When I was pregnant with Parker I did a lot of research on diapers and I was disgusted by what I found out about disposable diapers. Most of them contain numerous toxic chemicals—from the absorbent gel that causes skin irritation (a very similar gel was used in tampons until the 80s when it was proven to increase the risk of toxic shock syndrome), to TBT which causes hormonal problems, to Dioxin, which is an extremely carcinogenic chemical. The EPA has Dioxin listed as the most toxic of all cancer linked chemicals. It’s also banned in most countries, but not the US. Why this chemical is allowed to be put into our babies diapers sickens me. This research was enough to steer me to cloth diapering, but I knew that I would need to use disposables for daycare so I was on the search to find an eco friendly alternative and thankfully I found a great one—Nature Babycare!
Nature Babycare diapers are made without chlorine and absorbent gel, use non-genetically modified corn instead of oil based plastic, are compostable (amazing!), are unbleached, and contain no fragrance or latex. Normal diapers take hundreds of years to decompose and fill up our already full landfills so I’m glad that these compost! As with most things natural and organic, they are pricier than normal diapers but that’s where my favorite online shopping tool comes into play—Amazon.com!
Kris and I order absolutely everything from Amazon—from tea, to olive oil, to cereal, to toys, to everything else imaginable. Amazon has a great selection of natural and organic products, we get free two day shipping, and the prices are unbeatable. I despise running errands since our time with Parker is so valuable, so if I can order something online than I do! Nature Babycare diaps are the same price on Amazon as they are at Babies R Us (the only other place that I’ve found to carry these diapers), but you get 15% off if you are an Amazon Mom member (free membership!) and another 15% off if you subscribe for the diapers to be delivered automatically (which you can cancel at any time). Score!
When Parker is at home with us, we use cloth. During my pregnancy I planned to primarily use FuzziBunz, the fool-proof cloth diaper. It works like a disposable; you just snap it on the baby and you’re good to go. I bought a handful of the one sized FuzziBunz that are supposed to fit baby from birth until they are potty trained. Well they didn’t work AT ALL at first! Let’s just say that I got peed and pooped on one too many times as a result of these ill fitting diapers. I was really disappointed because they get great reviews and are so simple to use. Just now can Parker really fit into them without me wondering if a clothing change is in our near future. So we switched over to old school Green Mountain Diaper prefolds. These diapers require a bit more work—you have to fold up the cloth diaper, secure it with a Snappi, and then use a waterproof cover—but it’s still not much more difficult than the FuzziBunz.
A lot of people think that I’m crazy for using cloth and, ewwww, you put poop in your washing machine?? Let me tell you something…whether or not you use cloth diapers, poop will end up in your washing machine. It will get on your baby’s clothes, on your clothes, on sheets, on things you never thought could possibly get poop on them. It will happen. Guarantee it. I like using cloth because I don’t like throwing things away that don’t need to be pitched and it’s more comfortable for Parker. What would you rather have on your butt 24/7—something made out of plastic or comfy cotton? And while there is a cost saving with using cloth, it’s not as great as you would think. We use a lot more water by washing the diapers; one cold rinse, one hot wash, two to three times a week adds up. Plus we need special cloth diaper friendly detergent and use a cloth diaper friendly diaper cream as well (which we would use anyways since it’s eco friendly and awesome).
I was worried about if we would be able to manage doing cloth with having both of us working, but another load of laundry at this point is no big deal. It's amazing how many clothes Parker can get dirty during a day. So what's one more load!
And Parker obviously loves her cloth diaps!
No comments:
Post a Comment