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BANG FOR THE BITE
If 10,000 Biters switched to reusable or cloth diapers for one child, there’d be 25 million fewer diapers crowding landfills.
COCKTAIL FACT
It takes 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose. How stinky.
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home › tip library › Baby Week - Biodegradable Disposable Diapers and Natural Diaper Rash Creme
How can something so small make such a big mess?
The Bite
Blame it on Mother Nature - but don’t punish her. There’s no getting around that mess, but we can avoid the additional mess associated with resource-intensive disposable diapers. Just switch to products that are better for baby’s skin (and hundreds of times better for the planet).The Benefits
- Big savings. A cloth diaper washed at home costs 3¢ per use while a disposable diaper costs 22¢. The difference can add up: a baby goes through about 2,500 diaper changes.
- Tons less waste. Disposable diapers produce at least 70 times more municipal solid waste than cloth diapers. Each year, the US discards 18 billion diapers.
- Opt for diapers and wipes bleached with hydrogen peroxide. It’s safer than chlorine bleach, which creates dangerous dioxin (linked to cancer ).
- Use baby creams and wipes with natural and fewer ingredients. Fewer ingredients equals fewer chems for baby and the environment.
Personally Speaking
One of our fave gifts to give new moms is a gift certificate to a cloth diaper service. It’s like giving them a free trial run.Wanna Try?
Use a diaper service if you can. It’s no contest - even the best disposables below aren’t as easy on the planet and your baby’s bum than cloth versions. But for those times when that just isn’t possible (and when you want to be nice to babysitters), try these fantastic green diaper options:- gDiapers - check out their “cradle to cradle” biodegradable, compostable design ($25/starter kit).
- Eco Baby Absorb It All Diapers - 100% organic cotton ($14).
- Snappis - biodegradable snaps for use instead of pins.
- Motherlove Diaper Rash and Thrush Cream - completely natural. We also love their Babycare packs, containing everything from nipple cream to baby spritzer ($10).
- Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Getting Started Kit - items include Apricot Baby Oil, Dusting Powder, Buttermilk Bath Soak and more ($13).
- One Step Ahead - check out their swim diapers, for all of baby’s stages ($8).
Jul 14,2006
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Great Diaper Discussion…
Biter Comments...
How to provide quality pharmacy and health information to empower consumers to make better informed healthcare decisions? WBR LeoP
yup, i love the Unpetroleum Jelly! i do make my own bum "jelly" when i get the time, inspired by this product, but when i run out and don't have time and/or ingredients, Un. Jelly is great.
I cured diaper rash by just rinsing the baby's butt every time he pooped, and patting it dry with a clean, soft cloth. I also gave him some naked time outside for some indirect sun and fresh air. That combined with changing diapers frequently and a little dab of Burt's bee's diaper cream to ease the stinging and he was all good in two days.
I would like to try the eco friendly diapers, however I could not find out how many come in package for $16. Can you provide this information?
for Nora,
i'm guessing you mean the "gdiapers"? i think it's 32 of the liners for $16US. check out their website at www.gdiapers.com
i use them for my little one at night, and cloth during the day. they're great!
For Nora & Anyone Else,
Diapers. Wash or Toss?
The estimated 20,000 gallons of water, over the time of diaper use, to wash the reusable diapers (cloth) is minimal compared to the amount of water it takes to create the one-time use, disposable diapers that still generate waste, i.e., the plastic wrapping they are sold in. Plus, using the lowest average a household toilet uses 3.5 gallons of water per flush. The average toilet water consumption per person, per American home is more than 18 gallons, that’s about 5 to 6 flushes a day per person in the house. Now, with the flushable diaper, you’re adding at least 6 to 8 flushes a day, or 28 gallons of water! If a baby is in diapers for 3 years, using 28 gallons of flushing water a day, that’s 30,660 gallons of water! So, if you’re flushing the toilet filled with, again a one-time use object, then this amount of water is much more wasteful than washing a cloth diaper. And, many flushables have an outside liner that has to be washed! So, doubly water wasteful.
The amount of energy (especially if using an energy star machine) used is also minimal compared to creating something that is only used once.
One-time use objects, even if they have the potential of being recycled, are never more reasonable than things that can be used over and over and over again. This is common sense.
I hope this helps you delve a little deeper than just diapers that call themselves green. If not, at least you are trying to be green. :)
p.s. Even with disposable diapers you are supposed to dump the poo into the toilet before throwing away the diaper. Human waste was not meant to go into the landfill.
