I just came across an article, randomly, while I was looking for sites that might still have some of the old colors of Wonder Wraps. It was excerpted from a book written way back in 1997, but you don't realize that until you get to the very end and read the fine print. It is displayed just as if it were current information.
By the way, this little piece right here is chock full of MY opinion.
The article I read is supposedly about the pros and cons of cloth diapering versus disposables. It is one of the worst pieces I've ever read, even discounting the old information. Apparently, the person who wrote it did not do much, if any, research before writing. They just (it seems) wrote about their own personal opinions, rather than actually offering facts. The paragraph on pros and cons about the environment, for example, doesn't seem to have any pros for cloth...it seems to be mainly giving reasons why we should all use disposable diapers and keep filling up landfills. The article claims to offer parents information which they could presumably use to make a decision about cloth versus disposables. Too bad it doesn't really give both sides, and certainly isn't unbiased. Fortunately, the two comments on the article really help set it straight. The first comment is almost as long as the article itself, and really calls out the author on the mistake. I was so glad to see that. It's too bad though that some people won't bother looking at the comments. You have to click on them separately just to see them.
The article suggests, among other things, that cloth diapering is costlier, smellier, less convenient, and harder to do than using disposables. None of this has been or is true for me, and I've been using cloth for a year. To me, these assertions are simply ridiculous! Our water and electric bills have not increased by any amount that we have noticed, and really if we wanted to save money there, I should insist that my husband turn off or unplug all his tvs and radios and computers and the rest of his electronics. We have a tv in every room, and half the time hubby leaves them all on. Not to mention the amount of electricity that is wasted by leaving small appliances plugged in. My mom started unplugging everything, and her electric bill went down $30--no joke. As for water, you gotta wash the baby's clothes and your clothes, right? If I really wanted to conserve water, I'd only run the dishwasher when it's full, I'd take shorter showers, and I wouldn't fill up the tub every night for Karina's 10 minute bath. I'm glad that the first comment points out the cost of manufacturing the disposable diapers, of trucking them to grocery stores, of packaging them, and then of course, the mess they leave behind for YEARS to come.
The author of the article asserts that cloth diapers are bulky and hard to use. Um, I'm not having any trouble with them. My husband manages to use them. My mom uses them, and the staff of the nursery where Karina goes every Sunday seems to be managing just fine as well. As for the bulk, yes, they are slightly bulkier than disposables, although there are some brands that are very trim indeed. I also don't find them to be inconvenient at all. You have to do something with any diaper, be it cloth or disposable. I put my cloth in a bag, and it doesn't smell. You have to put disposables in a bag, and believe me, that smells. Ask my husband, who can't stand the smell of, well, doodles. He was thrilled when we switched to cloth as soon as Karina's bellybutton stub fell off (I didn't know enough back thent about cloth to think to look for a brand that would fit her better, so we used disposables for a couple weeks. Ugh, the stench! The diaper rash! Horrific.) I have babysat and worked in a day care where disposables were used, and I've changed my share of disposable diapers. I can swear to you now, they smell horrendously worse than my diaper bag. If I had to sit in a room with dirty disposables or dirty cloth diapers, give me the cloth, please!
To be fair, this article is excerpted from a book from 1997. Amazingly, that is over 10 years ago. I know a lot has changed. Even so, there are still glaring errors about cost, convenience, and environmental impact that can't be excused by the date of the article. In this age of global warming, huge landfills, and a bad economy, we should be encouraging people to at least consider using cloth--it does cut down the cost, it does not cause more harm to the environment than disposables, and it doesn't even compare to them as far as cuteness. (Sorry, I just had to throw that in there)
So here's my summary of cloth versus disposable:
energy use: I don't notice any difference in my bills since using cloth
convenience: I don't ever run out of cloth diapers unless I am so lazy that I never wash any. They work exactly the same as disposables, except they have touchtape (ie velcro, aplix, etc) rather than tape.
cost: way, way, way less than disposables. There are some cloth brands out there that can potentially save you as much as $3000. No kidding. That's a lot of money. Plus, my daughter will potty train a lot faster than disposable babies will, so that cuts my cost, too. Plus, I can reuse my diapers on future children, and sell them when I'm done. Can you resell disposables? Gee, I sure hope not!
environmental impact: from what I can tell, and I freely admit here that I have NOT researched this, cloth has less impact on the environment if only in the fact that it doesn't contribute to the junk in the landfills. I know that manufacturing disposables uses resources, and I admit I don't know what those are, but still, it's using up something. Both cloth and disposables have to be transported. I know that manufacturing plastics of any kind emits chemicals and horrible smells, although that's about all I know about that. My opinion: cloth hurts less.
Keep in mind that disposable diapers have hidden costs that are often left out of articles like this one, not to mention they leave out the cost of the diaper pail plastic bags that everyone wants so that they don't have to smell their, according to the article, "less" smelly disposable diapers. Ugh. More plastic and more waste! No pun intended.
If you want to see the article, here is the link to it. Please keep in mind that everything written here on this blog is my own personal opinion. My comments are not directed at the website itself, other than to say I think they should make it clearer that this is an old article with outdated, poorly (if at all) researched "facts". The bulk of the article appears to be the author's personal opinions, and that is not stated anywhere in the piece.
http://life.familyeducation.com/diapers/baby/50452.html
Just saw this on Twitter: GoGoNatural
Did you know that disposables use 20 times more raw materials than #clothdiapers? They do! Thank you mothering magazine for the info!
Another post today on Twitter: GoGoNatural Disposable diapers use 3 times more energy than #clothdiapers! Thank you Mothering Magazine for this great information!
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