Choosing Cloth Diapers

By Kelly Poland

As mothers, we make choices everyday to care for and protect our children. We choose how to nurture them, whether or not to breastfeed, what foods to give them, and how to keep them safe from harmful substances. There is another choice we make everyday, and that is how to diaper them. Unfortunately, there are moms who don't even know this last one is a choice. The billion-dollar diaper industry would like us to believe that the convenient disposable diaper is the only option. Wrong. It is a convenient option, I will agree, but some people, including myself, believe that the choice to cloth diaper is a gentler, safer, more economic option.

Cloth diapering is not a thing of the past. It is a thriving practice used by many moms today. Times have changed, certainly. As a cloth-diapering mom I have never used safety pins and plastic pants like my mother used. But the reasons to use cloth diapers are the same, if not more obvious today. Billions of diapers are disposed of in landfills each year. Imagine the magnitude of this, year after year, when it takes an estimated 500 years to break down each diaper. And despite the instructions on the disposable diaper packaging, solid stool often remains in the diaper when it is thrown out. Human stool is meant to go through the sanitary waste system and be treated appropriately, not sit in a landfill where it becomes a serious public health hazard.

Environment is a major factor in the argument for cloth diapering, but it is not necessarily everyone's main reason for choosing cloth. My own reason is a bit closer to home - closest to my baby's bottom to be specific. I purposefully keep my son away from cleaning supplies and other harmful products to protect him, and I use the same caution when it comes to diapers. Many consumers do not realize that most disposable diapers are produced with a ton of chemicals, including chlorine. I personally do not want something filled with chemicals, dyes and perfumes wrapped so tightly to my baby 24-hours a day. I don't put toxins in his mouth, why would I put it next to his skin, the largest organ of the body and very absorbent. Cloth diapers are gentle against a baby's bottom, made of natural materials like cotton or hemp.

Cost of diapering is another good reason to choose cloth. Over the course of one child's diaper life, a family will use an estimated 6,000 diapers. With cloth diapers, you can cover the same span of diapering for a fraction of the cost, and continue to use these same diapers with more than one child. The basic items needed are either a cotton or a hemp diaper and a waterproof-fabric cover to protect the child's clothes from getting wet. For those wanting convenience, you'll be happy to know that an "all-in-one" cloth diaper exists. It is a diaper and cover combo as one unit. They cost more money per diaper, but in the long run, are still less expensive than using disposables.

If you are not already using cloth diapers, you may be hung up on the washing part. I'd like to remind parents that we don't buy disposable clothes, do we? No, we wash them easily. I suggest viewing your baby's diapers like you do his clothes. Buy something good, use it, wash it and re-use it. It really is easy to wash your own diapers at home. Each mom I've talked with has a slightly different method of washing diapers, because she has figured out what works best for her. The general rule of thumb is COLD soak, HOT wash, COLD rinse. At our house, we wash diapers every 2nd or 3rd day, and my husband and I share the steps. We put the diapers and covers (except wool) in the machine to soak at night with a bit of baking soda, and then in the morning we add detergent and wash them. We add a little vinegar to the rinse cycle. Then we throw all the diapers in the dryer and hang the covers up to air dry. It's as easy as washing clothes. Wool covers need to be washed by hand, but they are worth the extra effort.

Thanks to a grant from the Sacramento Area Earth Day Network, Mothers' Support Network is now a local resource for cloth diapers. We NOW sell cloth diaper supplies at Mothers' Support Network's Moonfaeries, and provide education on the how-to's of cloth diapering. Look for upcoming classes and discussions to get started and to get connected to other moms who are cloth diapering. When I first started with cloth, I found my best information from talking with other moms and then seeing what worked best for us. Keep in mind that it's an art, not a science. But most of all, it's a choice.

Kelly Poland lives in Sacramento with her husband Kyle and their 16-month-old son, Jenk, who currently refuses to lie down for diaper changes.