Healthy Planet. Healthy Baby.
hi Stephanie,
while you do raise some great points, it may not always be the case that is as bad as you say...take me and my baby for example:
a) we use cloth during the day, and one gdaiper at night. (7 per week)
b) since the pee-only are compostable, and my son usually doesn't poop in his nighttime diaper, guess where 5-6 of the 7 weekly diapers goes? right, in my compost.
c) our family follows the "mellow-yellow, brown-down" rule of toilet flushing. so when i do have a poopy one to flush, i flush it with a toilet that has several pees already in it. so that only happens between 0-2 a week, depending on what's landed on the diaper (pee and/or poop).
d) as to the plastic liner, well, i already have to wash cloth diapers, so they get tossed in with the load (washed in cold), only if poopy. if not, just hand-rinsed and hung to dry. i also hang my laundry to dry, unless it's raining.
e) the soft plastic packaging the liners come in that you mentioned? i recycle that, along with the two cardboard boxes that the starter kits came in.
f) and finally, as to the "poop in the toilet, not in the landfill" point you mention, please tell me how a newborn to six-month old's liquid yellow poop is supposed to come off the diaper, cloth or otherwise? it doesn't, except when a cloth one is washed. even if i did use a disposable, my five-month old son's liquid poop (he's breastfed) wouldn't come off the diaper. so that part of your point doesn't fly. and when babies get older, unless the poop is solid enough to actually roll off the diaper, it's usually all smeared on and next to impossible to get off. if you have a suggestion as to the poop-removal of an older child, i'm all ears.
also, if you know of any cloth diapers that will work as an overnight diaper, please let me know. until then, i plan to use the gdiapers, which are the only one-use diaper that i know of that is "Cradle to Cradle" certified. http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/first-cradle-to-cradle-certifi-001766.php
so yes, while you are right about some things, please know that some of us are trying to do what we can with our babies and are working with what we have in the best way we can. i certainly am.
cheers
Ursa
Dear Ursa,
First, I must confess that I am not a Mommy myself... when it comes to diapering, I live vicariously through my best friend and her 19 month old (I consider both blood, so here on out will refer to the baby as "nephew").
Second, I posted my comments for others who were not as far ahead as you. I, too, use the yellow-mellow method; however, there are many who don't. Now that you pointed that out to me specifically, you should boast that to the folk who fear such conservation methods; not just retaliating to me under a misconception that I was questioning you personally.
Third, I applaud your efforts and hope you share them with everyone you know. You are still doing more than the majority and the more we share successful alternate options to such a wasteful industry, the more we encourage others.
And finally, to all: My nephew has had a conventional, disposable diaper adorn his tender tush twice in his life. Once in the hospital shortly after arriving and once when a friend watched him and that friend ran out of cloth diapers. His mother, my best friend, had many trial and errors through day and night cloth diapers. Eventually, she found several choices to keep at bay the leaks. One such solution was to place a thin layer of fleece between the diaper and the skin. Fleece is super absorbent but also keeps the moisture away from the skin to avoid pesky rashes.
There are plenty of cloth diaper companies, I am sure you’re all aware, and the only advice to them is try and try again until at last you succeed. (I would like to avoid accidental advertisement, so I suggest registering to one or two of the mommy forums out there to learn more.)
Again, congratulations Ursa on being aware enough to try.
Sincerely,
Stephenie
p.s.
Quoted text from above: "even if i did use a disposable, my five-month old son’s liquid poop (he’s breastfed) wouldn’t come off the diaper. so that part of your point doesn’t fly."
I don’t disagree that that newborn poo is extremely difficult to contend with. That’s again why I argue for cloth; so that liquid poop, still human waste, stays out of the landfills. Pre-soak/wash in the washer is a great solution to that icky issue.
gdiapers are wonderful. We're doing something better for the environment, and better for our grandchild at the same time. (he and his teen mom live with us) He's 5 weeks old now, and we've been using gdiapers about 3 weeks...he no longer has diaper rash...which he had constantly with disposables. He's breastfeed, so 99 percent of the gdiaper liners are poopy, but as soon as he starts having more urine-only ones, we plan to compost them for our tomato garden. Loving the green baby feeling!
Janetta, g-gammaw
It took me nearly twenty years to learn that If you are bound by sin, you are bound to suffer. I was bound to alcohol (how long does alcohol stay in your system), marijuana (how long does marijuana stay in your system), nicotine (how long does nicotine stay in blood), cocaine (how long does cocaine stay in system) and you name it. After two failed marriages, the death of my daughter, and a continued battle with drugs and alcohol I finally realized I needed help. That help came when a friend invited me to his church. The pastors message was on 'Spiritual Grammar' He said, 'Don't ever put a period where God has put a comma and never put a comma where God has placed a period. When God puts a period at the end of your past, He picks up His pen and starts writing a new chapter.' I accepted Jesus that day six years ago, and my life is totally changed
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Tami Davies | July 17, 2006 at 02:34 PM