We are a cloth diapering crew. Sure, we have a stash of Swaddlers (we call them cheaters) to change it up every now and again. But 98% of the time, Leighton wears cloth diapers.
I knew I wanted to give cloth a try at some point, but not right out of the gate. We used Swaddlers for the first five weeks because we reasoned that infants rip through so many diapers that it would be tough for us brand newbie parents to manage a newborn cloth diaper rotation while taking the time to find a brand we like. I will tell you now that if we have another kiddo, he or she will be sporting cloth diapers immediately. It's just not that difficult.
We went the cloth route for a few reasons: 1) Cloth diapers are comfortable and cute; 2) Disposables work so freakishly well that kids can't seem to feel the wetness, which seems to make potty training more difficult; 3) Cloth diapers seem to be a better choice for the environment; and 4) As I've already made abundantly clear in other posts - I will try anything. Plus, Leighton is breast-fed exclusively and breast milk poop is water soluble, hence making washing poopy diapers as easy as tinkle diapers.
Anyhoo, the point of my lengthy exposition is that I read an article today that left me wondering where real people weigh in on the debate of cloth versus disposable. The piece, entitled Solving Your Diaper Dilemma, Cloth vs. disposable: It's the great diaper debate, but is one type of diaper really better for baby and the environment? Experts weigh in was posted on WebMD and sponsored by Huggies®. The gist of the article is that "expert" findings are inconclusive as to whether cloth diapers are actually better for babies or the environment. The author, Katherine Kam, seems to suggest that using disposable diapers is normal and the only two reasons one may wish to deviate from this norm is because one believes that cloth is better for the environment or because one believes that disposable diapers are bad for baby's skin. I've already listed cuteness, comfort and ease of potty training as three other reasons not mentioned in by Miss Katherine.
In The Diaper Debate: Are Disposables as Green as Cloth? A 2005 study by a London-based Environmental Agency looks at diapering from a strict question of "green-ness" and concludes that the environmental impact of cloth and disposable diapers is not the same. However, the study focuses on stale research and a heavy reliance on terry cloth diapering (which takes more water to wash and energy to dry) as well as diaper services, which very few people use anymore.
At the time this article was written, it was estimated that 18 billion diapers made their way to landfills each year and that with any type of diaper, "For one child, over two-and-a-half years, these [environmental] impacts are roughly comparable with driving a car between 1,300 and 2,200 miles."
You'll be hard-pressed to convince me that laundering twenty-four Fuzzi Bunz® three times in my own washing machine (we do not use a diaper service) leaves a bigger carbon footprint than sending 56-80 plastic-wrapped waste balls to a landfill each week. Luckily, no one needs to. I've stated my reasons for trying cloth and I've had a positive experience.
I stand by my potty training reason for using cloth. The prevalence of disposable diapers in the US has pushed the average potty training age from 18 months in the 60's to roughly 3 years today. In countries where access to disposable diapers is limited, the average age for potty training is roughly 12 months. It seems as though the answer to the environmental impact conundrum is to potty train our kids as quickly as possible because we know it can be done. My husband and I were both fully potty trained by 18 months and we are dedicated to working toward the same result with Leighton. That should cut Leighton's car-driving equivalency by half.
So back to my initial point, I would like to field opinions not sponsored by Huggies®. Please respond with comments to this post directly. Do you use cloth or disposable? Which is conceivably worse for environment in your opinion? What brands do you use? Is Jen out of her mind?
