Cloth Diapers (ftw!)

There are certain choices when expecting a baby that you might not have considered until you're about to have one (e.g. formula vs breastfeeding). Despite the fact that most of us in Darcy and my generation were diapered in cloth, not everyone considers cloth a viable option nowadays. You don't see commercials/ads for cloth diapers but everyone knows what Pampers are.

I considered cloth for Liana but was deterred by both my mother's negative reaction and the fact that I lived in an apartment at the time with no laundry machine of my own. For Caleb I was mostly a cloth diaper user, as I hired a service for the first year and afterwards did a mix of prefolds with covers (for home) and biodegradable disposables (for away from home). This time we're set on 100% cloth - well, after the occurrence of the first meconium nightmare diapers because that stuff stains - and here are the main reasons why.

#1: Environmental footprint
This is the top reason for me. I don't particularly consider myself an environmentalist because, I dunno, I'm just not an extreme person even when it comes to things I believe in, but I do what I can. The idea of bringing another human being onto this overpopulated planet though (for a third time in my case) to contribute to the 3.4 million tons of landfill caused by disposable diapers per year, more than four million disposables per day discarded in Canada alone, and that take an estimated 500 years to decompose I find deeply disturbing. There's a sense of responsibility and even guilt I feel at having children which I need to mediate somehow and cloth diapering is one of the ways in which I do so (recycling, not buying them too much unnecessary stuff, feeding them less meat and animal products, and trying to raise them to become ethical human beings are other examples).

Some interesting facts from CBC's The Diaper Debate: Disposable diapers generate 60 times more solid waste than cloth diapers and takes 100,000 times longer to biodegrade in a landfill. The raw materials required to keep one baby in disposable diapers for one year include more than 136 kilograms of wood, 23 kg of petroleum and nine kg of chlorine. Manufacturing consumes 2.3 times more water than the manufacturing, using and washing of cloth diapers.

Disposable diaper users are supposed to flush feces before disposing of diapers which rarely anyone does, so they enter landfills untreated, risking water contamination. All of these environmental problem for a product that only has an active use for, like, two hours. Hence why it's worth an extra load of laundry every three days to rectify.

#2: Saving money
I would want to cloth diaper even if the cost were higher than disposables, for the reasons listed above, so what a bonus that it's significantly cheaper. The estimated savings of using cloth over disposables is $2,000-$4,500, depending on the company you go with, when your child potty trains, and whether you're factoring in disposable wipes and trash bags. These savings take into account the cost of washing diapers (online calculators factor that in). If you start using cloth from scratch, $580 will get you a very generous starter package but $120 will get you a discount version. This start up can get you through several children and the resell value of cloth diapers is high so most of that cost can be reimbursed in the end, further lowering cost. I received a few all-in-one diapers as gifts and borrowed about 70 mixed types that are in great condition from a friend, so the cost-savings on our decision to use cloth diapers (and wipes) is quite high.

#3: Safety concerns
Diaper companies are self-regulating, meaning unlike hygiene products diapers are not obligated by law to disclose their component parts (red flag!). Often petrolatum is the only listed ingredient when there are also obviously plastics, adhesives, glues, elastics, chemicals and lubricants. Pampers have apparently stopped using dioxin, the most toxic of cancer-related chemicals, linked to cancer, birth defects, liver damage, skin diseases, and genetic damage but this doesn't mean others don't still use it. Most disposable diaper companies boast their product's super-absorbency because of sodium polyacrylate use, which is linked to athsma, toxic shock and is dangerous to household pets. I guarantee you if Dex found an diaper he would eat it (he may be cute and fluffy but he's also kinda gross). Then there's the perfumes, dyes and bleaches used in disposables that get absorbed by babies' skin and Tributyl-tin (TBT), a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. At the very least this usually means more diaper rashes on babies but I'm just not comfortable not knowing exactly what it is I'm putting into contact with my kid's skin 24 hours a day for two or so years.

#4: Earlier potty training
A condition to less diaper rashes that some would consider a con is that cloth diapers should be changed more often than disposables. This is because when a baby wets its diaper in cloth they feel wet whereas in disposables (due to sodium polyacrlate gel) they continue feel dry. The benefit to this wet feeling though is the earlier understanding of bodily functions that fastens the potty training period. Cloth diapered toddlers potty train an average of three months sooner.

#5: Cuteness factor
The patterns, soft feel and bulky fit of cloth diapers are undeniably adorable. Cloth diapers have come a long way since our parents' time (no more safety pins!). Behold: photos.

Some mostly all-in-ones and pocket diapers ready for use.

Prefolds and covers ready for use.

Extras in a mish-mash of styles.

Retro styles!

Hello Kitty!

Anime!

My favourites!

Even the diaper pails are cuter than their disposable counterparts.

If you're reading this thinking "won't you have to deal with more mess"...I don't see it. While babies are being exclusively breastfed (which Health Canada recommends be for the first six months and then continued as supplementary nutrition until age two) baby poop is liquid like urine and dissolves in the washing machine so the process is simply (1) remove diaper, (2) throw diaper in sealed pail, (3) wash as needed. If you're out with baby simply close soiled diapers and place in a wet/dry bag (some people use these as lunch or gym bags as well as they contain odors and leaks). When you are ready to do laundry, you empty contents of wet/dry bags and pail bags into the washing machine and then add the bags themselves (everything is washable). When babies begin solid food and start getting correspondingly more solid poop, you just dump whatever comes out in the toilet and flush, then throw the diaper in the diaper pail. And just to reiterate: the World Health Organization calls for all fecal matter (and urine) to be flushed so it can go through the sewer system and be treated (see here, here, here, here to see that disposable diapers are not an exception to this protocol).

If you're reading this thinking "but disposables are more convenient"...you're right. Just like reusable anything it's easier to toss something after use than to clean it. However, there's something to be said about never running out of diapers and needing to run to the pharmacy to pick some up. And it really isn't that more work. An extra load of laundry every three days. My hope is that more and more people at least consider the cloth vs disposables debate as a choice to make when expecting.