!! Disposable diapers do not biodegrade well so that causes some problems. Land fills are over full from all types of garbage and as well as all these thousands of diapers per baby.
What is found in diapers will astonish you. There are toxic chemicals found in disposable diapers. How can we be putting our children in these toxic diapers?? Disposable diapers release volatile organic compounds, or VOC. This includes toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and dipentene. These VOC's have shown to have toxic health effects on the baby, such as cancer or brain damage in some cases. There is even a possible link between diaper emissions and asthma. There are many studies out on that. The main absorbent filler in disposable diapers is sodium polyacrylate. This chemical can cause respiratory problems as well as skin problems. Almost all disposable diapers are bleached white with chlorine. They also have trace amounts of a highly carcinogen byproduct of chlorine bleaching called dioxin.
There are healthy alternatives though to these toxic disposable diapers. First off, there is cloth diapers. Many people used to use this method years ago. A lot of people are trying this method now. It is cheaper than disposable diapers with a little more work. The landfills do not get over crowded and there is no pollution issue with cloth diapers. They are not as absorbent but the pros seem to out weight the cons. Diaper rashes are not as prevalent in cloth diapered children as in disposable diapered children since there aren't any harsh chemicals coming into contact with the baby's skin. Cloth needs to be changed more frequently since they are not as absorbent. You can buy covers to put over the cloth diaper so it doesn't leak.
Another alternative is called gdiapers. This is half cloth, half disposable. It is a cloth diaper on the outside with a disposable liner on the inside. When the child goes to the bathroom, you would just take out the disposable, flushable liner and replace it with a new one. No landfill problem here either. The liners breakdown in the toilet and you just flush them away. You would need to buy the liners, in a pack, but would only need a few of the cloth part of the diapers. They are newer and not as easy to find as disposable diapers and cloth diapers. Maybe in a few years, they will become much more popular and easier to find.
Another alternative is a chemical free disposable diaper from Seventh Generation. Seventh Generation is a leading company in the organic and natural industry. It is brown in color since they do not use chlorine to bleach the diaper white like the leading store brands. There are no characters on them. They don't even print the size on them. That would require using chemicals. These diapers are just as absorbent as Huggies and Pampers are, just a lot safer. They are not as easy to find as Huggies and Pampers. Most health food stores carry them as does some internet diaper sites. They also have a safer alternative to the wipes out on the store shelves. They also have harmful chemicals in them. Seventh Generation products are chemical free. As far as price, they are comparable to the leading brands prices.
So with all these better alternatives out there, why would anyone still use something that can really do damage to their baby's health? I ask this question a lot and the answer I come up with from my friends is that they are lazy. Some just don't believe all of this. They feel that if it is listed as a baby item, that it is automatically safe for the baby. That is just not the case. Chemicals are not a healthy thing for anyone but for a baby, it can prove to be very damaging. With all the new studies that come out daily, I am hoping that eventually, these diaper companies will have no choice but to change the way they make their diapers and make them more environmentally friendly. Babies are born innocent and they all deserve a chance at a great, healthy life. Give them a good start and do right by them. Do your research and pick the best for them.
Published by MV
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- How to Use Cloth Diapers When I decided to use cloth diapers on my third child, I researched not only the brands but how to best use them without making more work for myself or spending a fortune on laundry.
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- Popular diapers contain many harmful chemicals in them.
14 Comments
Post a CommentAn unbiased, supported article on the health risks of diapers:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5738640/are_disposable_diapers_safe_the_real.html?cat=25
"The economics of cloth diapering": We are in a building with shared laundry (which we have to pay for) and we still are saving a ton with using cloth. We bought 24 prefolds ($40) and 6 covers ($60) and it costs on average $5 per week to wash our diapers and we hang them dry (about $260 per year). We could only use Huggies disposables as all other brands leaked horribly so that was costing us around $80 per month ($960/year). Plus even Huggies leaked so factor in the cost of extra laundry on top of the cost of disposables. You CAN cloth diaper for cheap. You can also spend quite a bit and do more costly cloth diapers that you will need quite a few of or add in expenses like a diaper service. The other benefit of cloth diapering is cloth diapered children generally potty train earlier. Our son is 11 months and hasn't pooped in a diaper in over a month. Now we're working on peeing only in the potty and he's doing great!
Hey "Mom"...
I tried Seventh Generation on my youngest child. They fit poorly, and were giving him diaper rashes (and yes, I was changing him as soon as he wet or soiled the diaper).
I'm on a tight budget, and I can't afford to spend a premium price on diapers that fit poorly and cause more rashes. Having to spend more on laundry (due to leakage) and stuff to treat the diaper rash probably isn't terribly ecologically friendly either.
I would have liked this article better had you 1)cited at least one study. 2) Not had so many grammatical errors.
Also, saying that cloth diapers are not more absorbent than disposables is a common misconception. I have found that they are MORE absorbent than disposables.
Also to the people who say they can't afford Seventh Generation or cloth, it's all about how you choose to spend your money. We have a tight budget and managed to put our son in Seventh Generation until we had our second kid. We went out and bought cloth and are spending less money a month.
it's cracking me up that as i read this, there are pampers ads all over the page! hahaha! nice article. we use cloth and seventh gens on our dd.
and p.s. you can find seventh generations diapers and wipes at publix supermarkets and toys r us and babies r us stores in addition to health food stores.
People keep talking about how cloth diapering is cheaper. Those must be people who have their own washers and dryers.
I'd love to cloth diaper, but it's just not economical as our condo doesn't have washer/dryer hook ups. I actually sat down and did a cost comparison for my area (SF Bay Area) and here's what I came up with (for my particular family).
These numbers are for a 1 year supply of diapers.
1) diaper service-
$20-$30/week + start up cost of buying diaper covers and diaper pail ($30) $1070
2) buy diapers and launder them at home-
cost of 2 day supply of prefolds + 3 covers + tax $125
laundry costs assuming 3.5 loads/week ($9/week) + $3/month detergent cost ($36)
total cost $125 + $36 + ($9 * 52) = $629
Disposables 1 month supply = $42 * 12 $504
i <3 disposables!!!
We have been using g-diapers since my 3 month old was born. we have had 1 leak when she had the runs. Otherwise she goes overnight with just one cloth insert and she is fine.
As for Momofoneboy comment. It is understandable that your budget is tight but think of things in the long run. have you ever really looked at the price comparison for disposables vs. cloth?
Many people just make the assumption that cloth is more expensive. but I have a friend that just spent $300.00 on disposables and that will only cover the first year. I've spent $300.00 on cloth and g-diapers and will have them until my daughter is out of them.
I know that everything isn't black and white but it just seems like everyone wants to go the "easy" route.
I would love to use cloth or even the seventh generation, but the cloth are not large enough to fit and seventh generation is WAY out of our budget. I think if companies who are organic and toxin free REALLY want everyone to use their products, they should become more reasonable in their price. And please no comments on there is no price too much for your child, because a lot of families, especially now, are on a tight budget and simply cannot afford the extra expense even if they want to do better by their children. I used gDiapers until my son grew too big. I tried three other cloth diapers, but we had to go to disposables. I cannot wait for gDiapers to come out with their larger size which they said is in the works!
Your whole site is sponsored by pampers. A pampers advertizement right in the reading window of your anti-disposable rant. Why???? I use Gdiapers and I'm proud to be using them. But doesn't saying one thing, and showing people a disposable diaper advertisement, make you guys just as bad?