Let's dispose of this right now!
Jun 19 '01 (Updated Jun 24 '01)
The Bottom Line It shouldn't be just a matter of preference or what's best for the environment but what's best for your baby!
Anyone that has children know that they are all different in many respects but the two common bonds that each child has with each other is, that they were a baby once and that they could make their parents eyes water.
If you're wondering what makes a parents eyes water then you probably haven't been a parent yet or it's been so long that you probably forgot so let me refresh your memory. I'm talking about the world of diapers here and the types of nasty stuff that goes in them, day in and day out!
Before I get into my thoughts on cloth vs disposable, I'd like to offer some advice to the soon-to-be new parents out there. On the way home from the hospital with your new bundle of joy, stop off at a department store to pick up that all important item. No, not diapers but the other important item.....a package of clothespins...lol.
You know, most people as they get older tend to forget about some aspects of their child's youth but no one forgets about the odor that your adorable baby deposited into his or her diaper each and every day. Yes folks, we all have had little mail carriers that insisted on delivering no matter what and, like bills, it was one thing that we could do without.
Our favorite expression for this was doing the do (and not mountain either because it certainly wasn't refreshing) but I've heard some people refer to it as doing the nasties and the most common word for it was poop! I never really understood how that last one got it's name? I mean, doesn't a ship have a poop deck? I've never been on one and if this meaning holds true then I'm thinking I'd rather not either!
Now, I'm not going to go into some long, drawn out debate on why I think you should use cloth diapers over disposable ones or vice versa but instead, I'll tell you our experience with both and then let you decide.
My wife and I started out using cloth diapers on our now 14 year old and we both agreed at the time that this was not the easiest way to keep your baby's bottom dry but we continued on because we were told that this was the best thing for our baby.
I'm not sure what got to us first, the constant flow of dirty diapers, the endless use of the washer or the unpredictability of our child but we decided it was time for a breather (so to speak). She was as cute as a dimple and we loved her dearly but she had this uncanny knack for putting on a big smile after the grunting was over and just when we thought she was done, she surprised us with yet another present. It turned out she really wasn't done but rather just wanted a clean place to put her business on.
And so, after several months of washing diapers until we were blue in the face, we decided to try a diaper delivery service. This proved to be a better way to handle the constant flow of diapers as they delivered about 90 fresh and clean ones to us each and every week. They even provided a diaper pail with sanitizing tablets that went on the inside of the cover to prevent fainting when you were ready to deposit a new one.
All we had to do was wash the poop off in the toilet, throw the soiled diaper in the pail and make sure they got paid every week. The service was only $6.00 per week when we used it which, in my opinion, was a great deal. Clean diapers delivered to our doorstep every week without us having to do the cleaning was pure heaven...or so we thought!
After about two months of using their service, we noticed our baby girl had some sort of rash breaking out down there. Since we were forever changing this child, we figured it wasn't because she was in a soiled diaper for any length of time so I called the diaper service. It turns out that they recently changed the detergent that they used to something less expensive and this was causing the problem.
Now, they did offer to use the other detergent on our diapers but that, to me, was something that I didn't want to chance considering they had quite a few people in their employ and someone might forget. This wasn't the only reason for discontinuing their service though but our other reason was not related to their service. You see, we had already started using disposable diapers while on the road because it proved to be much easier when it came time to changing our little one...or should I say ones!
Child number two had arrived and so instead of getting 90 diapers per week, we now were getting 180 which, by the way, did not fit in the diaper pail. My newest daughter was in no way affected by the change in detergents but nothing has ever bothered her since the day she was born to the present. When all my kids contracted measles several years ago, everyone was irritable and bothered by it except her who thought she was enjoying a picnic! Go figure...lol!
When we did switch from cloth to disposable, we realized that these diapers were costing us over twice as much each week as what we were paying for the diaper service but between the convenience of them and the fact that my daughter wasn't breaking out from using them, we thought that this was the best way to go.
We did find, however, that certain brands (mostly no name) did not protect our girls like they should and the tape had a tendency to not stick very well. After this discovery, we found ourselves buying the name brand ones for overnight protection while the less expensive ones worked fine for daytime use!
My Opinion
Cloth diapers vs disposable diapers has been an ongoing issue with most every parent at one time or another and continues to be the center of debate when it comes to covering the bottoms of the ones we love. Now, I could give you well known facts that state that cloth diapers are better for your baby but, at the same time, I can equally give you reasons why you should use disposables.
The biggest debate should not be whether to use one or the other and your reasoning for doing so unless it's in the best interest of your child. All babies are different like I stated about my children so what may be good for one may not be good for others. Wetness can lead to rashes no matter which ones you use and the only cure for that is taking better care of your baby.
While some detergents you use when cleaning cloth diapers may cause an allergic reaction with some infants, the same holds true for disposable diapers as well. I've read about many cases where babies have broken out when their parents used disposable diapers as well so the debate will continue on forever.
My final thoughts on the matter is to use what's best for your baby and if it helps the environment along the way then so be it but we shouldn't be basing our decision on what's best for the environment but rather what's best for your baby!
Before I get numerous emails on how wrong I am to say that, let me state for the record that I, too, am concerned about our environment! I just feel that even with your concerns, you should always put your child's welfare first. If you can do that and help the environment then, by all means, do so!
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