That all changed today…
Today, I started working for my friend, Susan, who owns this company. I was hired to write blogs, articles and a devotional. One problem…I don’t use cloth diapers. So I started reading other people’s blogs and sites to get a feel for why people use cloth diapers. I was amazed at the wealth of information I have found. Disposable diapers are unhealthy for my child. And, for a mother who wants absolutely the best of everything for her son (like most mothers do), this was depressing and scary! So, these are my reasons for wanting to change from disposable to cloth diapers…
- Sodium Polyacrylate-This was number one in my book just for the health concerns it presents to my child. Sodium polyacrylate are the gel crystals found in the diaper that make it super absorbent. One time while changing Gavin, I noticed the diaper had fallen apart and all over his private areas were these gel crystals. I had to put him in the bathtub to get them off. They stick to the genital areas and can cause allergic reactions. In 1985, this product was banned from being used in tampons for causing Toxic Shock Syndrome. There have been children die from ingesting just 5 grams of this awful product. (1) HELLO, PEOPLE! What was I thinking!? I can not continue to do this to my son.
- Dioxin-This is a by-product used in the paper bleaching process to make diapers. This chemical is listed by the EPA as the most dangerous of the cancer-linked chemicals. It has been banned in many countries, but not the United States. (2) Why?
- Cost-My husband and I currently use Luvs diapers. Gavin is in a size 5 diaper which comes 150 diapers per large box. They cost us $35.99 per package. We buy 2 of these large boxes per month. That’s about $72 a month, $864 a year, not including shipping or driving to the store in the middle of the night to pick them up. If your child is 3 before you start potty training, disposable diapers can cost $2,592. That price does not include all of the Diaper Genie refills you have to buy to keep your house from smelling like poo! Now, let’s compare the cost of a cloth diaper. The average price of a pocket diaper is between $14 to $18 including the diaper and the soaker. Now, let’s say you will need about 45 diapers and soakers until your child is ready for potty training. That’s about $810 for the entire time your child is in diapers. Let’s say you pay about 57 cents a load to wash the diapers (water and detergent) and you wash them 3 times per week. That’s about $1.71 per week in laundry costs, which calculates to $20.52 per year. Your total cost for cloth diapers is about $830.52. So, your total savings on diapers would be $1,761.48 over 3 years!
- Being Green-Let’s face it, disposable diapers only add to the land-fill problem we have in the US. The EPA estimated that in 2007 disposable diapers contributed 3.7 million TONS of trash to our landfills! (3) Wow, that speaks for itself.
I don’t know about you all, but these are convincing arguments for me, the convenience-seeker! I want my son to have the best and healthiest things! I am only sorry that we didn’t start him out this way. If you are as interested as I was in switching to cloth diapers, or starting out that way, there are tons of resources online.
Have a blessed day!
~Devin
Sources:
(1) Article written for the FDA Consumer magazine March-April 2000 - Taken From the Food and Drug Administration Site http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2000/200_tss.html
(2) http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/reports/azd/azd.html
(3) From "Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2007,"